OK. We are looking into buying a new assessment system for the childminding business ( @tonyhateley have you heard of it? Called Tapestry   http://tapestry.info/ )

and we think now would be a good time to invest in a tablet for the children to use when they are with us as well as for us to observe and make notes on.

 

How good/easy are the ipads when you are locking them down to restrict usage when children are on them?

Do you need a separate programme to 'secure' the tablet for their use or can it be done sensibly from ios itself without causing too many issues to swap back when an adult needs it?

Might still go for a Galaxy Tab, but the educational programmes, amount wise, are bigger on ipad. (Even though as an i hater it galls me to say it!)

Anyone have experience of giving their ipad locked down to their kids (even though ours would be for the minded kids so ages 2-5) and it being ok and safe?

Yes we have heard of Tapestry Mrs. H. says she knows quite a few minders who use it, we've not got an ipad so I can't comment on that, why not ask on the Childminding Forum http://www.childmindinghelp.co.uk/forum/ Mrs. H. created the forum years ago and sold it when our son died to Childcare.co.uk, it's a very good forum for childminders you'll get some answers to your questions on there I am sure.

Aiming to do that later on. Thought that was the website with your involvement!

1 minute ago, hissingdwarf said:

Aiming to do that later on. Thought that was the website with your involvement!

It got too big for us to handle, it was costing a fortune to run because of the bandwidth. Mrs. H. remains a moderator but that's the only involvement we have now.

 

Mrs. H. says steer clear of Baby Days. lots of minders have had trouble with them.

26 minutes ago, tonyhateley said:

It got too big for us to handle, it was costing a fortune to run because of the bandwidth. Mrs. H. remains a moderator but that's the only involvement we have now.

 

Mrs. H. says steer clear of Baby Days. lots of minders have had trouble with them.

I can imagine it was too big to handle! We've been on there for a couple of years now and you (Well Mrs H) should be very proud of the site.

Baby days wise...I first saw it a couple of years ago when I first left teaching and the teacher in me wanted to jump into it straight away, but decided against it with too much to do with settling into the business side of the job. Now I'm glad I didn't let the teacher side of OCD paperwork (one of the reasons I left the bloody job!) win. Seems far too unwieldy and complicated. We just want to move from formal obs where the wife takes a pic and tells me about it and I sit and write up on a word form and keep daily obs records to a complete 'at point of learning' idea where its all kept in one place and no more creating obs forms for me!

Tapestry seems to do that. The only hurdle has been persuading the wife to stop producing the learning journeys in scrapbooks with photos etc...from now on and they do look great and very special (each pic or piece of work is assessed and cross referenced with eyfs etc...) but they are time consuming and that's her department so to speak. I can do the paperwork apart from them!

Now hopefully it will free up some evenings. 

my tablet is quite good, made by samsung but the battery could be better.

I don't envy you mate, we have never felt better since we packed it in and "retired", it is such a lot of hard work and people don't realise how much paper work there is being a childminder.

30 minutes ago, tonyhateley said:

I don't envy you mate, we have never felt better since we packed it in and "retired", it is such a lot of hard work and people don't realise how much paper work there is being a childminder.

Agreed, but I can guarantee you one thing. There is much less than a teacher! And the added advantage of the commute now involves...me walking downstairs rather than driving into Nottingham for 1 1/2 hrs every morning in the rush hour!

Plus the added advantage of me being more a business manager leaves most of the paperwork to me and the wife gets more time with the chn. I can do most of the paperwork and it takes off her shoulders and it means less dirty nappies for me to do