We LOVE Greenleaf so much! The teachers there (Yao and Judy) are the kindest, sweetest people ever. My daughter learned so much from them and loved going to school every day. When she had to miss school due to a surgery, the owner Jasmine sweetly sent surprise get well gifts to her AND her sister. All 3 of them treat us like family and we are so grateful. Definitely 10/10 recommend! read more

Big playground, nice teachers, my son really likes it there! If one thing to improve, could have more fruit varieties :)

Both our children attended Greenleaf until Pre-K/K and had great experiences. We met many wonderful families; the school fosters strong parent connections and cultivates a great community, including an end-of-year graduation party. Our older child was initially shy, but the teachers helped with a smooth transition. While the group of teachers was different for each child, both of them were lucky to have such caring teachers. There is also an annual parent-teacher conference for tracking progress. The facilities are great--especially the large backyard with play structures. Please note there's a dog at the school, which was fine for us, in some cases playing with animals helped our kids develop. The kids themselves seemed much more developed and mature than we expected when we did our tours. This sold us, one of the older girls was able to empathize while conversing with my wife during our visit. The children spoke mostly in English to each other while playing, so it's very good preparation for Kindergarten though we wished the kids could play in Chinese. read more

Two of my children attended Greenleaf, and we actually enrolled the second one even after we had already moved farther away. Despite the long commute, we chose to bring her here every day--that alone speaks volumes about how special this place is to our family. Over the past year, she has blossomed in so many wonderful ways. She has truly thrived under the love, care, and guidance of Ms. Jasmin, Ms. Judy, and Ms. Yao, and she has built sweet, meaningful friendships along the way. I have no reservation in recommending Greenleaf to any parent looking for a place where they can feel confident and at ease leaving their children in caring, capable hands. read more

Updating my review now that my 2nd child has attended Greanleaf. My son entered without knowing any Mandarin and by the end of his first year could understand some conversations and reply in simple sentences. Jasmine and the teachers were attentive to his emotional needs as well, allowing children to interact organically as well as stepping in when necessary to help them resolve disagreements. We have also always loved the creative art projects that the children do daily to incorporate the theme of the week. The food is still delicious - we loved that we never had to worry about snacks or lunch. Jasmine prepares lunch herself and the menu is very nutritious and varied. We were very spoiled! There have been improvements/renovations so that the inside space is has ample room for children's activities, and the backyard is quite expansive - plenty of room for outdoor play, and in the summer, water play! Academically (in English), your child will be very well-prepared for kindergarten. The curriculum not only covers basic letters and numbers, but she will encourage those who are ready to read (CVC) and do simple addition. There are also a few children for whom she will offer more advanced math worksheets. My older daughter (who graduated in 2021) was very well prepared for bilingual elementary school despite us not speaking Mandarin at home, and she attended Greenleaf for 1 year having minimal Mandarin exposure. Her current teachers remark that they couldn't tell that we were not native Mandarin speakers, and we have Greenleaf to credit for that. read more

Our kids attended Greenleaf over the course of 2+ years. We originally found Jasmine via a friend who sent her kids there a few years prior and had wonderful things to say. There are many great parts about Greenleaf. Here's what stands out most: 1. Facilities - A bunch of renovations in the last few years have made the space especially thoughtfully designed and used. The backyard and art room make it an extra spacious and comfortable place for the kids. I love that the backyard has a path around the outer edge for the kids to ride tricycles around, large play structures, and a little hill that's perfect for sliding down. 2. Gaia - there is a dog that the kids all adore. She is older so very calm and gentle. We do not have pets at home so my kids loved having Gaia at school. 3. Art - the art at Greenleaf is far more impressive than the art my older kid is doing in elementary school. So creative and fun! My kids love showing off what they create. We even held my older kid's art birthday party there on a weekend after they had graduated and it was a huge hit. 4. Food - the lunch menus look delicious and my kids ate A LOT while at Greenleaf. 4. Bilingual - our kids came with much more Chinese knowledge than others at the school but the exposure was enough to maintain, and two things really were wonderful. First, the curriculum covers so many topics it was useful for vocabulary, and second, there's good exposure to writing characters. Bonus: there's excellent prep for English Kindergarten and well beyond as the kids not only learn numbers and letters but practice with early math and reading. If I had a wish, it would be that my kids would speak to the other kids more in Chinese but many do not speak Chinese at home. 5. Teachers - this is the one area that was a bit rough as turnover was higher than anticipated. However Jasmine was great at ensuring smooth transitions and coverage, and there were teachers we have really appreciated over the time the kids were there. read more

