This review is for the University location.
My daughter has…read moreattended Happy Keiki since she was 1. I first knew about it when I started babysitting for a little girl who was attending the school and I came to pick her up. The teachers seemed to take turns wearing her and other babies who were extra fussy or in a transition period, which I was impressed by. I was also impressed by the fact that they were a bilingual school, and many of the teachers and children spoke Japanese. I have worked with children in several schools on the island as a babysitter and tutor, and know that schools that teach or immerse little ones in the Japanese language are few and pricey. Happy Keiki is reasonably priced, flexible in schedule (part time, early pick-up, etc are all available) and a bilingual school if you need it.
My daughter loves the school and has many friends there. She speaks English and Japanese very well, and recently she has started reading words and sentences, and counts to 100, both things that I have not really been serious about teaching her at home.
Yeah, this school doesn't have fancy little kids size bathrooms, a giant playground in the middle of the woods, the kids don't go on field trips, put on performances, or get fancy organic lunches like other places. The teachers are human, some of them are young and still studying, sometimes they are trying to get through their work day or just trying to get little Johnny to take a bite before he declares it's yucky, just like the rest of us. But I think they take pretty good care of the kids, and the kids seem to be happy, hence the name, Happy Keiki.
If you are the kind of parent that wants your kid reading at a 2nd grade level, a star athlete, playing the violin and speaking 3 languages before they enter 1st grade, maybe don't come here. If you want your kid to make friends, feel comfortable, play and grow at their own pace and be taught the basics appropriate for their age, and maybe even pick up some Japanese as well, come here.
As a former preschool teacher myself, I think they're doing a pretty good job for what they have to work with, and when the time comes for her little brother to attend a preschool, I will be sending him to Happy Keiki as well.