EXCERPT FROM: Muscatine Journal
BY Amy Cahill
MUSCATINE, Iowa - Nearly 13 years ago, unable to find suitable day care for her children, Shawna Martin began watching three children in her home.
Today, that small business has grown into Happy Home Day Care, an early childhood center with 130 children ages newborn to 12 enrolled.
Martin, 32, gave birth to her son, Jacob, a week after she graduated from Muscatine High School in 1996. Her daughter, Courtney, was born a year later.
"I had two kids to put in day care and could not find a good day care, so I just decided to start my own," she said. "That's kind of how it started."
Martin said her high school dream was to work as a preschool teacher. After graduation, she began taking early childhood development classes at Muscatine Community College.
However, she jumped into her career without finishing college when she opened her in-home day care in October 1997.
"We had just moved into our house," she said. "We had a little bitty house. My day care grew and I just added on."
Fortunately for Martin, her husband, Michael Martin, owns M&M Remodeling, so he was able to enlarge their home to accommodate her growing business.
By March 2007, Martin, with the help of her sisters, Michelle Saultz and Sarah Hoeg, was watching 22 children in her home. Unable to accommodate any more children, she decided to open a day care center and purchased her current location at 2205 Second Ave.
"When I opened mine, it was high demand," Martin said. "There was nothing but in-home child care."
Right away, Martin added two additional classrooms to the building. Then she added another two rooms.
"Now, it's still not big enough, but we can't add on," she said.
Happy Home Day Care is open 4 a.m. to 6 p.m. and offers two infant rooms, two toddler rooms, two preschool rooms and a classroom with before- and after-school care for older children. Muscatine Community Schools buses children to and from school.
"The kids that come here, they still have to go to their home school," Martin said.
Martin's two sisters still work with her. Hoeg is the office manager and Saultz is the on-site supervisor.
"I think it's about the best thing she's ever done because there's a need for day cares around here," Hoeg said.
Things have changed a lot for Martin since she opened the center. She spends less time working with children and more running the business.