Updating now that we've also sent our 2nd child to Greenleaf for his pre-K year after our 1st child's great experience. Our child started off the year with so-so Mandarin but it's dramatically improved as he's in an environment where it's spoken all the time by the adults, and by some of the younger children whose home language is Mandarin. He'll still use English and that's the case with most bilingual/immersion schools, but he's so much more comfortable spontaneously speaking in Mandarin with his grandparents now. Greenleaf's delicious home cooked lunch is still there -- one less thing for busy parents to think about, and the new play structure is a big attraction with the kids. We like the monthly planned curriculum, with sub-themes broken out by week. For example, for this month's insect theme, one week was an overview of insects, the next about bees, the third about ants, and the last about famous stories that feature insects. Greenleaf has also started up field trips again, like they did in pre-covid times. This year there was a trip to the library, the supermarket, and nature walks to collect pinecones and leaves for art. Finally, for a look at how well Greenleaf prepared my older son -- In addition to being well prepared for kindergarten academics, as a kindergartener, he was able to dive right in and excel at Nine Fruits Bilingual Chinese School, which has a deep focus on writing. Additionally, most of his classmates who graduated his year went on to INTL's Mandarin program. Although summer is coming up soon, my soon to be kindergartener is already talking about if he can come back to visit. We'll miss you Greenleaf! read more

We have been part of the Greenleaf family for 7 years. Greenleaf School potty trained my 3 kids! Ms Jasmine cooks the yummiest hot lunches, usually Asian cuisine. My children love the food there. Although it is a Chinese immersion school, communicating in English was never a problem, which is great for my non-Chinese speaking family. There's tonnes of photos that keeps the parents updated about their school week. One of the draws for me is the myriad of activities and excursions that my children had experienced e.g. neighborhood walks. Kindergarten preparedness? I think my children are more than ready for kindergarten, as they have worksheets time in the afternoon; writing their names, letters, numbers and some Chinese characters, using scissors and getting dressed. read more

Both of my kids have been going to Greenleaf since they were young. I researched and visited a lot of school before decided to go with Greenleaf. There are many reason but some critical one: 1. Food is super important for me as my kids are picky eater. I want the weekly menu of greenleaf for myself. They will post the menu on sunday and you can see how thoughtful and great it is. Veggie-check, soup-check, looks good-check, taste good-check. The other school I researched offer pizza everyday 2. Bilingual: we don't speak Mandarin at home and not capable of teaching it to the kids so we depend heavily on the school, and they have been doing a great job with teaching my kids mandarin, writing chinese character and sing chinese song. 3. Art: kids get to do art frequently at school, and my kids art collection by now can fill the whole closet. According to research, art js really good for children's development. Jasmine also offers weekend art and yoga class that is pretty popular: https://www.mindfulartyoga.com/location 4. Fun and practical learning : every month, the school will send the learning theme and my kids probably know more than me about all the topics they taught. I also like how they make sure to teach kids about different holidays, culture because diversity is really important to me. 5. They know more about my kids than me: there are teacher/parent conference in which the school discuss strength snd focus area for each kids, gave advices (if being asked) to help us work with our kids at home. 6. Safe, clean and covid free: i am really grateful for the school though the pandemic. They practiced all the policy to keep everyone safe very seriously: weekly testing, mask wearing,... So the school was able to operate during the pandemic. 7. Field trips: again, I think they bring my kids out more often than we try to do. Kids got to go to library, park, elementary school playground..... 8. Friends: my kids have made amazing friends at Greenleaf. The kids are so close to each others and honor friendship beautifully. Parents also very open to playdate outside of school, helping kids bond even more. It's extremely hard to wake my kids up in the morning because we are all nighttime people. But my kids would wake up everyday and excited to go to Greenleaf. I am really happy with my choice of school and have been referring colleagues and friends to Greenleaf. read more

