Diaries for Family Day Care

Very. You can record planned, spontaneous, or routine-based learning — however your day naturally flows. Use colour, symbols, or stickers to link to outcomes or highlight learning goals. There’s no one right way to use it.

Yes. They help you meet Regulations 73–76 and Quality Area 1, providing clear, consistent evidence of learning and reflection.

If you prefer a single diary that keeps everything together, the Family Day Care Combined Compliance and Programming Diary is your best choice.

It combines your compliance records, programming, and reflection into one easy-to-manage book — perfect for educators who want to simplify their daily practice without losing depth or structure.

The Combined Diary merges the best of both worlds:

• From the Weekly Programming & Reflection Diary, it carries forward the Butler Method — linking your program, critical reflection, and intentional teaching.
  
• From the FDC Compliance Diary, it brings all your health, safety, and wellbeing checklists, along with your daily, weekly, and monthly compliance tools.
  

The key difference is how you plan:

The Combined Diary uses a monthly programming and reflection spread, which often suits Family Day Care’s flexible, child-led rhythm.

If you prefer to plan week-by-week, the Weekly Programming & Reflection Diary (used alongside the Compliance Diary) might be a better fit for your style.

Both options support you to stay organised, confident, and assessment ready — it simply comes down to how you like to document your learning journey.

Absolutely. Coordinators often use the same structure to support and monitor educators’ documentation and reflections. There is also a dedicated FDC Co-ordinator's Diary for those managing up to 25 educators.