Welcome to the Baby Ph.D.

Childcare Network

The  Baby Ph.D. Story:

Baby Ph.D. Inc was established in September 2002 after several Hyde Park families had been informally sharing a professionally trained educator as a nanny/caretaker for nearly a year.  The parents saw their children thrive when given daily opportunity for professionally guided, developmentally appropriate, musical, verbal, social, and physical stimulation. 

In winter of 2004 Baby Ph.D. expanded to include a second daycare home.  In summer of 2006 Baby Ph.D. was given a grant from the Child Care Initiative of The University of Chicago.  With this grant we have been able to expand to include a nanny-share program and several additional daycare homes located throughout Hyde Park, and the surrounding neighborhoods.  While each Baby Ph.D. location is independently owned and operated, we all utilize a common curriculum and common administrative procedures.

Baby Ph.D. Childcare Network members are committed to providing you and your children with reliable, high quality, home-based childcare.  The Baby Ph.D. Childcare Network is supported in part, through a grant from The University of Chicago Child Care Initiative. 

The Baby Ph.D. Childcare Network:

The Baby Ph.D. Childcare Network is made up of  several professionally operated home daycares, a nanny share program, and a childcare providers' resource center.   The Baby Ph.D. Childcare Network is made possible, in part, through a grant from the Childcare Initiative of The University of Chicago and The University of Chicago Hospitals.  This grant provides resources for our members to:

Our Mission:

The Baby Ph.D. Childcare Network is dedicated to educating young children to learn, live, and play.  We provide holistic early childhood education that is led by professionally trained teachers.  Our programs operate in developmentally stimulating home-like environments within which children's natural love of learning can flourish.  We foster the growth of the whole child through age-appropriate activities that address social, emotional, cognitive, language, and physical development.  Above all we strive to be practical, relevant, and fun!

Home Daycares:

Each home daycare operates as an independent business run out of the private home of the daycare provider.  The daycare homes in our network range in size.  The "smaller" sites take 3 children at a time.  In these settings each child gets a great deal of personalized attention.Daycare providers at our smaller sites often get together for playtime and for special programming such as creative art, music, and sign language.  This gives the children in their care the opportunity for larger group social interaction on a regular basis.  These settings are ideal for younger children, and children who are new to the daycare experience.

 

Our "larger" sites take between 8 and 12 children at a time.  These homes typically have a small teaching staff in addition to the owner/operator.  Teacher:child ratios range from 1:3 (for infants and toddlers) to 1:5 (for preschoolers).   In these homes, children participate in both mixed age activities (music, meals, story time, free-play, dramatic play) and age-specific activities (including literacy, pre-math, gross and fine motor, and creative arts projects that are focused on specific developmental milestones).  One of our larger daycare homes, the Baby Ph.D. Dorchester location, functions as a training site, activity hub, and resource center for the entire network. 

Nanny Share Program:

Baby Ph.D. Childcare Network staff are available to assist parents who are interested in sharing a nanny with another family to:

Although each site and nanny-share within the Network operates independently, many Network Providers and the children in their care interact with one another on a regular basis.  We do this through participation in group music, sign-language, creative art, and Spanish classes and through informal play-groups and walks outside and to local parks.

Childcare Contract:

If you choose to utilize a childcare provider from The Baby Ph.D. Childcare Network, you will be asked to sign a formal contract outlining your provider's: fees & payment procedures, hours of care, vacations and holidays, illness policy, emergency procedures, discipline philosophy, meals/feeding procedures, napping policies and procedures and diapering/toilet training procedures.  The contract is meant to be a good faith statement of parents' and providers' mutual expectations regarding the "nuts-and-bolts" of the childcare experience.

Communication:

Parents of children who are enrolled with Baby Ph.D. Childcare Network providers will be given many opportunities to learn about their children’s day-to-day experiences.  Those opportunities include regular conversations with your child's individual provider, review of a daily information log kept on site by your childcare provider, weekly or monthly emails summarizing the educational activities your child is participating in, shared digital photographs, and occasional emails from, and article distribution by, The Baby Ph.D. Network Office.

Admission and Fees:

Our admissions procedures are as follows:

  1. Fill out a preliminary application form and submit it electronically via email attachment to info@babyphd.com 
  2. Speak with, email, or meet with a Baby Ph.D. representative to establish specifics of your childcare needs & learn about current openings.  If no openings exist or the openings we have do not fit your needs, you may be placed on our waiting list.
  3. Visit potential daycare providers whose openings fit your childcare needs, complete site-specific application materials and give a deposit to hold your spot.

Prices for childcare within The Baby Ph.D. Childcare Network vary by provider.  Prices vary according to a number of factors including: the child: caregiver ratio, the age of your child, prior experience of the caregiver, amount of specialized programming available at the site, and hours of care you are requesting.   Parents of children enrolled with Baby Ph.D. Network Providers are also asked to pay a Network Membership Fee.   In 2008-2009 that fee is $150.00.  The fee is payable to Baby Ph.D. Inc. and covers the following:

  • Initial assistance, by Network staff, in finding the right match between your family and one of our childcare providers.
  • Supplemental programming such as sign language, Spanish, creative art, and music instruction that is specifically designed to meet the developmental needs of your child.  Supplemental programming may occur within your provider's home or at another local Baby Ph.D. Network site. 
  • Assistance to families in finding childcare in addition to that which their childcare provider is able to provide (i.e. night babysitters, substitute care when provider is ill).
  • Ongoing professional development seminars and workshops specifically geared to building or maintaining the skills of your childcare provider.

    • Contact us:

    Prospective Parents are encouraged to call the network office at 773-256-0955  or email info@babyphd.com.  We also welcome inquiries from individuals looking for work in childcare and from childcare providers interested in joining the network.

    Baby PhD, Inc., c/o Sarah Diwan, Ph.D.   5411 S. Dorchester Ave.  Chicago, IL  60615  info@babyphd.com 

    (773) 256-0955