Our daughter has been attending Greenleaf School since she was 2 years old, and she is now 4.5 years old. We only have good things to say about Greenleaf! She previously attended a day care nearby, so she was somewhat used to spending the daytime away from us, her parents. Even so, Jasmine (the owner) and Judy and Lynne (the two teachers) made it easy for her to transition to the new environment. Of course, the teachers weren't the only thing that made it easy for her to transition. The other kids and parents are great, and our daughter has made many friends over the past three(ish) years. She always looks up to the older kids, especially the older girls, and has grown into somewhat of a 'big sister' herself. There is plenty of time for children to learn, create, and bond in a classroom environment as well as outside playing with each other. Speaking of outside, the school itself is very nice. Jasmine runs it out of her home, and the classroom has large, bay windows looking out over the fenced-in backyard where the kids play outside. Well, they do when the weather is nice. But it's California! The weather's usually nice enough for them to play outside, though of course when it gets chilly the teachers make sure the kids get their coats on. There's also a fenced-in front yard, where the kids will often be waiting for the parents to come pick them up once it gets closer to 6:00pm, the end of pickup time. We used to go into the backyard to pick the kids up, but once COVID hit and the school was able to reopen, they made it so pickup happens in the front yard. That way parents don't need to actually enter the gates, they can just step out of the car and the kids can get themselves ready to go home while the parents keep a safe distance. Every week, they send our daughter back with the things she's created in class over the course of the week. They all sorts of different crafts, art, and learning activities. It's always fun to see what she made that week, and how she's steadily progressing each week in terms of reading, writing, consistency in drawing and coloring, etc. And we really appreciate the effect of the Mandarin immersion. My wife is from China and it has been important to us since before our daughter was born that we would try to find a way to keep her connected to her heritage. The language learning at Greenleaf fits our needs perfectly. Lunch is prepared for the kids, and Jasmine posts a menu every week. For us, we're really just interested in knowing that the children are fed every day! But for some parents I know it's important that they're aware of what their kids are eating, and the menus help with that. On birthdays, the birthday child will bring in gifts and, oftentimes, sweets for the other kids. For our part, we usually bring in a cake for the kids to share. Before COVID it was a lot of fun to bring the cake inside and cut it for the kids as they sit around their little table waiting patiently. I was surprised at how patiently they waited, too! It was a lot of kids; I expected them to be screaming bloody murder and running in circles, but they waited so politely as I asked each in turn what spot they wanted on the cake and cut it for them. It is now a very fond memory of my daughter's birthday. Jasmine also has the sweetest dog, a golden retriever named Gaia, that the kids adore. We have a dog at home, so I think for our daughter's part it also helped her transition from her daycare. She might feel shy around the other kids, but there was no reason to feel shy around a nice, happy dog like Gaia. In September our daughter will be 5 years old and leaving Greenleaf School for kindergarten. At first, we weren't sure where to send her, so we asked Jasmine for advice. Jasmine not only recommended good schools that fit our needs (including continuation of Chinese education), but also connected us with the parents of our daughter's friends from Greenleaf who had already graduated and sent their kids to kindergarten. Once we had chosen a few schools to target, we let Jasmine know and asked in our regular parent-teacher meetings what sort of skills our kid would need to develop to have a good shot of getting into the schools. Jasmine confidently told us that she would have no problem getting into those schools. And you know what, Jasmine was right! Our daughter was accepted into 3 of the 4 schools we applied to, including our two top choices. A big thank you to Jasmine, Judy, and Lynne. Our daughter has truly enjoyed her time at Greenleaf, and I'm sure that come September she will be excited but sad to leave it for kindergarten. read more

We sent all 3 of our kids to Greenleaf school. They had a great time there. Greenleaf school emphasizes on art and painting development. Our kids loved painting with their friends. Greenleaf has a fun backyard with a large playground. After our oldest left daycare, whenever he goes back, he always wants to spend time playing with all the toys in the backyard. Jasmine has a good handle of Covid. testing. We felt safe sending our kids to her daycare. Teachers cares deeply about the kids. When we pick up kids, we get good feedback of our kids performance and activities during the day. We also get lots of pictures which grandparents appreciate. Communication is always easy and smooth. read more

