Imagine paying this amount of money to watch your grandchild's sense of self deteriorate and his…read moreemotional world crumble.

My husband and I could not imagine a more idyllic environment for our daughter in which to be…read moreeducated during these formative years! Spring Hill is an absolutely wonderful school. Our daughter started in the preschool program at age 3. She will be starting 1st grade in the Fall, and we definitely plan on her continuing for many years to come. In general, I think any school community is comprised of four groups--leadership, teachers, students, and parents--and Spring Hill has blown us away with the quality of each of these groups at their school. The head of the school, Shaharazad, is nothing short of a trailblazer, which she has especially demonstrated with her leadership since the pandemic. Her authentic passion and care for the students are evident in all of our interactions with her. Additionally, my husband and I wish we had the kind of teachers our daughter has had at Spring Hill! We have loved each teacher that has taught our daughter. From what we've seen, they all provide their students a high level of individualized care and support and exhibit incredible passion and teaching skills in their classrooms. In addition to encouraging personalized learning, creativity, connection to nature, and pursuing individual areas of interest, Spring Hill also places a strong emphasis on what it means to be an engaged and compassionate member of our global community, and I think this makes a genuine difference. Not only has our daughter befriended many of her classmates, we also truly enjoy the company of the other parents. The opportunities for us to connect with other families, either on playdates or group activities, have always been enjoyable, and our genuine appreciation for the other students and families only continues to grow with time. My husband and I feel blessed that Spring Hill is an option for us. I really believe it offers one of the highest quality educational experiences in the area, and we are so grateful our daughter is there!

We absolutely love Rainbow Bridge Montessori! My son started here right after his 2nd birthday, and…read morethe positive effects were almost immediate. His manners, his helpfulness, his patience, his independent play, his friendly sociability - all blossomed with the help and gentle guidance of his wonderful teachers! After keeping my son at home with me for the first two years of his life, I was concerned he would have trouble adjusting to a group environment, but he has absolutely flourished and is excited about school and seeing his friends and teachers every morning. We cherish the photo updates we receive throughout the week of whatever the outdoor seasonal activities the kids are doing, along with their regular engaging classroom work. We love this school so much.

My daughter started at the preparatory class last February, when she was 2.5yrs old. After a few…read moreweeks, I started to hear her say please and thank you. She started helping me with the dishes and asking if we could sit outside to eat. She would tell me about the songs she is learning and teach them to me. Now she's in the primary class, and I couldn't be happier. She just asked me tonight if I could show her California. I google-imaged it. She traced it with her finger, on my phone! Now, I'm certain the kids aren't tracing states on I-Phones in the classroom, but the fact that my 3-year old daughter wanted to see California and was curious about it is so fantastic. She is curious about everything now, she loves books, music, puzzles and spending time outside. I am so pleased that when she's not with me, she's at Rainbow Bridge.

Wonderful teachers in a cute school. Full Curriculum is rotated monthly and teachers are friendly…read moreand caring. Spanish is also taught

My daughter received a puncture wound and nasty permanent scar in the center of her forehead from…read morethe faulty playground equipment there. Director Jennifer Easterman showed zero empathy and when I went to visit the site found one of the teachers taking a nap outside!! We removed our daughter from this school and found a positive peaceful protected space at Acqua Montessori in Terra Linda.

