This guide covers setting up before-school and after-school care with recurring monthly billing. Complete Account Setup (Start Here) before this guide. Estimated time: 25 minutes.
Before you start — have these ready
Program hours (before-care start time, after-care end time)
Monthly pricing tiers (e.g., 2-day, 3-day, 4-day, 5-day rates)
Drop-in rate (if you allow drop-ins)
Your billing date — the day of the month families are charged
Full school-year calendar with all holidays and closure days
Step 1: Create your extended care program
Go to Programs in the left navigation and click Add Program
Enter the Program Name (e.g., "2025–26 After-School Care")
Select Extended Care as the program type
Set the program start and end dates (typically first and last day of school)
Set daily hours: before-care start time and/or after-care end time
Click Save
Step 2: Configure pricing
Extended care families typically enroll for a set number of days per week.
Open your program and click Edit
Click Advaned Pricing for each option — e.g., 2 Days/Week, 3 Days/Week, 4 Days/Week, 5 Days/Week
Set the monthly price for each tier
If you offer both before-care and after-care, create separate activities for each, or a combined rate
Click Save
Drop-in rate
In the Pricing section, enable Drop-In
Set your per-day drop-in rate
Families can register for individual drop-in days from their family portal, or you can add them manually
✅ You're done when: Pricing appears as enrollment options on the family registration form.
Step 3: Set your billing schedule
Extended care billing runs automatically each month on the date you choose.
Go to Settings → Billing
Under Billing Day, choose the day of the month (1st–28th) that families are charged
Enable Billing Notifications — families receive an email reminder 3 days before each charge
Click Save
⚠️ Important: Make sure your Stripe account is fully connected before enabling automatic billing (see Getting Paid: Stripe Setup). Families will be charged automatically every month once billing is active.
Step 4: Add your school-year calendar
Extended care doesn't run on holidays or closure days. Add these so attendance tracking is accurate and families aren't billed for days care wasn't provided.
Go to Activities→ Season → Edit Season
Click No Activity Day for each holiday, break, and PD day
Mark whether the closure affects before-care, after-care, or both
Click Save — families are automatically notified of added closures
💡 Tip: Add your full year of closures at the start of the school year. The family-facing calendar updates immediately so families can plan ahead.
Step 5: Enable family self check-in
Self check-in removes the front-desk bottleneck during busy morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up.
Go to Seup → stay in the general info section and scroll down to Attendance.
Choose your verification method: PIN, last-name lookup, or QR code
Decide on your setup: shared kiosk mode (great for a tablet at the door) or family app check-in
Click Save
💡 Tip: A low-cost wall-mounted tablet near the entrance makes an excellent kiosk. Set it to guided access mode so families can only access the Homeroom check-in screen.
✅ You're done when: You can log in as a test family account and successfully check a student in and out.
Step 6: Handling drop-ins and schedule changes
Adding a drop-in day
Families can add drop-in days from their family portal, or you can add them manually:
Find the student in your roster and click their name
Click Add Drop-In and select the date
The drop-in charge is added to their next billing cycle automatically
Changing a family's schedule tier
Go to Families and open the family's account
Click Edit Enrollment on their extended care record
Change their pricing tier to the new schedule
The new pricing takes effect on the next billing date
💡 Tip: For mid-month changes, issue a prorated credit or one-time charge from the family's Billing tab.
➡️ Next step: See Getting Paid: Stripe Setup if you haven't connected your bank account yet, then Going Live: Invite Families.