We originally chose Greenleaf preschool based on Yelp reviews, so now it is our turn to share what a gift Greenleaf has been in our lives. Choosing a preschool can be a difficult decision, since you are also choosing people who will become an integral part of your parenting team. Greenleaf Preschool has become a second home for my daughter and we will be very sad when we have to say goodbye to enter kindergarten. Our daughter started at Greenleaf when she was 3 years old and from the very beginning, she would come home excited to share everything she had learned during the day. One of her favorite activities when she comes home is to pretend to be the teacher and lead circle time, which gave us a good sense of the songs and activities of the day. There is a different theme each week and my daughter has loved all of them, from animals (butterflies, dinosaurs, frogs, insects) to vehicles (trucks, trains, airplanes) to landforms (valley, mountains, volcanoes), to culture and invention. The activities for each theme have been incredibly fun and imaginative. One day, she came home and wanted to build a spider web out of tape on the floor because they had done it at school! There was a period when I would pick up my daughter in the middle of the day and had a chance to see the children playing after enjoying lunch. The lunch menus look like they are from a restaurant and my daughter loves the food (she has asked me to make miso soup and curry rice, both of which she first had at preschool). Jasmine Laoshi puts a lot of time and energy into the menus and sometimes in the mornings, the smell of cooking will waft through the door at drop-off ... heavenly! The children would always be happily playing outside after lunch and my daughter would often try to negotiate more time to play with her friends before we went home, so I knew she was very happy there. We speak Cantonese, so my daughter knew almost no Mandarin when she started preschool. We are very happy that her Mandarin vocabulary has greatly improved through learning songs and speaking with her teachers and friends. She enjoys practicing characters ("it's like drawing") and we are now all learning Mandarin together so we can speak more at home. My daughter especially looks forward to activities for the special holidays, including Mid-Autumn festival, Lunar New Year, and Dragon boat festival, when they get to experience traditional foods and make fun holiday crafts. The teachers, Jasmine, Lynne, and Judy Laoshi have been extremely patient, kind, and encouraging throughout a very tough year. My daughter regularly says "我爱你" "I love you" to the teachers, a sign of how cared for and safe she feels at school and how connected she is to everyone. The teachers also go above and beyond their duties to help the children become well-rounded and caring people. In particular, they have found creative ways to help our daughter have more empathy and treat everyone kindly. I greatly appreciated the calm, patient, and optimistic manner in which they express to the children that they are capable of improving. We also love the emphasis on creativity, drawing, and artwork. My daughter comes home from school every week with a variety of paintings, drawings, reading books, and other crafts. We have seen a steady improvement of her skills during her time at Greenleaf and she loves the process of creating and having space to play and experiment. She has also learned arithmetic, short words, how to make a clock/calendar, and I feel confident that she is ready to start school based on the preparation she has received at Greenleaf. Overall, Greenleaf is an idyllic and wonderful small home-based family preschool that is full of magical energy. We have been very lucky to call it a second home and wish other families will grow/create as many memories here as we have. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions! read more

My daughter has been at Greenleaf preschool for a year, this is a great school and the entire staff has been compassionate, friendly and caring.  Initially, my daughter had a hard time adjusting after moved to Greenleaf, she kept crying for the first several days when we dropped her. We were a bit worried about her. Teacher Jasmine was very patient, caring and experienced, she gave Laurie the love and support she needed. She sent us detailed updates of my daughter on how she was doing during the days. Also in order to help her adjust to the school quicker, Jasmine invited us to stay with my daughter in the backyard of school for some time, with other kids and teachers. After the transition time, My daughter made new friends and was very happy everyday which I could tell from her smile and muddy clothes. The school offers great home-made hot lunch, the menu is posted every week. My daughter always says she like the school yummy food. Besides that, healthy snacks are provided in the afternoons. My daughter learned a lot from school for the last past one year. The curriculum is wonderful and fun. I can see my daughter's change after attended Greenleaf, First she became more polite. Second, she started to like drawing, painting, cutting and doing crafts. Every day when she was back home from school, she just wanted to do some more drawing and painting for some time. Third, I found that she could focus on doing one thing for a longer time. The communication between teacher and parents are good. We usually talked to teacher Coco and Judy during pick up time, to know how my daughter was doing during the day. Teacher Coco and Judy could give details like whether she ate well, did she sleep during noon, how she interact with other kids, basically all the things we wanted to know to track our daughter growth. There are also tons of pictures every week posted in the Facebook group, where we can see what and how our kid plays everyday. I am impressed by all those full activities. read more

My kid went to Greenleaf school for almost 3 years, Greenleaf was her 2nd home. The teachers here are loving, open minded and is willing to work with the parents. The kids here have big heart and learn to be loving, understanding. They learn it from no other than the teachers. A big plus is the yummy healthy food they provide to the kids, my kid will request me to make the same food, the teachers of course loves to share the recipe. My kid now has moved onto kindergarten and still asking and missing Greenleaf weekly. read more

