Family child care home  ·  Alameda

O-Care Daycare

Daycare in Alameda, California.

What it is

Home-based care

A family child care home is not a small centre. It is a different thing: one household, a handful of children, the same adult every single day, and a ratio no centre can match. For an infant, and for a family who wants their child known rather than managed, it is often the better answer.

Meet the director
Olivia, Director

Olivia

Director

B.B.A., International Business & Marketing — Grand Valley State University, Michigan

The same adult, every day. No rota for a child to keep re-learning, no room to be moved up out of, and a ratio a centre cannot match. Licensed, and running now.

What we do

Care that fits around the day you actually have

Not every family needs the same hours, and most need more than one thing. These are handled here rather than across three different places.

Early care

Doors open before the hour most centres start.

After school care

The gap between the last bell and the end of your day, covered.

Tutoring

Math, computer and reading, one-to-one, at the kitchen table.

Date night watch

Evening care, so an evening out does not take a week to arrange.

A day here

What your child’s day is shaped like

What a day actually looks like.

Early
Doors open before the hour most centres start, for the shift that starts early.
The morning
A handful of children, mixed ages, one table — the way a family works rather than the way a classroom does.
After school
The gap between the last bell and the end of your day, covered — with help at the table for maths, reading and computers.
Evening
Date night watch, so an evening out does not take a week of arranging.
A story for the name

The House with the Light On

At the end of a long road there is a small house, and in the evening you can tell it apart from all the other houses because somebody has left the light on in the window.

It is not a big house. There is no sign outside. If you did not know it was there you would walk straight past it.

Inside there is a kitchen table with room for a few children and not very many more, and the same grown-up at it every single day — not a different one on Tuesdays, not a new one in September. The same one. The one who knows that this child will eat anything except peas, and that one goes quiet when she is tired rather than loud, and the little one likes the blue cup and will tell you so.

The big places down the hill are very fine. They have a lot of rooms.

But some children do not want a lot of rooms. Some children want one table, one grown-up, a handful of others who are more or less like family by now, and a window with the light left on so they can see it from the end of the road.

That is all this is. It is enough for the ones it is right for.

About ninety seconds out loud. Ours to tell, yours to borrow at bedtime.
Questions parents ask

Straight answers

What ages do you take?

Infants through pre-kindergarten, and school-age children for the before and after school care.

How many children are there?

Few. That is the whole point of a family child care home rather than a centre — one household, a small group, and the same adult every day.

Can I come and see it?

Yes, and you should. The only way to judge a family child care home is to stand in it. Call or email and arrange a time.

What about evenings?

Date night watch is available. Ask when you visit.

Get in touch

Come and see it

The best way to judge a family child care home is to stand in it. Send us a note below and we will arrange a time for you to visit.

How to reach us

Use the form below. It comes straight to us and we answer every one.

Your flyer

Print it, pin it, hand it out

Ready to print, with a code on it that brings a parent straight to this page. Full sheet for a noticeboard or a door; the half sheet prints two to a page for handing out.

The O-Care Daycare flyer
Full sheet — PDFHalf sheet — two per page

The square code is yours. Anyone who scans it lands on this page, so the flyer and the website always say the same thing.

Inquire about care

Ask about a place

Tell us roughly what you need and when. It goes straight to us both, and one of us will come back to you.