We love love LOVE River. Our oldest went there from K to 5th and the only reason we didn't let her…read morefinish 6th grade there was because River doesn't have a Jr. High/middle school program and I prefer smaller middle schools for our kids so when she got into the middle school program at this other school, we moved her. It was a hard decision that I still sometimes regret. Just like any education programs, give it some time and have faith in the system, good results will show before too long. Montessori schools assigns lots of works to their students during school time (4-6 assignments completed each day plus research projects/teamwork projects) so some students might have a harder time in the beginning but there's also no homework which allows quality family time and the time for extra activities after school. No gradings which allows kids to like learning and wants to learn. Montessori education also provides the freedom to choose how much time students want to spend with each subject but yet still comply with the CA curriculum standards. The idea is for the students to challenge themselves to want to do better each time and they have just the right tools there to help the kids to do so. Doesn't that sound more like the real world/jobs after schools? Need I say more? Learning is just more fun and practical at River! Oh did I mentioned about their Science Fair and the International Family Fair and the Sustainable Creator's Fair that's all open to the public??? Today at the parent teacher conference with my kid's new teacher at the middle school, I was told she's kind, and she is doing well in all subjects. Top 20 percent of her age group in reading thanks to River's excellence Montessori education that positively reinforced their students to want to do harder and better. I am not the only parent from River that have this "after River experience" in fact, many have mentioned the similar experiences with their kids after River so if anyone ever questioned how the students are doing after River Montessori... they are doing great! If you are interested in learning about non traditional / alternative educations for your little one but still has your hesitations, schedule a tour with them and see the River magics with your own eyes!

A free public Montessori school! We love the school, especially after paying for private…read moreMontessori preschool for both our kiddos in another area. Our kids both love their guides and their friends. The staff has done a great job making the best of the available space. We're so happy we made the choice to go here.

We were initially drawn to this school because of its beautiful philosophy and child-centered…read morelanguage about independence, exploration, and nurturing a love of learning. Our grandson started there shortly after turning two, and he absolutely loved going to school. Unfortunately, our family's experience with the administration did not reflect the warm and developmentally appropriate environment described in the school's mission. From early on, my daughter was repeatedly approached with concerns about completely normal toddler behavior -- including delayed expressive speech at just over two years old and difficulty sitting through circle time. Many toddlers, especially active young boys, are simply not ready for highly structured group expectations at that age. Rather than partnering with parents in a supportive way, the communication often felt pressuring, judgmental, and lacking in understanding of normal developmental variation. At one point, the director even suggested that although we were paying for three days per week, our grandson should be removed for the middle day "to reset." That recommendation made little sense to us and did not feel supportive or solution-oriented. In our experience, families should understand that despite the Montessori-style language and emphasis on following the child, this program operates with fairly rigid behavioral expectations for very young children. If your child is under four, still developing speech, highly energetic, slow to warm up, or not naturally inclined toward structured group participation, this will not be the right fit. This environment may work well for children who are already very verbal, compliant, and comfortable with structure at a young age. But for active toddlers who are still developing at their own pace, it did not feel accepting or supportive of the "whole child" philosophy the school promotes.

We truly love Pepper Preschool and the wonderful teachers. The space is so thoughtful and sweet…read more The "Montessori Light" style has been perfect for our sensitive son and the themes for each months learning have taught him so much. There is a wonderful balance of outdoor and classroom time and his two years of Pepper Preschool have made him more independent and interested in learning. Each teacher brings a unique perspective and we love that they have all been at Pepper School for years. Most importantly he has learned how to be a kind friend and his ability to interact with other children and adults has blossomed. When recently deciding between TK and a third year at Pepper we opted for another year at Pepper. We know the skills he is learning and the wonderfully low teacher to student ratio will prepare him well for school.

We love Flavia! Our son was at a bigger daycare where he kept getting sick & wasn't getting a lot…read moreof attention. With Flavia at Fluffy Smiles he hasn't gotten sick once (due to it being a smaller daycare) and gets so much attention. He loves going to daycare now & smiles so big at Flavia and her husband. The monthly price is great & totally reasonable! Flavia is also flexible about when we pickup and drop off which is nice. Bonus it's right by Safeway so super handy location.

We have been sending our 9 month old girl to Flavia for the past 3 months and she's been absolutely…read moreamazing. Her and her husband are incredibly kind and you can tell they have so much love for all of the kids that go to Fluffy Smiles. Our daughter loves going there - she has a big smile on her face every time we pull up to the house! We feel so fortunate that we found Flavia and her family to take care of our daughter - it's exactly what we were looking for. It's incredibly clean, lots of fun activities, outdoor space, and a loving teacher!