Overall, we had a great experience at Greenleaf preschool! Our daughter was there for about a year. - Gaia the elderly golden retriever is very gentle. I was initially worried because our daughter doesn't have a lot of experience with pets, but she ended up loving Gaia. - As with many kids, sometimes drop-off involved crying, but our daughter was always very happy at the end of the day at pickup and sometimes reluctant to leave! - Teacher Jasmine clearly has a lot of experience and gave us great advice on encouraging our daughter to be more willing to make mistakes. We also felt very comfortable asking for her advice about choosing an elementary school. - I appreciate Jasmine's hands-off approach to letting the kids interact and sometimes have disagreements. The teachers monitor but generally let the kids work things out on their own. - They always take LOTS of great pictures of the kids. - Our daughter always said the hot lunch was delicious. Jasmine posts a weekly menu and my daughter loves looking over the menu together. - As part of the COVID precautions, the kids eat lunch outside which I loved. The teachers and kids mask. When we were there, families would do weekly rapid tests every Sunday before the start of the school week. I appreciated her efforts in reducing the spread of COVID. - Her home school has a lot of outdoor space for the kids to play including the backyard and the front yard. - Jasmine also hosts an art class on Saturdays for an additional fee. My now kindergarten daughter loves going to this and seeing old friends. We are looking forward to enrolling our second child at Jasmine's school when she's old enough! read more

My son stayed at GreenLeaf from age 2 to almost 5. I would say it's one of the best decision we made in his early childhood development. Being shy and sensitive and only understood Chinese at age 2, my son needs a great teacher to thrive. So we set to find a bilingual preschool that's intimate and caring, And also directed by progressive thinking teachers. And GreenLeaf is perfect. After 3 years, my son graduated this summer. He is polite, caring but also confident and happy. Just like other kids we encountered at GreenLeaf. I attribute that to the great effort of Ms. Jasmine and all the other teachers worked there all these years. Especially Ms. Jasmine and Teacher Zhou(Zane) who set the tone of developing right social interaction and encouraged kids to resolve conflict and be confident. Not to mention all the loving and caring my son got from Teacher Amy, Teacher Gao and many other teachers throughout years. On the day of his graduation, my son got gift from teachers and carefully written long farewell cards, which he still (having us) read to him before sleep sometimes. I can tell that the preschool experience has profound meaning to my son and is playing a very positive role in his development. I agree with other parents' comments about things like good food, great playground and flexibility for parents. read more

My son stayed at Green Leaf Preschool from age 4 till Kindergarten. He is a sensitive child, and was having a hard time adjusting after a relocation. The first school we chose after the move didn't work out so well and he would cry multiple times at home begging not to go to school the next day. When we switched to Green Leaf I was preparing for the same drop off/picking up drama, he blended in from day 1. Day 3 morning I drove on a different road and he got worried: "Mommy are we going to the old school? I still miss my friend in the old school but I like the new school now." That is it. This child feels comfortable here. The teachers are loving and the friends are friendly. I saw how teachers handle little conflicts between kids, teach them to be honest and friendly. He learned a lot in school, their curriculum is wonderful and I'm amazed how much he picked up there. He learned many Chinese characters and feels proud. I really love to see that he is confident and interested in learning. He started to draw after joining Green Leaf, and we found his strength in imagination and creativity. You can't believe the before and after pictures of his drawing after barely 1.5 years. Thank you so much Green Leaf! read more

To all prospective parents: I would highly recommend GreenLeaf Immersion School to any parent who wants to see their child both succeed and be happy. There is a pre-school program that was greatly receptive for my son, as well as wonderful camps when school is out. I heard there is also an after-school program for kids as old as 12 - I will definitely keep that in mind for when my son ages. My son attended the Winter Camp in 2009. He fell in love with the whole school, as did I. He is coming back every time he does not have school and we will see if they have room for him when the school year is over. The facilities are clean and very impressive. It did used to be a home but it was re-done beautifully. There are areas for the children to have quiet time, as well as play and designated learning classrooms. The backyard is huge and has two separate play areas - one for big kids, and one for little kids. There are so many activities and lessons for the kids to learn from and enjoy. Their curriculum is very impressive. The teachers are compassionate and very knowledgeable. The field trips are amazing and creative. My son especially loved the horseback riding and ice skating. The teachers always seem to find ways to relate the trips to the lessons they are teaching -- like learning new words or learning the history of an activity. My son's Mandarin improved greatly in just those two weeks! The staff speaks Mandarin to the children about 95% of the time, or more. His ear for the language is great now! I would recommend this school to any parent, without hesitation. read more

We love this school. Our daughter has been attending for two years and she has thrived in her time there. She is now fully bilingual and her language development continues to improve. The teachers always create thoughtfully planned lessons and we have found that the school strikes a great balance between outdoor play, seated guided activities and group lessons like dance and yoga. Miss Jasmine, the school's founder, is warm, loving and cares deeply about all the children. By the time our little one heads to kindergarten, Greenleaf will have her well on her way. We will forever be grateful for the wonderful years our daughter has enjoyed there and would recommend it to anyone. read more

