Minute menu kids pro and quality child care

Editor's Notes

1. The basics…I’m going to review this information with you just skimming the highlights, because I really want to get to the exciting tools that will help you raise the level of professionalism in your clients..
2. Facility information, prints is a nice way to give a prospective parent a snap shot of what your facility provides for children,….I say to providers create your own “Brag-a-log” and be prepared to offer it up!!Child Information - All necessary child information is stored here, point out Immunization reminders, schedules, medical information, approved persons for picking up the child from care providerWAITING LIST – HUGE BENEFIT!Attendance = One way to keep track of your food expense throughout the year is to mark which childrenate which meal. This information is recorded here in Attendance.Menu Planner = Participation on CACFP is quickly becoming a Quality indicator and if your providers are participating… they can do all of their recordkeeping in this one system, provided their sponsor approves itIf the Provider is not on CACFP the software still assists with tracking meals they serve as a tax deductible expense and Mmkids makes it easy to track that informationUtilities menu they can change from the older format of the Welcome screen to the newer Playground type welcome screen!Child Info =Emergency Contacts
3. WootWoot! The Pro Features….here is where it really starts to get exciting!These features are part of the “Pro” version and are designed to help the provider manage their childcare. They have no link to their sponsor or the Food Program.
4. All of the information included in mmkids pro came from redleaf press! Here is what Barbara Solomon of Parent’s Magazine stated in her article “What makes a great daycare!”“Look for signs of an organizaed, well-thought-out day. Because you children feel safe when their days are structured and predictable, it makes sense to look for a daycare with clear plans and programs!!” Calendar – Daily Planner – new outlook version IF YOU WANT TO SEE A SNEAK PEEK OF WHAT’S TO COME , I’M GOING TO PREVIEW IT AT THE END OF MY PRESENTATION…1. Entry of a general plan for an entire month.2. Entry of the activities planned for a day.3. Entry of a detailed, hour by hour, schedule. A time management type function.Recipes – We have pre-loaded recipes, some providers struggle with offering a variety of foods and often say, “I’ve fun out of ideas, Mmkids Pro to the rescue!!!” Let’s take a quick peekMenu of the Month – Activities – Don’t know what to do with the kids? Let Mmkids pro provide you with ideasWhat’s new this month Nutrition notes – Resources – Tips from Tom -
5. Daily Reports – We’ve all heard this one, “Parents have unrealistic expectations of us”General Information is automatically filled in from the daily planner and will print on all reportsSpecific Child reports – can be individualized with comments that pertain to just that child’s day! During that Hectic pick up hour providers often get interrupted by multiple parents that are tired and ready to get home, but they want to know “how was my child’s day? What did he spend his day doing?” If you can simply hand this tired parent a full days report, you’ve documented all of the awesome activities that you provided, adding value to the care that the parent is paying for! Wow, this is powerful! You know what they say, “Documentation beats conversation!” When the provider has taken the time to furnish a parent with a professional report, the parent will value that provider in a different way These reports can even provide diaper changing, bottles fed, the amount children ate at meal time, etc.It is also possible to email the report to parents. Once the report is open, click on “File”and then select .If you don’t have an option to email, or if this doesn’t work, follow these directions:1. Once the report is open, go to “File” and then click on “Save a Copy”.2. Choose where to save the report, and what name to save it as, then click “Save”.3. Open up your email program and compose an email for the parent.4. Attach the saved report to the email and then send it.
6. Chart Maker! Why make a chart and teach children goals! You are setting them up for success all through their lives, kids love it!What’s in it for the provider? A few of the toughest times in child care homes across the nation is “clean up time” and “getting kids to wash their hands” With a Mmkids pro chart and a few inexpensive stickers you’ve now made this into a short term goal that is specific, attainable, measureable, Custom charts, how many can you come up with, it’s never ending and can be specific for each child’s developmental goals
7. Why teach children goal setting?....You’ll be setting them up with tools that last a life time….Maybe your familiar with this saying“To reach a port we must sail, sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it. But we must not drift or lie at anchor.” —Oliver Wendell Holmes“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!” right?SET A GOAL>>>TAKE ACTION>>>ACHIEVE A RESULT!! Many, many adults suffer all through life never really being able to do the second step (TAKE ACTION)….so they never achieve their desired results.The experts are telling us time and again…..
