Testing Cowork/Coplay in Virgina

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Lucas Cioffi

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Oct 1, 2015, 2:35:25 PM10/1/15

to Coworking and childcare

Hi All,

I'm late to the party. As a software developer who works from home while watching an 11-month old child, I know it's time to try something different. The model my wife and I are exploring setting up here in Charlottesville, VA is one where parents will take shifts watching each other's children.

We welcome feedback on the format:

From 10am-2pm parents can expect 3 hours of quiet time to get work done in an adjacent room. For the other hour, they are helping to watch all the children (1 parent to 4 ratio ratio). Parents are responsible for their own children when it comes to feeding, changing diapers, and naps.

Before 10am or after 2pm (24/7, actually) parents can work from the same room where their child is. In Virginia, if parents are leaving their children for 3 hours or less and are at the same facility as their child, then licensing is not required, fortunately.

The biggest risk seems to be people expressing interest but not signing up when it comes time to pay. To mitigate this risk, we might try 50% off for the first 3 months if the family prepays.

Any other thoughts to help us? Thank you!

Heather Haindel

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Oct 1, 2015, 9:13:40 PM10/1/15

to Coworking and childcare

Hey Lucas,

We are doing something sort of similar in Portland, OR. A "parent cooperative" is not required to be licensed, so we are starting with a 9-1 program where parents take turns volunteering each day. We're modeled mostly off of the coop preschools that are popular here.