I send my two boys to Greenleaf school. I love that it is intimate (not too big) and that they have just the right balance. The main thing is that I'm impressed on how hard Jasmine and her team tries to engage the kids. I can tell that they really care about the kids. And I'm super comfortable sending my boys here. They are very creative in engaging the kids. Eg the theme one week was about farm animals and they even recreated cow udders out of a plastic bag and water to get the kids to experience what it's like to milk a cow. The outdoor play area is a nice garden with a play structure, apple trees, rabbits and chickens! They are super in keeping in touch with the parents through google plus. Every day, I get albums of pictures of what the kids are up to. And I must say I am impressed by the activities. It's certainly not your usual Chinese immersion school. It's a Chinese school with the right balance of fun, creativity, heart and learning. read more

My son went to Greenleaf school for one year. This is a great school. It's kind of family based but it far more beyonds that. Teachers will come up with yummy fresh dishes everyday, including soup. They really care about kids health. Everyday when pickup, Ms. Lynne or Ms. Judy will let us know how is the kid is doing and share some interesting moments of the day. Curriculums are interesting and well designed, Ms. Jasmine can always think of fun field trips, this year they even had a field trip week! They will celebrate each holidays and prepare gifts/crafts for the day. They learnt numbers, alphabets, months, weekdays. This year they even practiced a show for parents, including two Chinese sounds and one English song, what a fun show!! Teachers are making sure they maintain fairness and they always teach children to be kind and sharing. Initially my son is not sure how to articulate himself, but after one year, I am so glad to see he improved his behavior so much and begin to express himself by using language. He also made a lot of friends here. Kids there are all cute and kind angels. Although we have to leave Greenleaf, I am sure my son will miss teachers and his friend a lot. read more

Back in late 2015, I was starting my search for a daycare / preschool program for my 2.5 year old son. We had looked around various locations in Sunnyvale, and none seemed to offer the family environment I was hoping to find, until I visited GreenLeaf School. Initially, I was only considering doing a part-time schedule; however, after seeing the environment and talking to Ms. Jasmine and Teacher Zane, I was convinced that it was the right move to have my son start full time. (It also didn't hurt that my son didn't want to leave during our initial visit--what was supposed to be a 30 minute tour became a 2 hour stay, and he seemed to love every minute of it.) We were fortunate not to be wait-listed and started the following week. The first few weeks were understandably tough for my son, but after a period of adjustment, he began to show great signs of progress. He is a fairly introverted child, but after starting his time at GreenLeaf, he became much more outgoing and communicative. He often talked excitedly about the various activities and field trips that happened at school, as well as all of his 'best friends' that he gets to play with each and every day. I was very happy to see this shy boy turn into quite a social butterfly, and I give credit to the warm, encouraging environment at GreenLeaf. Despite some minor bumps along the way, and some staff turnover, Ms. Jasmine worked very hard to ensure that the kids had the most attentive, caring and qualified staff. Teacher Zane was instrumental in establishing many foundational skills and knowledge for both me and my son, and subsequently, Teacher Amy and Teacher Gao were phenomenal in providing nurturing care that fostered creativity and learning. I was especially impressed by all of the Chinese vocabulary, characters and stories my son was learning and sharing with us at home. Ms. Jasmine was the glue that held it all together, and you could tell how much she cared about the kids. The school is located in a single-family home on a large lot, with converted space in the back for classroom activities and outdoor play. A lot of work has gone into making the space feel very accessible to toddler-aged children, while also providing a safe and fun environment (unlike other day-cares that oftentimes felt too institutional). Home-made meals are prepared daily for lunch, with a wide variety of options (mostly traditional home-style Chinese and Asian dishes), and healthy snacks are provided in the mornings and afternoons, along with a strong emphasis on drinking plenty of water and staying hydrated. The school shares a plethora of photos through their private Google+ portal, which allows parents to feel immersed in their children's lives despite being apart during the work day. Drop off and pick-up times are very accommodating, and I always appreciated the school's understanding and flexibility when I was running late or had to deal with unexpected circumstances. Alas, we recently moved to a different part of the Bay Area and regretfully had to say goodbye to our GreenLeaf family. They were a part of a very special and important period of my son's life: from welcoming him in to a home environment away from home and providing the socialization and stimuli that allowed him to thrive, as well as teaching him tangible skills from self-feeding, washing his hands and becoming potty-trained, I am thankful that we found GreenLeaf School. We will miss the school very much and hope that they continue to do well! read more

