So, you're biting the bullet, quitting the 9 - 5 and starting your day care however, you're only now realizing what you've let yourself in for. You sigh as you survey the growing to do list and decisions to be made e.g. are daycare franchises for you, should you have a montessori day care as opposed to other curriculums and numerous other weighty questions.

A day care franchise can be a great, no fuss, instant business way to go. Customer loyalty is more easily acquired thanks to instant brand recognition. Generally there will be a development process in place to help with funding acquisition, unit selection, the construction process, getting licensed, training and launching your business.

Ongoing direction and support for staff may be included in the package along with a proprietary curriculum and building design templates. Operations manuals will make hitting the ground running a breeze and having the use of a recognized brand for advertising may well mean a busy opening day. Home office support can be part of come franchises also.

There is no doubting the appeal of all of the above. However, franchises are extremely pricey and require an upfront financial commitment plus proof of a healthy net worth (and that's before you even open your doors). Now, where did I leave that goose with the golden egg laying capabilities??

So, to the curriculum question. There are many, excellent programs to choose from so you really need to do some thorough research to establish which method might best suit your day care (or you could just draw straws :-)). Ever helpful I've included a list of some of the more popular curriculums with a brief explanation to get you started:

- Play based - children learn through focused play - Montessori - teacher observes the development, supporting the child but not getting in the way of, nor interfering in the child's ability to perceive the real world - Waldorf Method - based on the concept that the children must love to learn therefore they learn through play, imitation and imagination. - High/Scope - children learn through doing. They have responsibility for their own work and teachers facilitate - Reggio Emilio - focuses on the natural development of the child in relation to their environment - Piaget - children develop best through interaction with both teachers and peers - Steiner - based on the belief that education should be designed to meet the changing needs of children as they develop

While daycare franchises may not be the route for you they definitely have a lot of appeal to those with a little extra cash and not much time. Your curriculum definitely requires lots of thought and whilst I find my Montessori day care to be a wonderful learning environment, so to are many of the other excellent methods.