My grandson started his first experience with school at Morning Song last year. It has been a…read morewonderful opportunity for him to learn how to socialize with other children and learn in such a creative environment. I totally recommend this preschool!

Morning Song School and Linda, who runs it, are a godsend for our family. There truly are no words…read moreto describe how happy we are to have found it. It is such a warm, welcoming place and a perfect environment for our little one to thrive. The very first time we dropped our four-year-old off, we didn't even get a chance to give him a hug or say goodbye. He ran right in with a quick "bye!" We knew from the moment we met Linda and saw the place that this was something special, and it continues to be just that. We couldn't recommend it highly enough. Run, don't walk! Morning Song is an absolute gift.

My wife toured this daycare and did not like it. The baby room was tucked in a small room and…read morevery cramped, it's awful for babies to be in a claustrophobic surrounding. She also discovered that the building the school is in now was a mortuary for 60 years. Search online the keywords "guidepost mill valley mortuary" I was dismayed that they did not tell us this information during the tour. We the parents should be told so we can decide if it's good for our babies or not. you can also search "mill valley mortuary 270 Miller Ave" and it will show the building was a mortuary.

We started our son at Guidepost in December 2019 and we're so happy we picked this school! There…read moreare a lot of wonderful schools in the area (we looked at 3 preschools on Miller, all within a quarter mile of each other) so in my experience it's all about fit. I'm a big believer that preschool should: 1. Be convenient for parents. Pick up and drop off should work for everyone's schedule and ideally it's an easy "on the way" location. 2. Be the right cultural fit for your family and kid. If your kid needs a lot of outdoor play - great make that a priority! If your kid loves socializing, art, quiet time etc...make sure you talk about those things. My friends had given me a list of 2,464 questions to ask every preschool...which started to overwhelm me a bit. I landed on (after convenience boxes were checked) figuring out how they managed food, play and conflict. So with that in mind we toured all the nearby preschools, looked at pricing and availability, and decided on Guidepost. I knew very little about Montessori going into it, but it turns out it to a perfect fit for our toddler. He's very independent spirited and wants to do things on his own, and the Montessori environment has allowed him to practice all the "grown up" skills and helped him feel so confident and independent. We even changed a bit of our home set up (toy areas, kitchen area) to emulate and support the Montessori approach and it's been wonderful. The staff at Guidepost has been great. Ilsa, the school director, is so responsive and kind. The two main teachers in the toddler room (Currently Brittany and Ellen) are so tender and caring and they have truly taken the time to get to know my son and the things that make him tick. They feed him a healthy snack each day and give him lots of activities, indoor and outdoor, to choose from. My toddler completely adapted in a matter of days and basically shoos me away when he arrives because he's so happy to be at school. Communication from the school is fabulous. I get photos and updates every day with activities and events. Because Guidepost is a venture backed brand the operations are next level. I pay tuition and sign in/out all through an ap to keep things super organized. I can communicate with teachers and administrators over email or through the Transparent Classroom ap, and enrolling required no manual paperwork, posting things in the mail, paper checks or any of the other antiquated systems that many preschools still use. They are well built for the "millennial parent" and they offer amazing hours for working parents. We are extremely happy with Guidepost and plan to send our daughter there starting this summer. I'm thrilled with our decision to go with Guidepost, and am thrilled to have them as another option amongst the many wonderful preschools in and around Mill Valley.

Our son started in the youngest Nitzanim class at the San Rafael JCC preschool. We enrolled him at…read more18mos because he was more than ready! Loved the philosophy, teachers, program, school yard and couldn't have been more pleased. Our daughter started in the Nevatim class at the Tiburon JCC preschool. Every teacher was exceptional with their lesson plans, emergent curriculum and their emphasis on engaging children with their critical thinking skills. That may mean an idea is pulled and developed from the interest of the class and explored more in depth for weeks/months if the interest is still high! The teachers created a warm, nurturing, supportive and engaging environment. Their outdoor learning classroom is incredible! It feels very rural and is beyond special. How often can your child say that it's okay to jump in the mud at school in my boots, we can rinse our boots off ourselves and hear the birds and see the deer on their walk to class? Our son joined his older sister at the Tiburon JCC the following year and both stayed until their graduation / end of year siyum celebrations with Etzim. We are not Jewish but loved the emphasis on the different values that were introduced: kehilah (community), tikkun olam (healing the world) etc. Our children and our family are better having had this preschool experience. I encourage you to book a tour and see for yourself.

we LOVE the jcc tiburon! this was our daughter's second year and our son's first. the teachers are…read moreamazing - so caring, thoughtful and creative. the projects they spearhead and the ways in which they encourage the kids' creativity are incredible. i just feel so lucky to be part of the community and have my kids educated and nurtured by such a thoughtful group of people. as a parent it's also been a wonderful place to meet people! we moved to marin ~1.5 years ago and i feel like i've been here for years. the campus is such a warm welcoming place - it's truly the best!

