Why Use a Curriculum?
As a family child care professional, you have an opportunity to influence how the children in your care view the world, how they relate to others, and how they develop the skills they'll need to succeed as learners. Yours is a unique setting that combines the security of a home environment with the structure and careful planning that are hallmarks of a typical educational setting.
There's no doubt that family child care is a growing profession. Today, over a million family child care providers are caring for about 4 million children while their parents are at work. And it is a challenging profession--one that requires you to have several specialized skills. On any given day you might be called upon to serve as an educator, a caregiver, a child development specialist, a nutritionist, and a social worker. You're expected to know how children develop and learn, what they should be learning at each stage, and how to develop partnerships with families.
Using a curriculum will help you be thoughtful and intentional about the type of care and experiences you offer. You'll get the knowledge and skills you need to make good decisions and make a lasting difference for all the children in your care.
The Creative Curriculum® for Family Child Care is comprehensive, developmentally appropriate resource for planning and implementing a family child care program. It will help you build a high-quality program that meets all the standards identified by the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) as well as those developed at the state level for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.
Follow the links below for more information about meeting national and state quality standards.