ECE Unhinged

About ECE Unhinged

ECE UNHINGED A Podcast for Today’s Early Childhood Educator Real stories, raw conversations, and chaotic, messy, unhinged energy from two early childhood educators with nearly 50 years of combined experience and absolutely no desire to sugarcoat anything. We’re talking burnout, behavior charts that should’ve been banned, impossible expectations, admin nonsense, and the real, ridiculous, beautiful chaos of teaching small humans. New episodes drop biweekly, each followed by After Dark where you can call in or leave prerecorded SpeakPipe messages to be heard on the show. This is where it gets extra spicy, the gloves are off, the stories get wilder, and nothing is off limits. If you’ve ever cried in your car after work, rage texted your coworker, or said “I cannot do this again tomorrow” and still showed up anyway… yeah, this is your podcast. All of the updates and topics are in our Facebook group ECEUnhinged Podcast - Listeners Lounge https://www.facebook.com/share/g/18ZTQFrJNu/

Publisher

Brittany and Crystal

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

17 Dec 2025

Latest episode

7 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

31 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   7 Oct 2026

   UPK_ The Rabbot Hole Continues!

   Colorado UPK sounds simple until you try to make it work in a real classroom. The 15-hour week, the hidden assessments, the confusing enrollment process, and the IEP roadblocks reveal a system that is far more complicated, and far more frustrating, than most parents or teachers realize.Brittany breaks down what educators are actually doing inside UPK classrooms to stay compliant while still keeping four-year-olds engaged, moving, and learning. From the “guided play continuum” to matrix-style assessment tracking, this episode exposes how teachers are squeezing evaluation, curriculum, and play-based learning into just three hours a day.You'll hear how classrooms are being engineered with interest areas, visual transitions, mini lessons, and peer-to-peer learning to survive the UPK crunch, plus why the state’s own benchmarks, funding tiers, and Colorado Shines ratings may be shaping more than anyone is admitting. The conversation also digs into the tension between child-led learning and academic expectations, and why many teachers feel the system claims one thing while demanding another.Then it gets bigger. Brittany lays out how the application process can quietly exclude low-income and rural families, why “universal” preschool is not actually universal in childcare deserts, and how the separate process for children with IEPs creates even more barriers for the families who need help most. The result is a program that looks different depending on your zip code, your internet access, your language, and whether you already know how the system works.This one is for parents, preschool teachers, directors, and anyone trying to understand what UPK really means on the ground. If you’ve ever wondered whether the promise matches the reality, this episode will make you see the whole system differently.

2. 

   23 Sept 2026

   Colorado UPK- The UPK Rabbit Hole Part 2- Follow the Money

   This episode discusses Colorado UPK, CCCAP, childcare funding, and provider economics based on publicly available information and our experiences working in early childhood education. Program rules, funding levels, eligibility, and enrollment policies can change, and individual counties may administer programs differently. We encourage listeners to check current state and county information for the most up-to-date details.We thought we were making one episode about Colorado’s Universal Preschool (UPK) program. Then we started following the money. In this episode of ECE Unhinged, we go down the financial rabbit hole behind UPK and ask some uncomfortable questions: How are childcare centers actually expected to make the numbers work? What happens when public funding covers only part of a child’s care? Where do CCAP, grants, gap fees, and UPK fit together? And why are childcare providers still struggling to keep classrooms staffed and doors open? We dig into the difference between family childcare homes and larger private centers, the financial realities of infant and toddler care, workforce shortages, provider funding, UPK’s limited hours, and what the program actually means for families who need full-day childcare. We also unpack the much-discussed "$6,300 savings" and why that number does not mean parents are receiving a $6,300 check. And then we get to the really complicated part: Colorado’s childcare system can simultaneously have families waiting for assistance while providers report open or underfilled seats. Current statewide data and reporting show just how complicated that picture has become. This isn't a simple "UPK is good" or "UPK is bad" episode. It's us trying to understand the math. Because somewhere between the funding, the promises, the gap fees, the staffing requirements, the waitlists, and the parents trying to make it all work... the math stopped mathing. And yes. We found another rabbit hole. Actually... several. Listen in, then tell us what we're missing. If you work in a public school, private center, family childcare home, or you're a Colorado parent navigating UPK or CCCAP, we especially want to hear your perspective.

3. 

   9 Sept 2026

   Colorado UPK- The Preschool Rabbit Hole Part 1

   Colorado’s Universal Preschool (UPK) program sounded simple… until we started digging. In Part 1 of our UPK rabbit hole, we break down how the program works, who qualifies, the two major legal challenges surrounding UPK, and what Colorado’s own evaluation says about access, quality, teacher qualifications, and enrollment. We also take a closer look at the 15-hour vs. 30-hour conversation—because while UPK generally provides up to 15 tuition-free hours per week, some children may qualify for additional hours based on income and other qualifying factors. We’re sticking to the facts, asking questions, and letting you decide what you think. And yes… there’s a LOT more to this rabbit hole. ECE Unhinged — where early childhood education gets real, messy, and occasionally unhinged.

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Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.