EXCERPT FROM: The Caledonia Argus
By Craig Moorhead
In the midst of the worst economic climate since the Great Depression, a local couple has chosen to open a new business in Caledonia. Troy and Emily Schroeder opened Kid’s Corner Daycare, located at 519 Old Highway Drive, Nov. 2. The business provides full-time employment for Emily and five staff members, and is currently licensed for up to 42 children, with space for more. Emily talked about what the first month has been like during a recent interview.
Why would anybody want to open a new business now?
“I originally did in-home daycare out of my house... I didn’t realize there was such a need for daycare until I had advertised and was full within a couple weeks. I kept getting calls and had a waiting list.”
Even with the demand for good childcare providers, it must have been scary.
“As far as the economic part of it... it was kind of like, am I ever going to be ready to take that big of a leap, regardless of what the economy’s doing? Probably not. It’s kind of a leap of faith.”
How did you get started?
“I have a bachelor’s degree in community education and I worked in two different school districts for the first four years out of college and kind of got a feel for structured environments and how kids respond to structure. When I opened my in-home I operated it in a similar way with structured activity.”
Schroeder found while she wanted structured activities, it was difficult to provide the needed attention to each age group while she worked alone. An idea took root, and she and her husband started a two year period of study that led to Kid’s Corner.
“I actually took a class on how to open a daycare and direct it, just to kind of see,” she explained. “I wanted to research what it was about before I fully got into it. Piece by piece, we started researching, figuring out different financing options and seeing what we had to do to make it work.”
Schroeder said that she wanted to offer parents something different.
“There’s a lot of really good providers in this area, and I’m not trying to take away anything from them. I just thought that I could provide families more options. If they want a more structured environment, and they want a place that’s open every day of the year, so they’re not having to take off work because somebody’s closed.”
Kids Care will be open every day except for weekends and holidays, Schroeder explained. She has two staff members assigned to each age group, with separate areas for each. Infants to the age of 16 months comprise the first group, toddlers up to 33 months old the second, with 33 months old to kindergarten age making up the last. Learning activities are tailored to the age of the child, with a regular curriculum including reading, Spanish, and “fit for life,” which teaches such things as good nutrition and physical activity.
Is this basically a preschool?
“Yeah, it’s more along the line of a preschool, but we also want to give them the daycare feel with free choice activities. We keep that creative opportunity going with them so they can choose activities and do dramatic play... be creative in that way.”
Children are not assigned to classes. “We do combine throughout the day,” Emily said. “Right now the preschoolers and toddlers are doing a Thanksgiving activity. They’re decorating cookies and having a Thanksgiving snack, so we combine for special projects... Sometimes siblings that are of different ages can see their brothers and sisters at different times throughout the day, and yet still have their own time to be independent and interact with kids their own age. They usually learn better when they’re around kids their own age.”
Is the daycare filling up?
“Right now I’m licensed for 42 kids. At the first of the year we’ll probably be about 80-85 percent full. So we’re (doing) pretty good. I’m really happy with those numbers.”
Do you have room for expansion?
“Yes, we are actually going to be adding a school age component this spring. I’ll be licensed for 30 school age kids. We’ll start that part of the center in June, 2010.”
Full text available at The Caledonia Argus.