Our Future Learning Center – Allston

This review is long overdue, it’s been over a year since we left, but I needed to write this review!
My son Elijah attended daycare here from February to June of 2014. It was a really good school, the people were nice and the manager Angel brought so much love and excitement to the facility. I felt VERY comfortable leaving my 7 month old son there.
I had issues leaving him in daycare especially after visiting a larger chain in somerville that I was not pleased with.
The classes at OLC are perfectly balanced with a good student/​teacher ratio. And the children and the staff are extremely diverse, which is really important to my family.
Elijah loved it there and he would run to the door because he couldn’t wait to say good morning to Miss Angel and all of his little friends!!!
He would even go into all of the rooms to find Angel if she wasn’t at her desk.
I took Elijah out of the daycare during the summer because I stopped working and when I returned to school we were able to get a daycare much closer to home but I have always held this place and the people in high esteem.
Angel would call to check in on Elijah if I called out for the day and even when we withdrew him from the school, she called to see how things were going.
She really sends the message that she cares about the children, the families and her staff.
I don’t know if she is still there, but I hope she is! She is such a cool, fun loving and intelligent woman and she was really good for the center. She brought so much life!!!
Jasmine in the infant room was awesome! And the staff in the older infant/​toddler room were awesome too.
If you are looking for a place to leave your children… this is a good spot.
They may not be perfect, as no place is, however they are open to the families and their suggestions and will meet or exceed your expectations.
Love, love, love this place! Miss you guys!!!

My two children have been at OFLC Allston (formerly Skazka/​Fairy Tale Children’s Center) for the last 8 years. The daycare features 3 meals (breakfast, hot lunch, and a snack), extended hours (7:30am-6pm, included in the price), a small outdoor playground, an indoor gym, a music teacher (weekly), a library, and an optional Russian and Math instructor ($ 60/​month each, weekly). The daycare has recently undergone a change in ownership, and has gone from 3.5 stars recently to 5 now, featuring all-​new:
improved curriculum
a second, HUGE gym
an art studio
possibly a music room (to be determined)
OFLC accepts children starting at a very early age (6 weeks or so?). We are very happy with their infant program.
We love OFLC!
Boris

Reason for choosing: We have a five year old daughter and one year old boy at OFLC. My daughter has been here since she was 3 months old. We live between Allston and Brookline, and work in the Longwood medical area. So when my wife was pregnant, we looked at various places in all those areas. We chose OFLC because the staff seemed more caring and less business-​like, and the facility was cleaner than most, and other kids and parents from many different backgrounds, including Russian (although we are not), appeared genuinely happy.
Management: Now that we’ve been here for almost five years, we didn’t realize when we started how important this is. You mostly talk to teachers, so you don’t appreciate how the management/​owners can set the tone and standards for the entire school. The previous owners were nice, but their own kids finished attending the same daycare, and I felt that their heart was no longer in it, and they weren’t as involved. But OFLC has had a new owner since last year, and the improvements have been remarkable. I have seen the owner buying furniture for kids, greatly expanding play area, washing blankets in the baby room himself, making changes to staff and teachers so that the focus remains on the kids not people who work there, etc. He has a track record of running really successful daycare centers elsewhere, and he is in the process of bringing many of those ideas to OFLC. The excitement among teachers and parents and kids is palpable (we are about to open the biggest indoor playground/​reading area/arts&crafts area in Boston within the daycare).
Teachers: Many teachers here actually come from Russia or nearby countries, and many of them have advanced degrees in child psychology, education, music etc. before coming to the US and working at a daycare. Many are also older and have much life experiences, which is apparent in how they deal with kids, parents, and one another. They all speak English fluently, and our daughter reads/​writes/​speaks English very well. There have been a couple of sad departures of teachers we loved dearly, but fortunately they have been replaced by other teachers who are as equally loving and effective. The teaching style varies. The school overall has a well structured programs that is communicated to parents by email, but there are teachers who also emphasize free style thinking, creativity, and critical thinking (again, a benefit of having some teachers with much educational and/​or psychology background). The result has been that our kids adore their teachers, we have grown close to all of them, and our daughter is meeting or exceeding her educational and personal developmental milestones.
Facility: It’s on a third floor of an office building. The school has a high ceiling, multiple spacious rooms for classes, library, and an enclosed outdoor playground where kids can run around, ride bikes, play in sand and playhouses. The new owner has been upgrading all of the baby cribs, tables, décor etc. The new indoor playground/​reading room/arts&crafts room is a converted dance studio, and it is huge (the largest in Boston). We can’t wait for it too be open soon. And I really hope they open it up on weekends. They have installed some HDTV screens with pictures of kids throughout the day so that parents can see them when they come into pick them up.
Cost: Raising kids in Boston is expensive. So this is a consideration. OFLC is ~$ 200 – 300 less expensive than other daycare centers we visited in the longwood and Brookline area. So given all the positives, especially with the new improvements, this daycare is definitely worth a look.
Summary: We love this daycare before all the improvements. We now love it more. Everyone should at least check this daycare out, especially if they live in Allston/​Brighton/​Brookline. A bit of growing pain is definitely worth for what’s to come, and it’s really nice at the end of the day driving home and hearing my daughter saying how much she loves her teachers and how she wants to invite all of them home.

