2 minutes from Eagan High, Dakota Hills, and Northview Elementary.

861 Diffley Road in Eagan, on the north side of Diffley just east of the Braddock Trail roundabout. Two minutes from Eagan High School and Dakota Hills Middle School, three from Northview Elementary.

Licensed and enrolling now. Spots go by age, so text with your child's birthday and the start you're hoping for, and Jenny will tell you straight.

Jenny gives you her rates when you text or at the tour, with no enrollment fee and a two-week trial. As a yardstick, the Twin Cities median for infant care is $225 a week at a licensed home and $475 at a center.

You'll need a backup plan with either of us. A center's list runs nine or ten holidays plus training days, before a room closes because two teachers called in. Jenny closes on major holidays and two weeks of vacation a year, with the dates handed to you well ahead, and she doesn't promise hours she can't keep.

It is one adult. That's the point, and it's the risk, so here's what sits behind it. State law says you can walk in any time your child is here, no call ahead. Dakota County shows up unannounced at least once a year and posts what they find where anyone can read it. Everyone in the house over thirteen has a state background study, fingerprints included. Drop in yourself.

Jenny's training file is on the table at your tour, every course and the date. A center room's lead teacher has college credits, and the other adult in that room may be an aide who is sixteen. Here the adult is Jenny, every hour. What the research keeps finding is that how the adult talks to your child matters more than the letters after her name. Stay for twenty minutes and watch.

The honest version: centers do a little better on letters and numbers at kindergarten entry, and the studies trace that to reading every day, almost no screens, and trained adults. All three happen here, plus preschool activities every day. Minnesota's own kindergarten assessment watches how a child handles frustration, asks questions, follows directions and talks with other kids, during play. That's what happens here all day.

Your child will have friends here, a handful of them, the same ones every day, and Jenny knows every one by name and temperament. A center gives more same-age company, and that's real. What Jenny watches for is the toddler getting lost behind the preschoolers, so the youngest gets her attention every single day.

Most centers around here don't have cameras either. What they sell is a locked door and an app. Here you get a conversation at pickup every day, photos in a private group for daycare families, and a law that lets you walk in any time. Come by at ten on a Tuesday without calling.

Fair. This house was inspected by Dakota County for exactly this purpose, and the inspector comes back unannounced every year: outlets, stairs, the yard, the fire plan, where medicines live. Who lives here, and their background studies, are in writing. No pets in the house. The chickens live outside, and the kids watch them from the yard.

Posted hours are 7 am to 5:30 pm, Monday through Friday. If your shift starts early or runs late, say so at the tour and Jenny will tell you whether it fits, which is a conversation you can't have with a center's front desk. What she won't do is promise hours she can't keep.

A four-star center earned something real. Ask Jenny what she measures and how, and judge from that: a daily routine you can watch, reading every day, almost no screens, and a written handbook you can hold her to.

If Jenny is sick, she closes and you hear by the night before. If something happens in the middle of a day, the law has her call you to pick up, and a named adult stays with the kids until you get there. If she ever stops doing this, your contract gives you written notice and she'll help you find a spot. Centers close too, and when one does, every family in the building is looking at the same time.

Fair questions, and the answers are in writing so you can point at the page. Her own kids count against the license, and the state counts them. No pets in the house; the chickens stay outside. The screen rule is in the handbook, and you're welcome to show up and check it. Errands happen on her time, not yours.