What do you do for daycare?

Well, since I only work 3 days a week and occasionally one or two days is a weekend (hubby watches kids).. it's not TOO bad. I have an 8month old and a 7yr old daughter. My daughter is in school, and the baby goes to an in home daycare. I drop them both off at her house, and my daughter rides the bus with her daughter to the same school while she watches the baby at her home. My daughter then rides the bus back to her house with the babysitter's daughter, and so she does afterschool care for her. On days off from school she watches her too.

I pay $125/wk for my son regardless of attendance for the hours of 615-5/6pm, and $45/wk extra for afterschool care for my daughter. On days off from school (like spring break, summer... not half days or even one day off for student holiday) she charges $25/day.

You could look into a recreational park center near your home. They have cheap summer camps. Mine is $80/wk, but the hours are only 0730-1800 in my area.

We lucked out and have a neighbor who runs an in-home, licensed daycare. Next fall we drop down to one full-time kid which will make a HUGE price difference. I'll say that $60 is a pretty hefty price tag per day, given what we pay. Are you doing this all week, or just once or twice?

During summer, DD's school runs summer school 9-12, for kids 3+. It's $20 for the summer (really it's just 3 weeks, IIRC), but still. Pretty good deal. We've had a friend's daughter come nanny for us during the summer, too.

If you have a Facebook, just post a status asking if any of your friends or family would be interested in the position for the same price. A benefit of going with the formal summer camp/program/daycare is the tax credit, though. It helps.

Great question OP! I'm wondering the same thing myself. My daughter will be almost 3 when I start school and around 5 when I finish. Our shifts usually will be 12 hours long. Granted, it would be 3 days a week if we are pulling 12's. However, finding before school / after school care will be challenging. I'm interested to see more comments on this post regarding options if you don't have friends / family nearby to help.

Most counties in my state have a childcare licensure program, here it called the childcare council. They were able to help me locate certified in home daycares (ALWAYS INTERVIEW CAREFULLY) that are more flexible and less expensive than childcare centers. Maybe your state/ county has a similar program.

Thanks everyone! It would just be 3 days a week, during my husbands hours...which are flexible but aprox. 730 am til 430 pm. I RATHER not send them to a family daycare (nothing against it but my boys need more than that...I did fam DC out of my house for 2 years and it's just not for us). Our church is a great idea, thanks poster...I will look into it, although I think they are expensive.

It's seriously going to cost me $500 or more a week this summer between daycare and summer camp

laurah4k we do have a program, its called the Open Door/Child Care links. They are mostly for family providers though.

2011Nursing Student...that was exactly my thoughts also, that this past tax season we were unable to claim the cost of having my sister come to our home and it KILLED us tax-wise...I would be looking forward to writing off as much as we are going to spend...I wonder if we could also pay for it through the HSA at my husbands job too? I am not sure how they work...

Could you afford to have someone come to your home? Like a nanny? Possibly pay b/w $350-$450 depending on the rates in your area? I know many nannies out here would work for that with 4 kids easily.

Last summer we paid high school students to come play with the kids. I work overnights so i was home but that way i could sleep. we paide 7 to 8 dollars an hour. We also coordinated our schedule as much as possible so that we only had to do that once or twice a week at most. good luck!

look around on craigslist or post an ad saying what you are looking for. $60 a day is pretty steep IMO especially for family. i kept a child (whose mother was a nurse) for awhile when i wasn't working just for some extra cash and he had a blast playing with my kids in the pool, the sprinkler, etc. i was not a "home daycare" - just a stay at home mom who treated the kid like my own and got a little money for it. his mom loved the fact that he got to be in a home environment, eat dinner, take baths, play with other kids, etc. without being in a "daycare" setting. there are lots of options out there.