8. Certificate maker! Building great self esteem! Again this goes back to being prepared…..it also goes hand in hand with what we were just talking about.Little Johnny sets a goal with a little encouragement from the provider and then…..Wow, he has a tangible certificate that shows he applied himself to that goal, took action and succeeded!!!
9. Accounting Features – what could make a provider look more professional in the eyes of their parents, peers, community, mentors etc. This entire portion of the software was specifically designed for the unique recordkeeping needs of family child care providers!
10. Billing Parents and Recording their payments, its as easy as 1, 2, 3… Let’s take a look…
11. When creating invoices you’ll be asked for the date range of times your billing for… (PDF of invoice) the rates can be establised daily, weekly monthly within Child Information tab or Rates tab right hereUnpaid Invoices will be the area you go to to record parent payments! And you can receive payments from previously created invoicesPayment History will give you a record of whose paid their invoices, and also allow you to edit payment information etc.Recurring invoices….obviously will allow you to automate billing parents so that once you set it up the invoice will happen automatically must be using Epay for this feature to work
12. What does a professional invoice say about a providers business???Reports..available throughout the software…too many to look at in this timeframeRates can be entered in child info or rates table daily, weekly, monthly
13. Once the invoice has been created, it will be shown under “Unpaid Invoices”.After an invoice has been paid in full, it will be shown under “Paid Invoices”. The “Close Invoice” button can be used to remove an unpaid invoice from this screen without actually marking a payment on it. This may be necessary if the invoice is never going to be collected, or if the parent overpaid a previous invoice and underpays a future invoice to compensate.The “Payment History” tab is where all payment records are kept. From there they can be changed or removed.
14. FeaturesSame system used by the Federal GovernmentSecureFully integratedAutomatic invoicing Auto paymentsEmail notificationPrivateFees apply only when used
15. Step 1 Provider fills out an applicationStep 2 the provider sets up an account for each parentStep 3 An invoice is createdStep 4 the parent logs into ChildCarePay.com where they set up their bank acccountinformaiton and authorize payment of a single invoice or authorize recurring paymentsTransactions are a $1 and provider can pay or parent can pay. If the provider pays a $1 is just subtracted from the invoice amount and deposited into their account. If parents will pay fee then this is added to the invoice.A $3 non sufficient funds fee is applied just like if the check came back as nsf. Which is much lower than standard bank feesInvoices are emailed to parentsAll the information is supplied when you click the link inside the software to sign up!
16. Record Expenses = over 50 preloaded categories! Based upon standard tax forms related to vehicle expenses, food expenses, home depreciation, large item depreciation, etc. Custom CategoriesThe following reports are what is available in Minute Menu Kids to print out your expenses:Schedule C Worksheet (For all expenses except house, vehicle, and food)or Schedule C Detailed Expenses (The same as Schedule C Worksheet but has more details)Vehicle Deduction Comparison (For vehicle related expenses)Form 8829 House Worksheet (For house related expenses)or Form 8829 Detailed Expenses (The same as Form 8829 House Worksheet but has more details)Depreciation Worksheet (For all form 4562 depreciated expenses)Actual Food Expense (Used to calculate your actual business food costs instead of using the standard meal allowance rate)
17. Hot off the presses..the Daily Planner will look, act and feel more like Outlook!You can click on the date to pull up a monthly calendar! Select a range of days you want to see and have them displayed in columns…You can select from pre-populated activities from a database provided by NAFCC , idea is that these activities are designed by child care professionals. You’ll also be able to customize this area with your own activities..Everything will be drag, and drop like your used to…
18. Content provided by NAFCC and Tom Copeland! It’s basically a massive expansion of Tips from Tom!! The idea is for providers to have a single place to go to run their business and get information that directly pertains to the needs of child care providers…They can click through to articles, guidance, money saving ideas, from one spot rather than having to search the internet for reliable sources!
19. On line recipes right inside the Menu PlannerThousands of recipes at your fingertips….provided by NAFCC, child care professionals, providers….all Kid Friendly!!!!Childcareinfo.com
20. What to do now….Bulk offers Handout!
21. Thank you….my contact information is up on the screen for you if you have individual questions…feel free to shoot a quick email or phone call