What does online registration mean for a home daycare?
For a center with an office manager, "online registration" can mean a whole admissions pipeline. For a home daycare it means something simpler and more useful: a family fills out your enrollment paperwork on their phone, signs it electronically, and you get structured answers instead of a coffee-stained packet.
That's the shape of enrollment in CubbyBook. You build a reusable enrollment form from purpose-built blocks: addresses, contacts, emergency contacts, authorized pickups, and a signature consent section, plus any questions of your own. Starter templates mean you don't begin from a blank page. The Free plan includes one form; Pro includes unlimited forms if you run different programs.
How does a family actually enroll?
You choose the form, type the child's name and the parent's email, and CubbyBook sends the family a private link that works for 7 days. The link opens your form in their browser. Their first visit sets up their parent account, their progress saves as they go, and they finish by agreeing to your consent section and signing.
The application comes back to you as Submitted. If something needs fixing, you request a revision with a note; the family sees your note, corrects just that part, and resubmits. When everything looks right, you confirm. Confirming is the payoff: CubbyBook creates the child, links the parents, and builds the enrollment from what the family typed, contacts, allergies, consents and all. Nobody retypes anything.
What about the kids already in your care?
Long-time families shouldn't get homework. Quick Enrol, in the Add child menu on the Children screen, lets you enter a child's details yourself: name, birth date, schedule, contacts, and any allergies or medical notes. The child is enrolled immediately and no form goes to the parent. Most providers Quick Enrol their current roster in an evening, then use the full flow for new families.
How does this connect to my website?
If you use CubbyBook's free daycare website, the two halves hand off cleanly. The website's contact form and waitlist sign-up capture interested families into your Enquiries inbox. A waitlist sign-up is an enquiry, not an enrollment; no child record is created from the public site, which is exactly what you want from a form strangers can fill in.
When a family is actually joining, you send the private enrollment link. Interest stays public and low-stakes; paperwork stays private and signed. That handoff, enquiry first and e-signature second, is the honest version of "online registration," and it's better than an open form because progress saves, signatures are real, and the revision loop catches mistakes before they become records.
What does it cost, and what about registration fees?
Enrollment is included in the Free plan, with one form template; unlimited templates come with Pro at $15 a month or $149 a year. CubbyBook does not process payments, so if you charge a registration fee or deposit, you keep collecting it the way you do now, by e-transfer or however your families pay. The paperwork goes digital; your money routine stays yours.