Our Future Learning Center was recommended to us by some friends we respect and trust. But this trust doesn’t necessarily convince a one year old that she would be fine at school without us. On her first day, we were all nervous and she was quite resistant. But the staff warmly welcomed us, encouraged us that we all would be fine, and scooped her out of our arms, bringing her into a new and exciting stage of life.
And now after two years at «OFLC» she cannot wait to go to school and is so sad to leave. Because of OFLC our house is now filled with art projects, stories about friends, and new ideas and classroom skills.
In addition to a great learning environment OFLC has provided us a number of other important elements including:
· Flexibility for our unique schedule.
· A diverse staff who love the kids and have always been willing to give thorough feedback about the progress and development of our child.
· Age appropriate curriculum with a great combination of imaginative play and physical activity.
· Accommodations for our daughter’s life-​threatening allergy
Lest you grow suspicious of my glowing recommendation, I will also add that there are areas for the school to improve. Now under new management there are some minor logistical quirks being worked out. And I would love to see more direct parent involvement, i.e. more open houses, invitations to help in the classroom, etc.
But at the end of the day what matters most to me is a safe environment where my daughter’s heart, mind and imagination can come to life. Thank you OFLC for providing that environment for our daughter.

I completely disagree with the first reviewer. I am a parent with a 2 y.o. that has been at the center from infancy. The care and attention of the teachers to my child is absolutely tremendous. Lida, Svetlana, and many other of the teachers (and their respective teams) are a treasure and to be honest, I am sad that one would give such a negative review the center as the first reviewer without actually having a child there. Maria, who organizes the center is lovely and caring – often stepping in to help. There are structural problems with the building, this is true – and they are being addressed very rapidly by the building management as well as by the new owners and I have never been concerned with my child’s safety in this building. It’s probably not a center for overprotective, baby-​eistein & Melissa & Doug worshipping parents – the style is more carefree. This is not to be confused with dangerous or careless. As a result of this, the price performance of this center is second to none with hot meals every day and loving and caring teachers, it cannot be beat. My daughter runs, not walks to «school», screaming «bye mama» and giving a big hug to whatever teacher in the gym early morning. She is there all day and these wonderful people have taught my daughter the skills I am confident she needs in life. She is smart and caring, and I owe much of that to the teachers that take care of her. The kind of confidence I have leaving my daughter at this center while I work all day cannot be bought. I have toured (even put up a month-​downpayment that i lost) for much more fancy and expensive centers and pulled out at the last minute because the individual attention to my daughter was not on par. This is a very diverse center, as well with many of the teachers speaking multiple languages. I was surprised when my daughter yelled «Ola! Adiós!» without me eve speaking spanish to her. My daughter also is bilingual Russian-​English which is supported and encouraged by the center’s staff. It is important that children learn that diversity is something to be accepted when they live and grow up in the US, especially. Not sure what else to say except that we will really miss everyone here when we move back to California in the summer!!!