AboutPam Koons Expertise Early Childhood Education For Prospective, New and Existing Teachers, and also Pre-School Owners/Directors. I can offer Teaching advice and also School Business advice. I owned a private Pre-school that I started over 22 years ago. I have degrees in Early Childhood Education, Business Management and Children's Theater. Can answer a variety of questions on anything having to do with Early Childhood Education, both teaching and business aspects.
Currently, I mentor folks wanting to start up their own preschools and daycares: www.PreschoolMentor.com. Please visit me there!
Experience Success in many areas. President of the local Chamber of Commerce. My school was voted #1 best private Pre-School in my county. 26 newspaper articles were written about my school and a half page news article about myself. Published Author in a Children's Anthology now on Amazon. Guest lecturer at the local College.
Question Hello, I am 27 years old and have a BA in Elementary Education. I am about to start on my Master's in Organizational Leadership with a concentration on Educational Leadership.
I do not have children of my own; however, I have a lot of friends who have kids from 6 months to 4 years old who have had a really hard time finding a preschool for their children. After realizing that this is such a huge need, I am exploring what it would take (licensing, expense, ect...) to start a small (4-6 students to start) preschool in my own home.
I live in the state of VA, just outside DC. I'm not sure where to start looking for what the state requires and if I'd need to have a license to do this.
Any advice or suggestions on where to start would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you so much for your time!
Answer Hi Summer,
Thx for your question. I would first contact your local Dept of Social Health Services, as they usually are the ones to license such places. You can also Google your "state's name and preschool licensing requirements". If you are planning on opening a daycare, you will have many more things to follow- fire, electrical, food, city, state, etc. I wasn't sure if you were going this route- or only as a part-time preschool- there is a big difference. Usually any program over 4 hours is automatically considered a daycare.
Start with those ideas first, and I wish you much success!