My twin daughters started going to this school when they were 2 and a half, and they have been going for about a year now. They love going to the school. We love the school and the teachers. The student-to-teacher ratio is great, so all the children will get the attention that they deserve. They spend a lot of time doing art projects, science projects, circle time with music and games, as well as fun games both inside and outside. The monthly field trip is something that my daughters absolutely look forward to every month, and they talk about it at dinner time afterwards. We are a mixed race family and we speak predominantly English at home. When they started school, the girls knew very little Mandarin. Now their Mandarin has improved so much, thanks to the immersion environment. They even talk to each other in Mandarin sometimes. My parents (Chinese speaking) are very happy about that. Both of us got a tour at the school before the enrollment and we felt very comfortable with the environment and the teachers. We absolutely love the backyard with the sandbox and playsets. Definitely much better than the many other preschools we toured. read more

My daughter went to GreenLeaf for two and half years before Kindergarten, and she has such a fond memory of her time there that she still talks about the teachers she had there to this day . The teachers were all very kind, patient and loving to the kids. We were happy with the Chinese she learned in GreenLeaf. read more

Greenleaf is a great bilingual school. My son has been going there for a year, since he was two, and he loves it there. All the kids I have seen there always seem so happy (exactly like the cover photo on yelp!). The director of the school Jasmine has spent a lot of effort to build up the premises and to make it as homely as possible. The school is based in her house, but her family occupies a different section of the house; i.e. the areas that are used for the school are not occupied by the family - an uncommon trait among home-based schools. The main features of the school: 1. it has a huge outdoor play area containing large, elaborate play structures, tricycles, a resident dog, bunnies and other animals, a large sand pit, even a small little hill that kinds can play on! There is also a large outdoor shaded patio where a good part of the day is spent, weather permitting. Morning circle time, nap times and specific parts of the day are spent indoor, providing a cosy and calming environment for the kids. 2. well thought-out curriculum - every month has a theme e.g. last month was about spring (rainbows, butterflies, eggs, easter) this month is about space (planets, the moon and astronauts etc) with really cool themes ever so often (e.g. dinosaur day, learning about seeds day, origami day, making snow day) with a focus on science-based experiments (e.g. how things dissolve, light diffracts, etc). Activities in class revolve around these themes and the school not only has a huge expanse of resources (books, toys, etc) but it also encourages the kids to reuse materials to craft all sorts of things based on these themes. During certain occasions (e.g. someone's birthday) there are also cooking sessions where the kids get involved! 3. field trips - about once or twice a month the school brings the kids on field trips. Some are more "educational". e.g. a trip to the dentist, to see the backroom operations of trader joes, to the library, etc or else it involves more "for fun" stuff like visiting a playgym, a pumpkin patch, or just a neighbourhood walk or a trip to the park to splash around with water when it is raining. My son gets very excited about field trips! 4. small enrollment with many caring teachers - meaning the kids get lots of love and attention. There is a resident granny and a resident chef, who is also a male teacher. It's so precious that the kids get exposed to such a wide range of teachers at such a young age, especially given that this is such a small school to begin with. 5. photos - for most days photos of the kids doing various activities are taken and shared with the parents through google+, which is a great way to give the parents insight into what goes on in school. the school may not be very articulate or pedantic about its philosophy but the director works incredibly hard and endeavors to provide a safe, caring and fun environment for the kids to learn through both free and structured play. My son not only mastered his ABCs from the school but he comes home singing chinese songs and tells me how much fun he had smothering shaving foam all over his arms! read more

I sent my daughter to Greenleaf Childcare during most weeks from 2009-2011. I have also sent my son there regularly during school vacations. I have been delighted with the facility, the staff, and the standard of care. Everyone who works there goes the extra mile to provide a safe and educational experience for the children. The leadership provided by Jasmine Yap is unparalleled. She has an amazing commitment to the children and it shows in everything she does. On top of all that the food is delicious and nutritious. My only regret is that I didn't find out about Greenleaf earlier so that my son could have gone there full-time too. The place he went was also very good, but Greenleaf exceeded all my expectations on what a childcare facility could be. I would warmly recommend any parent sending their child to Greenleaf. It is an exceptional place. read more

The teachers are some of the most loving and thoughtful people we've encountered, and it feels more like dropping off kids with family than at a school. We are constantly amazed by how much effort and enthusiasm the Greenleaf staff put into each day. It also shows in the way the kids turn out by the time they move on to kindergarten. By the time our daughter finished, her entire cohort could speak fluent Chinese, read/write both basic English and Chinese, do arithmetic, and comprehend pretty complex topics. Greenleaf uses an incredibly effective combination of play-based learning, group instruction, and 1:1 teaching. Most importantly, the kids know they are loved and cared for, and we don't know a single graduate who doesn't often ask their parents if they could go back. read more

