Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Certification Policy Manual
A provider (this includes the operator or other caregiver who is providing care and supervision to children) may not be engaged in any other activity or occupation during the hours of operation when children are in care that interferes with the adequate care and supervision of children. Daily maintenance of the home / program to ensure compliance with health and safety standards is acceptable. Acceptable tasks include floor sweeping, meal preparation, clean up, laundry, etc. as long as the task does not prevent the provider from supervising, interacting with and guiding children’s behavior.
Home based occupations may not be practiced during the hours of operation. Examples include, but are not limited to, work associated with the sale of cosmetics, food / meals, scrapbooking, jewelry, bags / purses, etc.
Home schooling or children attending a virtual online school that provides educational instruction to a child may take place during the hours of operation if the following conditions are met:
Additional home-based instruction does not take place during the hours of operation when children are in care. An exception can be granted if the certified home only serves school-age children who can participate in the instruction as an activity. See Section 3 for additional guidance regarding requests for exceptions.
The certification agency has been notified, in writing, of the home-schooling or attendance through a virtual school is occurring and the agency has approved the schooling during the hours of operation. See Section 3 for additional guidance regarding exceptions.
COVID 19 update: Child care providers may assist children with school work when they’re doing their virtual learning at the child care program as long as the provider is not providing the main instruction. The school district teachers are still responsible for the curriculum and instruction, not the child care provider. The provider is there to assist the child, like they would with any homework, and there is no certification rule that prohibits this.
This page last updated 08/2020.