Mill Valley Nursery School was such an amazing experience for our family. We sent both of our kids…read morethere and not only did the school make us better, more informed parents, but we made some amazing friends as well. It's a very special community. Once your kids get into elementary school, you realize how removed you are from their education, but at MVNS you get to be a part of it. I will forever cherish that time. I highly recommend this preschool!

Been here for almost a year now with our 4 year old Henry and we love it. The grounds are fun, well…read morekept, imaginative, creative, and safe. Teacher Miranda is so solid with there research, experience, and demeanor. The community has been amazing and a true village. Chickens roaming, Pirate Ship looming, and learning happening constantly with the play based curriculum. Would recommend MVNS co op to anyone and their children. Being able to be part of my child's early education and days is invaluable. Danson Drummer Father of Henry(4) @ MVNS

This is the best preschool, and we highly recommend it. Solange is a loving, well-trained,…read morereliable, and experienced caregiver. It is so important for children to be cared for in a loving manner, and to have easy access to a large yard where they can safely learn about nature and about gardening. Solange is also a great cook! Our child loves Solange!

We've been sending our 3.5 year old to Solange's preschool for nearly 2 years now and her younger…read moresister will be joining her soon. Solange creates such a warm environment for learning. Her students love her dearly. She has a montessori teaching credentials and decades of experience teaching preschool. Her curriculum includes advanced concepts like seasons, holidays, countries, gardening and cooking. Solange also has a beautiful indoor/outdoor space with so much light and fresh air. She uses her extensive garden to teach the children about caring for plants, about patience and long term gratification. In true Montessori tradition, Solange also supports their growth and self sufficiency in areas like hygiene, dressing, cleaning, and other fine motor/coordination skills like cutting, tracing, and pasting. Interpersonal skills abound at Solange's. I find my daughter asking me how my heart feels, meaning she's interested I understanding my feelings. She coaches herself to take a breath when upset, and recounts appropriate behavior in group situations 'we don't push our friends'. Overall, we are so glad we found such an incredible teacher for our two girls during these formative years. Please consider sending your child to Solange's Montessori Preschool. Our daughters would like to meet your kiddos!

We ADORE Mighty Bambinis! Our son (4) currently attends and is thriving in this fun-loving,…read morenature-centered program. We've seen his curiosity and joy come alive and every day he looks forward to going to school. Evelyn and her team are incredibly thoughtful about every aspect of the program, focusing on child-led play and social and emotional development support. The teacher to child ratio (1:5) is the best I've seen in Marin and it really shows. 10+ stars if I could!

Mighty Bambinis is completely amazing. Such attentive, skilled, and caring teachers, great…read morelocation, wonderful opportunity for kids to be outside, and perfect, ever changing curriculum responsive to interests of kids. Highly recommended for all kids but especially a great choice for parents considering a TK alternative as there is an academic component but in such a fun way. Evelyn the director is such a wealth of knowledge not just about preschoolers but families in general. Also a great choice for families looking for a bit more community rather than just drop and go. We really enjoyed the camping and family days.

I am a current family at Kumara and I must say I am more pleased with our decision to put our son…read morehere every week. This is truly a magical place! The teachers continue to impress me with the curriculum and the way they handle the children. I have never found a preschool that allows the children to be so hands on. If you have the type of child who likes to experience life, learn new things and have fun this is the school for you. I read the other review and I disagree completely. Siblings are more then welcome there, teachers are very happy and the school is very community oriented. In fact I just enjoyed attending the schools first annual Harvest Festival where all of the children sold things they harvested from the school garden. There was live music, games food and fun. Everyone was invited, friends, family and alumni! I hang out at Kumara for about an hour during pick up time almost every day, I see older former siblings hanging out as well as parents and younger almost students. There was a bit of teacher turn over last year, and there is a new school director however, I am not sure the turn over had any thing to due with the new director. I am sure it was due to life circumstances changing. Like teachers moving away, a sabbatical, a marriage and a career change. In fact one of our new teachers is a very experienced former teacher and the other two are a blessing to have! The one thing I agree on is If you have doubts about this school ask current parents how they feel, I think you would be pleased.

Kumara is such a blessing to working parents. The Kumara community feels like family. it's a truly…read moremagical place.

Our daughter has attended Old Firehouse for just over a year now and we couldn't be happier. Her…read moreteacher leads the class in project learning with student input throughout. They focus on creating a close connection between student and teacher; my daughter has had the same teacher for her entire time at OFS and will continue to until she "steps-up" to kindergarten. Can't wait for my youngest to join her sister there in the fall.

Old Firehouse School has been an amazing experience for our family. Our son started here a year ago…read morefor his final year of preschool, and we wish he had been there the whole time. His teacher is incredibly patient, loving, smart, inquisitive, and he gently pushes the kids to question the world around them. He develops their autonomy, and most importantly, in my opionion, builds the foundation of life-long learning by making kids love learning. Our son's love of art, in particular, has blossomed under both the lead teacher and the amazing support teachers' guidance. There are so many types of learning happening each and every day in their class, and I get the sense that the same is happening in the younger classes as well. The parent teacher conference was almost an hour long masterclass in learning about social-emotional and academic development. The school administration is very responsive and clear in their communication. We can't recommend it highly enough!!!!

