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Frequently Asked Questions

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Clubhouse Kids is a Maryland State Department of Education – Office of Child Care (MSDE-OCC) licensed child-care company, and a proud participant of MSDE's - Maryland Excels "Check for Quality Child Care" program.

In addition, our curriculum is aligned with MSDE's focus on Early Childhood Education and includes exemplary safety, security, and cleanliness practices that meet or exceed all state, local, and National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) guidelines.

Clubhouse Kids provides high-quality Child Care and Summer Camp services to area children in Frederick County, Maryland. We provide this care at our 5 Frederick, MD child care centers. Four in-school-located child care centers, and one all-ages "stand-alone" center:

Clubhouse Kids @ Gas House Pike

Clubhouse Kids @ Carroll Creek Montessori Public Charter School

Clubhouse Kids @ Frederick Classical Charter School

Clubhouse Kids @ Monocacy Valley Montessori Public Charter School

Clubhouse Kids @ Sabillasville Environmental School - A Classical Charter

Plus our Pick-Up & Drop-Off Schools: Glade Elementary School, North Frederick Elementary School, Walkersville Elementary School

Clubhouse Kids was formed in Maryland in 2012, and opened our first location in 2013. We welcome you to schedule a visit to see why our child care program is the right choice for your family!

Yes, Clubhouse Kids is a Maryland State Department of Education – Office of Child Care (MSDE-OCC) licensed child-care company, and a proud participant of MSDE's - Maryland Excels "Check for Quality Child Care" program.

Clubhouse Kids main center is open from 6:30am to 6:30pm daily, except scheduled closings on specific national holidays, and occasional emergencies such a extreme snow events, etc.

Our in-school centers also open at 6:30am daily and close when students leave for their school day. Then each in-school center reopens after the students’ school day ends, and remains open until 6:30pm daily.

We currently serve children who are 24-months-old through 5th or through 8th grade, depending on at which Clubhouse Kids location a child is enrolled.

At our Gas House Pike center we previously served children 6-weeks-old through 23-months-old as well, but closed our infant rooms effective July 2023.

In early summer of 2024 we will decide whether or not we will reopen our infant rooms, and if so, we will place an announcement on our website and our Facebook and Instagram pages.

Clubhouse Kids has strict policies & procedures in place regarding the cleanliness of our centers and frequent hand washing for staff & children. Those policies & procedures include closely following Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) & Maryland Department of Health (MDH) guidelines of at least 20 seconds of lathering soap & water on the hands before rinsing, as well as following other cleanliness guidelines set forth by MSDE and MDH.

We know that cleanliness is key to operating FUN & SAFE child care programs!

In addition, each of our teachers have completed hours and hours of classroom study in the area of early childhood education, and many have completed, or are in the process of completing, their Bachelor's degree.

For all Clubhouse Kids child care center staff, the hiring process includes:

A mandatory Criminal Background Check conducted at the State and Federal level.

An additional Background Check is then also conducted by the Maryland State Department of Education – Office of Child Care (MSDE-OCC)

A complete medical evaluation including a TB test

Illicit Drug Use Testing (random & continuing)

At least two personal and two professional references

Critical thinking evaluations

An office interview, and an on-site training interview and/or orientation

Upon employment with Clubhouse Kids, staff members must agree to maintain a specific number of continuing education hours per year (the number of hours is determined by the MSDE-OCC, and by the employee’s job title/position).

In addition, we provide our child care center Teachers and Directors with:

CPR Certification

First Aid Certification

Medication Administration Certification

Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Planning Certification

Continuing Education Courses to equal at least 12 credit hours annually

Assistance with credentialing through the MSDE-OCC

Yes. There is a Parent & Child Care Center Agreement that is a part of the Registration & Enrollment packet that must be agreed to, and signed for each child. This agreement outlines your child’s selected program, enrolled days & times of attendance, tuition costs & due dates, and the principal policies & procedures of the Clubhouse Kids program.

We understand, child care can be expensive. And we have long strived to remain either the lowest priced, or among the lowest priced child care companies in the area while providing an amazing program filled with top-notch curriculums, fun and educational clubs, games, and field trips, in a clean and safe center for our families.

We are proud to say that we have maintained that goal, even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. For current tuition rates, please either contact a Clubhouse Kids center or download an enrollment packet for the currently enrolling school year or summer camp period from our website.

Yes, Clubhouse Kids is proud participant of Maryland's Child Care Scholarship program.

Eligible families may receive payment vouchers from CCS Central to cover part, or all, of their child care tuition costs.

Upon receiving approval from CCS Central for child care voucher assistance:

Families take the voucher to a child care provider that participates in the Maryland child care subsidy assistance program. The voucher is a signed agreement between the State, provider and parent.

The child care provider then returns the signed voucher to CCS Central for processing.

Once the child begins care, the child care provider submits an invoice to CCS Central for payments and is reimbursed for the subsidy portion of the payment by the State.

CCS Central then begins to pay the agreed assistance amount to the child care provider regularly.

The family is responsible for paying the weekly State-assigned co-payment, if any, directly to the child care provider as per the child care provider’s payment schedule.

We realize that child care can be expensive, particularly for multi-children families. During school year care, we offer a "sliding scale" sibling discount for siblings enrolled in our care. The highest priced sibling enrollment plan pays regular price, but after that, the more siblings enrolled, the higher the discount! The sibling discounts do not apply to our drop-in care.

