Children’s House of Los Altos

I currently have 2 children enrolled at Children’s House of Los Altos. My first, to graduate in the spring of 2016 and my second child, to start in January on 2016. When I 1^st started looking for preschools, we were living in Willow Glen. I attended multiple orientations and the only other preschool, which I thought would have sufficed, never called me back. I was so frustrated, I turned to my trusted school, Children’s House in Los Altos. I was willing to make the 30 – 40 minute morning rush hour commute, to go to a school I trusted and quite literally, grew up in!
I myself went to children’s house, my sister enrolled her 2 children and now my 2 are enrolled. For me, I was very nervous about enrolling my 2.5 yr old in preschool, I felt I was going in blindly. So it felt very safe placing my son there. I grew up with some of the staff and one of my close friend’s mother works in the office. It already felt like a family/​community and I already knew I loved the curriculum!
We now live in Los Altos and I have to say, that I know that we made the best choice for a preschool, hands down. We have also referred many of our friends, who now have enrolled their children. I’ve seen some negative remarks about cost, I personally think you get what you pay for and we do truly believe we are receiving a great educational foundation for our children.

I am honestly shocked at some of the negative reviews I have seen. I have sent both of my sons to this preschool and have enjoyed every minute of it.
Academics: it’s a preschool — what do you expect? For them to be rocket scientists??? My oldest son was part of the CEC (cognitive enrichment curriculum) and it was HIGHLY academic. They did graphing, word problems, glyphs, symmetry, etc. My son was able to work on an individual project during one of their lessons (they were learning about coins and he noticed that there were states on the back of the coins so he and one of the teachers created a map of the state coins). So despite people who say that the teacher to student ratio sucks — it does not. Both of my sons received individualized attention. I highly recommend the CEC program if you’re looking for a fully academic add-​on. The other programs are half academic and half play but I do love that a lot of the learning is hands on. My sons were never bored at school and were always looking forward to school. Learning should be fun people!
Teachers: are amazing. Like seriously. My youngest son had teacher Olga and she totally rocked and addressed every and all of my concerns and was not dismissive at all! She was my son’s group teacher and was extremely protective of my son since he was a bit on the shy side and she noticed things about him that even I didn’t notice. So shame on the reviewer for singling out a teacher and for bashing her for doing her job. In terms of the turnaround it’s really not bad at all. My youngest son had zero turnaround in his class and my oldest only had one teacher leave during the school year (she got married and moved away — it happens people!) Also, I love love love the parent teacher conferences as I learn so much about my children outside the home environment. I genuinely feel as though the teachers love and care for my children and take time to observe them.
Administrative Staff: Joan, Ella and Chris are kind and responsive. I really don’t understand what people expect out of administrative staff. Do you expect them to bend over backwards to meet your every need? They’ve been patient and understanding with our family.
Bottom Line: I’m ashamed I didn’t write this review sooner since we’ve been coming here for two years. We recently left the school because my eldest son’s kindergarten is about 20 – 22 min drive from here and I didn’t want to have to drive back and forth especially since we don’t live in Los Altos but after I enrolled my son at a new school he kept asking me to go back to his old school with teacher Olga. If that isn’t a testament to this school I don’t know what is. Oh and their Nutcracker show they do in December with the older kids totally rocks!

It’s gone downhill significantly. Teacher to student ratio is really low and the teachers seem overwhelmed. It’s more of a day care than an actual school with the children mostly playing by themselves and the teachers just watching. Very little curriculum or actual learning taking place. Expensive too.

My daughter is in the 3s class at Children’s House, and we have been extremely happy with her experience there. Prior to Children’s House we were at a parent-​participation preschool, and I was apprehensive as to what we may miss in a drop-​off program. However, I have been truly impressed by the caliber of the program. For starters, the facility is very thoughtfully designed. The many play environments (playnasium, garden, sand area, art studio, vehicles area) are inspired and seem to foster wonderful imaginative play. The teachers are all exceptional — knowledgeable, caring, creative, collaborative. They do an exceptional job of helping the kids navigate social situations and develop pro-​social and independent skills. From my perspective, the program is a perfect balance of play-​based with structured learning (the kids have short lessons in math, literacy, science, and life skills). I have also found the head of school and administrative team to be very personable, accommodating, and warm. They build a great sense of community.
One of my concerns about leaving a parent-​participation preschool was that I would feel out of the loop. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. There are regular parent-​teacher conferences, parent education nights, and monthly newsletters from both the head of school and individual classrooms. The newsletters, in addition to providing a thoughtful look at our kids’ school experience, also give us great suggestions for continued learning at home. Additionally, families are frequently invited into school — musical concerts, holiday events, or just to visit the classroom. Clearly, there are many ways that parents are involved, as much as they want to be.
We look forward to continuing our daughter at Children’s House and to starting our son in the 2’s class. Children’s House is helping to instill in our daughter a real love of learning as well as an enjoyment of these magical years.