We feel incredibly lucky to have found LPJ's San Rafael campus for our 2-year-old daughter. It is a…read morebeautiful preschool, and our daughter is absolutely thriving here. We started in October, so she joined after the beginning of the school year, but she adjusted so quickly. Now, after about seven months, she literally runs into school giggling to see her friends at drop-off. She is also speaking French at home, which has been such a surprise for us. Her teacher, Ms. Florine, is fantastic, warm, engaged, and clearly wonderful with the children. The owner, Ambi, is also incredibly kind and thoughtful, and you can feel how much care has gone into creating this program. One of the things we love most is how many special activities the children have each week. Mondays are cooking, which my daughter LOVES. Tuesdays are music with a special instructor, Wednesdays are ballet/dance, Thursdays are Gym Bus, and Fridays are sports with Coach April. The weekly themes are also so sweet and engaging. Last week, they learned about caterpillars turning into butterflies, and their art projects tied into that theme. The campus itself is truly beautiful. It is on gorgeous land with so much open, sunny outdoor space for the kids to play. There are horses, turkeys, rabbits, and other wildlife, and the children even get to feed and play with bunnies on campus. The school building is also lovely and very well-kept. If you are considering a preschool in Marin, I highly recommend visiting LPJ San Rafael. It is such a special place, and from speaking with other parents, many of us feel grateful to have found it for our children.

We have only the most amazing things to say about LPJ, Ambi the director/owner and the teaching…read morestaff, and we are truly grateful for the time our son spent there. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in a French immersion preschool program (but also totally fine for non-French speaking parents). Some thoughts: - The teachers are excellent, highly qualified, warm and consistent - There is enriching special extra programming throughout the week (gym bus, music, dance, cooking, art) to broaden kids' horizons. This is on top of the regular curriculum taught throughout the year. - The class sizes were great - small enough to feel like the teachers could give our son dedicated attention if/when he needed it and big enough so that he had a good number of friends to play with. - The communication between the school and parents was always transparent and warm, and we got plenty of updates on how our son was doing. Ambi and her team are very well organised. It's always a nerve wracking thing to entrust other people with your kids, especially when it's your first, but we always just felt so comfortable with LPJ. You can tell how much the staff care about the littles, and how much the kids learn and grow when they're there. For reference, our son attended LPJ for two years - first as a part time/half day kiddo in the Piaf (age 2) class, and then full time in the Hiboux (age 3) class. Thank you LPJ for the amazing community you've built and for creating such a wonderful place for littles.

Terra's Pre-K has been such a gift for our family. The teachers are incredibly talented--they truly…read morehold the space and thoughtfully curate each child's experience. They balance play, project work, language immersion, and earth education in a way that meets kids right where they are. The community is warm and connected. Terra has matured in all the right ways over the years and still carries the creativity and flexibility of a forward-thinking program. It's a place where kids grow in confidence, curiosity, and joy.

Terra Mandarin Preschool knocks it out of the park in every way…read more Our 3.5-year-old daughter is a current student. Our family has toured - and our children have attended - several Mandarin-immersion programs in the past. We have come to expect that a school strong in Mandarin-education will be weak in other areas, since the teaching pool is small and Mandarin options are so limited. So we were completely blown away when we toured Terra Mandarin Preschool and realized that: *The teachers are not only native Mandarin-speakers, but they are also some of the warmest, kindest people we have ever met. They are also highly-educated (both hold Master's degrees, one is a concert pianist who welcomes the children in the morning with beautiful improvised music, another is a Reggio Emilia expert who learned Reggio Emilia from the founders of the method in the town of Reggio Emilia, Italy). Our daughter absolutely *adores* the teachers, and so do we! *The classroom environment is just lovely. The class is small (but not too small), the teachers are gentle and engaging, the atmosphere is relaxed, comforting and calm. There are beautiful full-wall windows that bring in lots of natural light. The classroom is clean, well-organized and thoughtfully set up. It's a wonderful place to be. *The program is really 100% immersion (unlike others who market their programs as immersion but end up speaking English much of the time). Because the teachers are so disciplined about speaking only Mandarin, the children speak Mandarin too. And it is crazy how fast they pick it up! *The Reggio Emilia part is amazing, I was only vaguely familiar with RE before starting here, but from my layperson's perspective RE means the teachers teach topics based on the childrens' interests. A few of the kids were constantly playing firefighter, so the class studied firefighting. They visited a fire station and asked the firefighters questions they had formulated beforehand, they had a fire drill (which my daughter absolutely loved!) They got firefighter costumes and tools and role-played firefighting. They studied which tools a firefighter uses and why. My daughter brought home lots of firefighting artwork. Other project units were the study of bunnies (driven by the childrens' love for the two school bunnies, one of whom became a permanent resident of the classroom so the students could observe and learn about her), and the study of doctors. The teachers work closely with us parents to coordinate teaching in the home and classroom. The result of all this is that the learning is so exciting to the children, it is full of wonder and exploration rather than being forced, and it totally sticks! I have never come across such a high-quality program on every level. We feel so blessed and grateful to be part of it!