My daughter has been going to GreenLeaf School since Feb.this year, the low teacher ratio and the Chinese immersion program were the main reasons we decided to send our daughter there. So far GreenLeaf has done potty training for us, because our son didn't get trained until 4 years old, we were very laid back on training my daughter at 2.5 years old, next thing I know is that she is completely trained and asked me to take her diaper off at home. GreenLeaf School is very organic, they have all kinds of fruit trees and a veggie garden in the backyard, often times the kids will just point to which apple they want, the teacher will peel it right there. GreenLeaf School also provides all meals and snacks, it saved me tons of time to pack lunch etc for my daughter. Some times, little things help a lot. read more

REPOSTING, Not sure why Yelp removed my review that was posted a month ago and got a number of thumbs ups. My child attended Greenleaf after school program during the 2012-2013 school year. We chose it because of its advertised Chinese education/immersion environment, pick up service from the elementary school and the home work time. Note this is a home based facility and the school administrator and her family live on premise. Prior to Greenleaf, my child attended Top Educational Chinese after school program. It started off fine but soon I received numerous complaints about my First Grader, in front of her, during pick up time. Often the teacher assign blame to her for not wanting to do homework, not wanting to learn Chinese, or simply being "slower than other kids her age". Many of the comments were crude, and at times I generalized it by thinking the poor choice of words was due to the language barrier. However, the situation got worse where my daughter would come home, homework undone, resenting the teachers for making up stories about her lack of willingness to learn. When I expressed concerns, I got unsolicited parenting advise. I was also disappointed to witness very little Chinese being used at the facility - kids conversing in English, teachers conversing in English to them, all without a collective effort to use the Chinese language. The deal breaker for me came when I discovered the school had hired someone to pick up my child from school without telling the parents - I had no idea who that person was, when it started, why I wasn't notified ahead of time. This inappropriate handling of information was exacerbated by the fact that prior to this driver the school hired a person from China who may not have been eligible to work in the US (though I couldn't verify for sure). As a parent, you can only imagine how unnerving it is to know a complete stranger has been picking up your child from school daily and you don't even know about this person! When confronted, Jasmine (the school administrator) shrugged it off and casually said "you should trust that I have done background check". This came after 2 prior incidents where Jasmine forgot to pick up my child (one of which was sadly by her choice because she was on the phone), and not to mention the ongoing tardiness where at times my child had to be escorted to the office to wait. Compare to other Chinese after school programs, Greenleaf cost was nearly twice as much. But in return my child learned far less Chinese and didn't enjoy her time after school. The only saving grace is Greenleaf has a lot of animals on site (a Golden Retriever, a number of rabbits, chickens, etc) so my First Grader learned to overcome her fear for dogs. For this coming school, we will go somewhere else in pursuit of better Chinese immersion education. I am posting this because I really want other parents to beware - if you are serious about your child's education and want a place that takes education seriously, this may not be the place for you. read more

The staff have been wonderful to my kids. My kids are now old enough and no longer need their services. Thank you for the years of good experiences and good memories. read more

We absolutely love Greenleaf! The teachers are wonerful, very caring. The kids learn by doing a variety of hands on activities. They get plenty of excercise at the park and huge yard. They enjoy the field trips and the kids are surprisingly well behaved for as young as they are. My kids (2&5years) enjoy eating the fresh fruit from the trees in the yard. Lunches and snacks are delicious and well balanced and they enjoy the family style eating with teachers and friends. As a non-Mandarin speaker I am amazed at how much they have picked up at school. They even speak to each other at home in Mandarin. I highly recommend Greenleaf! read more

We are very happy with Greenleaf Preschool. Greenleaf is a very good learning environment for children. It is a very good immersion school. All the Chinese teachers and assistants speak Chinese (except English lessons). I have not heard English spoken when I go there. Children actually have their own books to write and to do activities, which is nice because the original copy have colors (rather than black and white with copies). Her teachers and assistant always smile and seem to enjoy working there with children. The place is clean and does not feel crowded. Every week, she writes a progress note to tell us what they are learning that week and how we can work with children at home for that week's particular objective. We looked at other places but we like the homeschool environment. We feel that Principal Jasmine really cares and looks after children's learning and making sure they have enough fun with games and activities.. read more