Tom Copeland’s Books
About Tom Copeland
Tom Copeland founded this blog in 2010 and retired in 2022. He has been the nation's leading trainer, author, and advocate for the business of family child care care since 1981.
Tom has a law degree and has presented hundreds of business workshops for family child care providers across the country. From 1981 to 2009, he worked at Resources for Child Caring in Minnesota (now called Think Small), where he was director of Redleaf National Institute for 15 years.
Tom has written nine books on the business of family child care published by Redleaf Press, a division of Resources for Child Caring.
He was on the board of directors of First Children's Finance, a non-profit organization providing low interest loans and consulting and technical assistance to help family child care providers succeed. They operate in Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, North and South Dakota, Kansas, Missouri, and Texas. Here are some YouTube videos of Tom talking about his work with this organization and the business of family child care.
Tom graduated from Macalester College (BA) in 1972 and from William Mitchell College of Law (JD) in 1980. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with his wife Diane.
Family Child Care Record-Keeping Guide
Lists over 1,000 allowable business deductions and a comprehensive description of how to organize your records to save time and money.
2021 Family Child Care Tax Workbook and Organizer
Published annually every January, it covers new tax law changes and will guide you through all the tax forms so you can prepare your own tax return. This edition is for filing your 2020 tax return.
2021 Family Child Care Tax Companion
Published annually every January, it is written for child care providers who use tax preparers. It consists of a series of worksheets to fill out and give to your tax preparer so he/she will not make major mistakes filing your tax return. This edition is for filing your 2020 tax return.
Family Child Care Contracts and Policies
Everything you need to know about how to establish a business relationship with parents and write an effective contract and policies. Includes a CD with numerous examples of contract and policy terms you can cut and paste to create your own Word document.
Family Child Care Marketing Guide
(Second Edition $18.95) - Learn how to promote your program to parents by identifying and communicating your program's benefits. Includes chapters on using social media, setting rates, and competing with child care centers and informal caregivers. New chapter on Internet Marketing: Facebook, Craigslist, Google Places, YouTube, and much more.
Family Child Care Legal & Insurance Guide
Learn how to protect yourself and your business with insurance (business liability, homeowners, car, and business property) as well as choosing a business structure, hiring a lawyer, and more.
Family Child Care Money Management and Retirement Guide
(First Edition $18.95) - Learn how to save more money to meet short and long-term goals, better manage your money, choose the right IRA, and implement the five rules of investing.
Family Child Care Business Planning Guide
(First Edition $19.95) - This book is primarily for new providers to help them establish a start-up plan and business plan to get off on the right foot.
Family Child Care Inventory-Keeper
This logbook will enable you to track all of your household furniture and appliances so you can depreciate them as a business expense.
The Business of Family Child Care
- This 25 minute DVD features Tom and Jeanna Beker, Director of the Soho Center, along with many family child care providers talking about record keeping and contracts. It is designed to be used by trainers, licensing agencies, Food Program sponsors, Child Care Resource and Referral agencies and individual providers.
2022 Family Child Care Tax Workbook and Organizer
Published annually every January, it covers new tax law changes and will guide you through all the tax forms so you can prepare your own tax return. This edition is for filing your 2020 tax return.
Tom Copeland Presents The Business of Family Child Care: Record-Keeping
This three-hour DVD shares everything I know about record-keeping for new and experienced family child care providers. Designed to be used by both trainers and providers it covers deductions, Time-Space%, Food Program, and much more!
Managing Legal Risks in Early Childhood Programs: How to Prevent Flare-Ups from Becoming Lawsuits
(First Edition, $27.95) - This book is for child care center directors and program administrators. This guide will help you prevent and manage problems with potential legal consequences, reduce the risk of a lawsuit, and assist you in preparing a strong defense should your program be sued.
Family Child Care Business Curriculum
I've written five business curriculum books to help trainers teach family child care providers the fundamentals of operating their business. The curriculum books include:
Family Child Care Record Keeping and Taxes
Family Child Care Contracts and Policies
Family Child Care Legal and Insurance Issues
Family Child Care Money Management and Retirement
Each curriculum binder contains four classes that cover the topic. Each class consists of a power point and handouts (on a CD), learning objectives, teacher notes on each slide, and a trainer's guide that includes teaching tips, commonly asked questions and answers, a quiz, and classroom activities.
Other
Business Administration Scale for Family Child Care Providers, by Teri Talan and Paula Jorde Bloom
This book is a ten-part tool that measures the business practices of family child care providers. The authors used my books as a guide to establish these tools.
The Centralia Tragedy of 1919: Elmer Smith and the Wobblies
I wrote this biography of a labor lawyer that graduated from the same college and law school that I did. He was a celebrated radical attorney who worked on behalf of the Industrial Workers of the World union. Here's a podcast of a talk I gave about Elmer Smith at the St. Paul public library:
This is a 1986 article I wrote about a labor union organizer that was published in the Pacific Northwest Quarterly.