Just for a perspective (in florida at least) the daycare where my daughter went was 80.00 a week for a full day. I will say that was the most reasonable place I could find ... most were 130 - 150 a week at a minumum. And, coincidentally enough she LOVED the daycare that was only 80.00 a week and didnt offer all the so called extras that the one she went to recently offered that was 140 a week. The people were much nicer and they did a lot with what they had like camping in the daycare with a sheet and a story that went along with it etc. Anyways... it would depend on what all you are doing. Are you providing the food and essentials or will the mom be providing that? (it is probably best unless you really trust the responsibility of this mom to plan on feeding the kids because my mom used to babysit and get into jams where moms would not send the food and you cant very well not feed the kids but you are losing money because you are feeding a bunch of extra kids) And, are you just doing this because you want to for a little extra money and to help out a friend... or are you doing it to supplement your income and well run a business. If it is just as a favor and some extra money I might lower the price a bit...but otherwise that is more than reasonable especially since you are throwing in two extra kids sometimes. If you are looking at it like a business opportunity during the summer... I would make sure to take into consideration tardiness with mom especially if you do not fully trust responsibility of mom and also remember things like if you have a pool or plan on going to the beach...it may be in your best interest to get some sort of waver in case something happens (again this is assuming you are not close to the mom) Just my two cents.

I live in Illinois and for daycare we pay $100 a week. This is a discounted price that me and the in home daycare provider settled on based on the fact that we couldnt afford more than that.

We are lucky enough that my cousin (15) lives about 10 minutes away and on weekends she babysits for us sometimes. We pay her $9/hr which everybody tells me is high to have a 15 year old babysit, but she is my cousin and we are trying to help her with spending money.

I hope that helps!

Thanks for your responses. $100 a week seems pretty cheap to me if it is full-time childcare! How old are your children?

The kids I may babysit for are not a friends children. I put up an ad locally advertising babysitting in my home. Figured I could take 1 or 2 younger children or a few schoolage children. I just want a little extra spending money to do stuff on weekends with my kids and thought that babysitting during the week would be easy(since I am a teacher and used to taking care of 25+ kids all day!). We usually go to free activities during the week in the summer (library activities, the park, swimming in our pool, etc.) so I figured bringing a few kids with me would not hurt! And it is all in walking distance from our home. And I figured that my kids would play with the other kids and they would all have fun.

in that case I would say those prices are more than fair especially when you throw in the extra two kids. But, like I said before since you are dealing with strangers I would consider a release form with the free activities you are planning or something like that to cover yourself just in case something happens. And, definately, keep in mind late pick ups and food issues. These were the big deals when my mom was babysitting.... and eventually the reason why she stopped.

in that case I would say those prices are more than fair especially when you throw in the extra two kids. But, like I said before since you are dealing with strangers I would consider a release form with the free activities you are planning or something like that to cover yourself just in case something happens. And, definately, keep in mind late pick ups and food issues. These were the big deals when my mom was babysitting.... and eventually the reason why she stopped.

In my state you have to be a licensed day care provider in order to take care of children (even only one child) in your home for money. It probably wouldn't be worth all the trouble of getting the inspections and applying for the permit just for the summer.

We have a nanny for the summers and give her $10 an hour for 3 kids plus gas money and reimburse for outings. It's spendy, but the kids adore her.
For my 3 year old during the year I pay $585 a month for in home care, M-F from 7:30 to 4:30.

I would suggest getting on Craigslist and searching for nanny/in hone pricing. It will give you a good idea what the going rate in your area is.

My neighbor charges $100 a week. That's pretty standard in our area unless you want to go to a "preschool" which is usually $125-$150 and has a curriculum- many have pools and music and language lessons as well.