Available discounts include:

Sliding-scale sibling discount (no other child care center in the area offers a sliding-scale sibling discount!)

Military discount

College-enrolled parent discount

Referral discount

Our I-Spy Game discount

Our weekly tuition payment schedule proceeds as follows:

Invoices are emailed to account holders weekly on Mondays.

Tuition payments are due weekly, two days later on Wednesdays.

A grace period lasts through each Friday night at midnight (two days after each Wednesday due date) before a Late Payment Fee would be applied to accounts that have not paid a payment that was due.

We accept:

MasterCard

VISA

American Express

personal checks

money orders

cashier’s checks

e-checks/ACH payments

Cash payments are not accepted.

Payments are paid through our billing & attendance system. Parents can either enroll in automatic payments, or can manually log in to their account to make payments each week.

As another option, parents can contact the Clubhouse Kids main office with their payment information and have a Clubhouse Kids staff person manually process the payment.

Yes, the vast majority of parents enroll in automatic payments.

When enrolled in automatic payments, you will receive a regular invoice each week outlining the amount to be automatically processed. After a successful payment has been processed, a receipt will be automatically emailed to the primary account holder.

In the event of a payment being declined, an email notification to advise the parent of the decline would be automatically emailed to the primary account holder.

There are many ways to enroll your child in Clubhouse Kids care!

The easiest ways are to either send us a message through the Contact page of our website, or call us at (301) 685-5100 and speak with one of our staff members. If you receive no answer and land in voicemail, PLEASE LEAVE A MESSAGE! Our staff may be busy playing with the kids when you call, but they will be sure to return your call as soon as possible.

If you would like a tour of our facility, or have questions specific to your family's needs, please go to our Contact page and let us know.

To properly enroll your child, a Registration & Enrollment packet must be completed and turned-in to Clubhouse Kids. Additionally, specific required Maryland forms must be completed and turned-in prior to your child's first day in care.

Feel free to go to the Forms page on our website and review our Registration & Enrollment Packets to get a head start on everything! :-)

Children enrolled in full-time 5-day Before and After School Care can attend Clubhouse Kids care on no-school days when Clubhouse Kids is open…at no additional charge (including snow days)!

(The last time we checked, our primary area competitor, the YMCA, was charging $65 per child, per day when this occurs! That adds up to several hundred dollars over the school year!)

Children enrolled in Before School Care Only, or in After School Care Only, may also attend care at no additional charge on no-school days that are their enrolled days-of-the-week, but please confirm the details with the center Director for more information.

Not usually! Of course, we are closed on national holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, etc., but we are open on all FCPS teacher professional days and teacher work days, and on many snow days!

It depends on the severity of the weather, but in most cases we follow the open/close decision followed by the Frederick County Public Schools Administrative Offices.

FCPS Schools will close relatively easily in order to ensure the safety of the school busses on the roads, but it takes a bit more to get FCPS Admin Offices and Clubhouse Kids to close.

Not for a child who is attending on a their normal enrolled day-of-the-week. As we stated above regarding no-school days:

Children enrolled in full-time 5-day Before and After School Care can attend Clubhouse Kids care on no-school days when Clubhouse Kids is open…at no additional charge (including snow days)!

(The last time we checked, our primary area competitor, the YMCA, was charging $65 per child, per day when this occurs! That adds up to several hundred dollars over the school year!)

Children enrolled in Before School Care Only, or in After School Care Only, may also attend care at no additional charge on no-school days that are their enrolled days-of-the-week, but please confirm the details with the center Director for more information.

Children attending our school-age summer camp must be at least 6-years-old on their first day in camp (and already attended kindergarten), and cannot be older than 12-years-old (and should not have attended 7th grade yet).

Remember, our school-age summer camp includes three field trips per week, which consists of two trips to the pool, and one “bigger” trip each week to places such as Chuck E. Cheese, Sky Zone, Westview Cinemas movie theater, etc. So, the enrolled children must be mature enough for field trips, but not too old that they become bored. :-)

Our little ones who are younger than school-age have their own summer camp specials at the center! This usually includes a Petting Zoo that visits our center each summer, complete with a pony for pony rides, goats, pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, and more, as well as weekly visits from Kona Ice, and visiting specialists like magicians, clowns, and more! Chreck with the center Director for more details.

Once our school-age summer camp enrollment opens each spring, parents review our Calendar of Scheduled Activities, and then select their preferred weeks in which they would like to enroll their children.

They complete a summer camp enrollment packet and turn it in to Clubhouse Kids.

A non-refundable registration fee is due with the enrollment packet, as well as a non-refundable $35 deposit for each week enrolled. Each $35 deposit holds your child's spot in that camp week, and is applied towards each camp week's full weekly tuition. Then the remaining balance for the enrolled camp weeks is due according to the payment schedule through summer.

For example, a child enrolling in camp weeks 1-8 will have a registration fee due upon enrollment as well as a $35 deposit for each week enrolled which equals $280 total for the camp week 1-8 deposits. These enrollment fees are non-refundable regardless of reason.

Remember, summer camp weeks fill fast!

Generally, several camp weeks are usually full by mid-May each year. So, if you plan to enroll, don't delay or you may find that your selected weeks are full!

Once camp begins, (refer to the above mentioned Calendar of Scheduled Activities) each week will follow a fun theme! Theme activities will occur at the center each Monday and Friday. Trips to the pool will occur each Tuesday and Thursday. And our bigger trips will occur each Wednesday throughout summer.

The kids have a blast!