Our son has had such a wonderful experience at this school! The teachers are incredibly sweet and…read morepatient. They manage to create a warm, nurturing environment while also teaching these young kids about boundaries, independence and introducing them to a more structured environment (since it's many 2/3 year olds first time in "school"). It's clear they genuinely care about each child's individual growth and happiness. Additionally, a majority of the teachers are sisters which makes APP feel like you are part of a giant family. Beyond the classroom, the community of parents is fantastic. Since it's more intimate than some larger programs you basically know every family. Can't recommend it enough!

Our daughter has been attending APP for a bit over a year now, and absolutely loves it. The…read moreteachers really focus on making sure our children develop their social-emotional sides, and are instilled with a love of learning. We've seen her natural curiosity flourish at APP, and she's been equipped with the skills she needs to make sense of her big feelings. We couldn't be happier with her growth, and are sure she's ready for the big step up to K. A couple things to mention: The school was honest with us up front that they are not a super-traditional "drill the kids with worksheets" type of program. That has been accurate; while they do have a curriculum that includes math/English/science skills, that isn't their focus. (That said, what they are doing seems to work - our daughter is on the verge of reading by herself at age 4, and has basic addition and subtraction down as well.) And unlike our previous daycare, their yearly schedule does include a fair number of holidays and breaks, meaning we sometimes have to solve childcare on days where work isn't closed but APP is. We think it's worth it - the breaks give the teachers a chance to sharpen their own skills, and probably also help with retention - but it's something a prospective family ought to know.

We've been part of the MB community for the past 4.5 years, as 3 of our babies started going here…read morein the early days (our oldest just recently graduated to go to TK)! One of the best aspects of this school is that they have incredible teachers like Miss Kristana, who played a big role in our oldest's development, and Miss Emily, Miss Sofia, Miss Ivy, Teacher Lane, Miss Dai, Miss Sassa & Miss Shenna who were pivotal in their early infant years! Alongside incredible teachers and staff, they do a great job with preparing a curriculum that caters to the development of each of child's specific age group and milestones. While it's definitely a big financial investment to send multiple kids here at the same time, we are very grateful for how wonderfully they've all developed and the community that we've fostered along the way. Thank you Ms. Luisa, Ms. Carmen & All Laguna and Taraval staff for creating such a special space for our kiddos to develop and thrive!

The whole team at Meaningful Beginnings is on top of it! We are continuously impressed by the…read morededication to development, engagement, and safety, led by Luisa & Carmen. Our kids love all their teachers, including Ms. Kristana, Emily, Lane, Achala, who show great warmth and care for them. We're lucky to have found MB!

This is a gem of an INSTITUTION. Barbara has been doing this for DECADES. In the very same…read morelocation. We recently celebrated a milestone birthday of hers on a Friday after school recently and there were parents and kids from 2 decades ago coming out to wish her well. I even heard 1 parent say that her best parent friends to this day are other parents she met at Belvedere (her kid is now 19 in college!). Our kid has been going there and has been transformed by the school's teaching style. Kids go out doors on public transportation every day. Different day, different SF park. San Francisco is their oyster. Our kid knows bathroom locations at just about every SF park better than we do! Kids listen to classical music every morning, listen to Barbara read paper newspapers and real paper books. Sandy comes in for music class every Friday and there's show and tell every week which our kid uses to measure time ('how many show-and-tells before grandma visits'). Call Barbara and leave a voicemail the old school way to come see the place. You won't be disappointed! If you could give 6 stars, I would heartily do so!

