Welcome!

Conchitas Licensed Childcare Program Family Document Center

Tuition Matrix

In acknowledgement of the many ways that families have access to financial means, and recognition of the benefits of nature-play for EVERYONE, we offer a sliding scale tuition for all of our programs. Cost should never be a limiting factor for participation and financial support is always available for families that need it.

Supporting Community - at this level, we ask families that are in a stable financial position to make an additional donation to their tuition to support equitable nature access in our community

Full Tuition - this is the cost of tuition for our programs and what would be covered with a childcare waiver

Community Access - at this level, we hope to provide access to our programs for families that need additional financial support

Card to Culture - We are proud to participate in Mass Cultural Council's Card to Culture program in collaboration with the Department of Transitional Assistance, the Department of Public Health's WIC Nutrition Program, the Massachusetts Health Connector, and hundreds of organizations by making cultural programming accessible to those for whom cost is a participation barrier.  EBT and WIC cardholders can participate in Conchitas nature explores and meetup programs with their families at no cost. Use the code C2C at registration checkout. See the complete list of participating organizations offering  EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare discounts.  

It is our goal to make our programs tuition free. While we work on funding this, we are able to offer sliding scale tuition to ensure equitable access to our programming and at this time are holding 2 spaces/program for families enrolling at the community access level. In addition, we are pleased to accept both State and Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal childcare vouchers.

We also have an enrollment fee of $50 (sliding scale) that covers the outdoor gear and equipment we will provide to ensure your child(ren) are safe and comfortable outdoors year-round.

The following tuition rates are for our half-day urban forest school sessions. We offer two half-day sessions - morning (8:30-11:30AM) and afternoon (2:30-5:30PM) where 80-90% of the program takes place outdoors year-round. Extended care is available outside of these sessions, including full-day care, and generally is charged using an hourly rate ranging from $8-$12/hour. For full-day childcare, we will work with your family to agree on a daily rate based on your needs.

Enrollment Process

We’re SO glad that our programs are of interest to you and your family! While our half day programs are licensed and meet all of the standards set forth through the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, we have our own approach to childcare and nature-based education that we bring to all of our programs.

Making sure our programs are a good fit for your child and family are the most critical first step! We usually address this by asking you to complete an application for enrollment and scheduling a family visit to our outdoor classroom to connect, play and show you around.

If you decide you’d like to move forward with enrollment in one of our licensed childcare programs, here are the steps we will need to complete together to finalize enrollment prior to your child(run) starting in one of our programs.

  1. You will be given a private link to register your child for a Conchitas program in our registration platform, Sawyer. This will allow you to set up payment for your program tuition, and to create a profile for your family and make it easy and accessible to register for other future Conchitas programs. This step will also complete the activity waiver for your child(ren).

  2. You will also be provided with a packet of paper forms that will need to be completed prior to your child(ren) starting in one of our licensed programs. This information will be stored securely by our program staff, and updated annually to ensure that our staff has the most current information to keep your child(ren) safe.

Conchitas Family Manual

Please reference this document for information on our programs, expectations and organizational culture.

Learner Gear & Supply List

This list contains all of the gear and supplies that we will require for your young learner to ensure they are safe and comfortable outdoors all year. If you are not able to provide any of this, we will provide it for you - please let us know what you need by emailing familysupport@conchitas.org

Year round:

Rain suit, or raincoat and rain pants

Rain/mud boots (slip on)

Water shoes or rubber shoes (like Crocs)

Fleece jacket or thick sweatshirt

Fleece-lined pants or thick sweatpants

Comfortable closed-toe sneakers 

Cotton socks

Sun hat or baseball cap

Winter months (Nov-April):

Lined winter hat that covers ears

Lined mittens

Waterproof gloves/mittens

Winter jacket

Snow pants or overalls

Snow/winter boots (size up for thick socks and growing feet)

Wool socks

Summer months (June-August):

Quick-dry shorts or bottoms

Looking for a gear list for different climates? Check out this one from Take Me Outside.

We also want to support your entire family getting outdoors as well! We host an outdoor gear swap with our program families, and with our community. If there are things that you need please let us know and we will work with you to find it. If you have items to share, please let us know and we’ll help find them a new home.

Emergency Action Plan (EAP) & Operations Manual

This document contains our organizational internal staff policies, procedures and protocols for incident and emergency response.