Belvedere Montessori is one of the hidden treasures of Cole Valley! A pre-school operated by…read moreBarbara Alexander, Belvedere Montessori is a mixed-age pre-school with a mix of about 18 kids between the ages of 2 years 9 months and 5. There are about 5-6 kids per instructor and our daughter has been there since September '05 when we moved her over from the SF JCC. Barbara doesn't advertise at all, so you've got to seek her out and she typically has a waiting list (no surprise here in SF!) What's very cool about her school: she has a great combination of academic and experiential based activities for the kids. The kids keep journals as well as do all sorts of cool projects around the City. They take public transportation to the Presidio Y to swim every week, they go to jazz concerts at Union Square, to Senior Centers, to the DeYoung. The older kids are keeping journals and the younger ones have little books with the drawings in them. At the school itself, Barbara has a couple of chickens and flopsie the rabbit, and just a great vibe. This school is not for you if you want a lot of hand-holding as a parent. Barbara will tell you this if you contact her, but she will typically tell you something if she feels that you need to know it as a parent. It's also not as tightly plugged in with all of the private schools around town the way some of the pre-schools are. Kids tend to go to a mix of public and private schools. The group of parents involved with the school is also terrific and they manage a babysitting coop. Picking a pre-school can be tough, but we think the Belvedere Montessori is terrific.

Love Eileen! She's a wonderful teacher, and nurturing caregiver. My daughter started at this…read moredaycare around little before turning 3 years old. 6 months later, my son started going as well (at 11 months old). Both kids absolutely adored her. She has her way with kids and really gets to know each and every one of them on a personal level. Homemade meals, daily outdoor play time, songs, stories, artwork! Holidays are the best with Eileen. She always has fun events planned with lots of hands-on activities for the kids. The only reason we left Eileen's care is because we moved (all the way to LA). If we were still in SF, it'd be Eileen all the way!

Update: Both of my sons have graduated from Small World now and I can't say enough how lucky we…read morewere having Eileen as part of the first teacher for the boys. My boys spent a total of 5 years with Eileen and they are now 7 and 4. In addition to what I mentioned in my previous review, I found Eileen was also really good at helping the kids with transition. My son first told me he did not want to go to preschool because he did not want to leave his daycare. But after several days, he told me he wanted to go. I was pleasantly surprised with the change and found out it was Eileen started telling him he is a big boy now and will go to preschool to learn more things. Thanks to Eileen's encouraging words and positive reinforcement, my son has been adapting to the preschool very well. COVID-19: Eileen is super careful on sanitizing and has trained the kids very well too. My son got good habit of wearing masks all the time and he often reminds me to put on masks when we leave the house. If you send your kids here and all of sudden, they seem not interested in dinner, don't worry, that is because they ate too much at daycare. Both of my boys enjoyed their three meals a day here with Eileen and they loved her food a lot more than our own!

Meredith and Nayla are wonderful with the children, and have created such a fun and safe program…read morefor them. The children get to be outside, exercise, play together, learn about nature, build socio-emotional skills, read and do crafts, and more. Meredith has figured out all the details to make this work outdoors--and of course brings a wealth of skills and experience in early childhood education, to be able to address each child's needs as they may arise and turn any challenging situation into a learning opportunity. It's a lovely program and we have particularly appreciated how covid-safe Meredith and Nayla are, and the attention to detail in terms of drop-off and pick-up procedures and what gear the kids need in order to be comfortable and ready for each day, rain or shine. Our 4yo LOVES his forest school!

Found this summer camp through GGMG and wow, absolute hidden gem! My 3yo was somewhat of an…read moreindoor-type and slow to warm up to her regular preschool. Meredith and her team created a lovely environment and skillfully handled her first transition and by her third day I asked how her day was and my daughter replied, absolutely outstanding! Which kind of blew me away since she is otherwise not that enthusiastic about anything but ice cream. They have done some interesting projects but also appear to just enjoy being kids in the outdoors. She has also explained how to identify poison ivy to me, another great summer skill. They go on little daily hikes too so she is coming home pleasantly tired. I'm so grateful to have found this - we signed up for an extra week that we don't strictly need because of how great the experience has been. Thank you Meredith and team!

We had a great two years at Petite Explorer. Andy and Vickie have built an exceptional program…read morewith a caring staff of teachers.

Our daughter has attended PE for two years now (from age 2.5 and she is 4.5 now). We've had a…read morephenomenal experience. The entire staff is attentive and the teachers genuinely care about the kids while providing a stimulating environment. Our daughter has learned to read and write her name, all her letters, can count to 100+ but more importantly has learned social skills like being a caring friend, patience, and listening. Vicky who runs the school also knows all the children which shows how tight knit of an environment it is. Good student/teacher ratio (12 - 15 kids to 3 teachers in the two years we were there). Can't recommend enough!

This school is a hidden gem in SF!!!…read more Enrichment, individualization, and love are the best adjectives to describe New Journey's education to our child. Growing up in a trilingual family, our kid showed signs of early speech delay. The school director, Michelle, not only individualized a lesson plan for our child, but also created an encouraging environment for other kids to interact with ours. We witnessed drastic improvement in our child's verbal communication, social skills, and intellectual curiosity in a few months. He went from speaking no more than three words to speaking full sentences fluently in just a few months. New Journey was very communicative, and we got frequent updates and pictures of our kid everyday (critical if you are in back-to-back meetings all day). Now on food, Michelle designed a balanced and nutritious meal and snack everyday. We were proud to see our picky eater jumping on the weight and height curves in every doctor visit. Potty training was not easy, but New Journey patiently worked with us to ensure that our kid received the individualized attention to encourage self-sufficiency. Parents like us second-guess our decisions for our child almost constantly (white hairs were inevitable), but I have no reservation to recommend any friends and families to New Journey. Thank you Michelle and her team! They are a group of loving educators who truly wants the best for the children.

New Journey has been like extended family for us - our kids LOVE going every day. Both of our kids…read morestarted there as the youngest in the class (at ~15 months) and our older one is now one of the older kids in the class. We've really valued the mixed age group as it's given our kids the chance to learn from older kids, as well as learn "leadership skills" when they become the older kids. The teachers are energetic, caring, and thoughtful. They have taught our kids so much - mandarin, basic life skills, and discipline. Michelle is professional, a great communicator, and genuinely cares about the kids - she's also taught us a lot about how to raise toddlers!

Guidry Early Care & Education Program (GECEP) is a small, wonderful preschool in the Ingleside…read more Monique Guidry, the director and owner of GECEP has been in the business for more than a decade. Both of my kids have spent their preschool years (roughly ages 2-5) with Monique every day, and both my kids were happy and comfortable at Monique's and learned a lot there. The first thing that I noticed about Monique as a preschool teacher was that she loves the kids. You would think that loving the kids would be a pre-requisite for this kind of work, but in fact if you visit other preschools you will see a lot of adults who are exasperated all the time. Monique can be firm when she needs to be, but she is almost always wearing a smile. Even more impressive to me, Monique's attitude was just as mellow, happy, and contented at 6P as it was at 8A. In addition to showing the kids a lot of love, Monique is a consummate professional. She has an advanced degree in early childhood education. Students from SF State routinely rotate through GECEP to learn about early childhood education from Monique. The best music and dance teachers in San Francisco stop by to teach music and dance. Monique teaches the preschoolers their letters and numbers, at a pace each child is comfortable with, but her main philosophy is to the let the kids learn through play. The families in GECEP are a very diverse set of races, classes, and ethnic backgrounds; Monique likes the diversity. The back yard of GECEP has a lovely age-appropriate play area with jungle gym, scooters, and a garden. Because Monique pays a lot of attention to each child, and because GECEP is a small preschool, and because Monique has a graduate degree in child development, Monique knows exactly what developmental stage each child is at, and she will give you a detailed report about your kid. No teacher your child will ever have at any educational stage will know your child as well as Monique knows your child. I am an educator too (OK, for older kids- I am a college professor), so I feel like I know educational quality when I see it. Monique is all quality, no baloney. The interior of GECEP is functional and modest, nothing special. There are a lot of preschools in San Francisco, and most of them are pretty dreary. Guidry's GECEP is an absolute gem. If your child is lucky enough to spend time with Monique at GECEP, you can count yourself very lucky indeed.

My DJ goes here and I couldn't be more happier with the choice of school that ne and my wife chose…read morefor our son. Ms. Monique and her staff really care about the children. Our son is learning so much and really growing into a social butterfly