This school has a great info night prior to 1^st day; a nice dad’s day, &other informational opportunities for parents. The engagement opportunities that are prepared for the students are great. My child is 2.5 years old. If you have a child this age and only wish for them to be in a program from 8:50 — 11:30 than this is fine. If your child needs a full day program and a nap than this program will not fit your childs needs. Director: The director seems to be very out of touch with reality and with how things work in general in current times. Teachers: My experience with this school is with my child who was in the twos & early 3s program. There is a head teacher and 3 other teachers for 28 children. The head teacher Olga, hasnt seemed to take into consideration what parents express. other teachers say that we need to bring up our issues to Olga and that they cannot go against her. The teachers know anything about any other part of the school except for the program they teach. There is a disconnect from morning teachers, to lunch teachers, to nap teachers, to afternoon teachers. at drop off my child was having a hard time with me leaving and two different teachers took an activity from another child and gave it to my child to try to get him to stop being sad. They just grabbed the toy from the other child and told him you are done playing with this. I was shocked. I grabbed it back and said he can keep playing with this. New Teachers: Children’s house may not verse their new teachers well enough. They dont seem to know about any thing for the school. My recommendation would be that instead of focusing so much on closing the school for parent teacher conferences and back to school nights they should have a new teacher orientation. Classroom schedule: My experience with this school is my child who was in the twos & early 3s program. The majority of these children wake around 7 am, eat breakfast around 7:30 and are at school by 8:50. Children at this age are ready for morning snack around 9:30 AM (according to every parent of a 2.5 year old and any published parent resource on feeding schedules). However, this school doesn’t feed these children a snack until around 10:30 and then serves lunch around 11:40. Since the snack is so late not only are they hungry for 3 hours after bfast but they are full for lunch. The school says that they spend the month of august to understand the children and adjust accordingly for the school year start in September. However, the majority of parents have expressed this concern and Teacher Olga’s response is that the kids are fine. Full time program: If you are looking for a full day program for your child than this is not a program that is designed for full time. In my experience with this school it is designed for an 8:30 am-11:30 am program. If they stay longer the children are shuffled through a handful of different «teachers» (a lunch time teacher, nap time teachers, and afternoon teachers) these transitions through so many teachers, create inconsistency in the child’s day. Nap time: if your child needs a nap then this is not the program for your child. The school transitions «those that nap» to another classroom around 1:15 the classroom is only available until 3 pm and they wake up the kids to free up the space. There are parents who are picking their child up early instead of staying in the full time program so that their child can nap at home. All in all This is a wonderful half day program for children.

I am updating my review as I have been contacted by the school promptly after posting it. They apologized for the misunderstanding and offered to refund the $ 150.
According to them, the misunderstanding regarding my position on the waiting list prompted them to redesign their waiting list process to ensure it will never happen again.
I received the refund yesterday. I do appreciate the fast response!

Super Expensive! And they have so many days off that I am fed up. It seems that every other week, there is some day off where you have to pay extra on top of the high tution for them to watch your child in a different class room or find alternative child care. Ridiculous. I am all for businesses making money, but this is too much.
And their play areas are extremely SMALL for such an expensive school — especially for young boys who need a place to play and run around. My backyard is bigger than their playground for Pete’s sake. Not bringing back my child next year.

We are in our third year now at Children’s House, with the past two years at the Upper Campus. This year my son is in TK and we added on the afternoon CEC program at the lower campus. My son takes a school van from upper to lower campus two days a week, which extends his day to 3:15 pm. He loves CEC! I can see a big difference in his thinking, writing and expression generally (including finding loopholes in our rules and reasoning against me a lot of the time now!). CEC taps into a creativity and skills that some 4’s and 5’s are ready to explore if they can handle the longer day overall. I’m impressed with the CEC teachers constantly adapting their program to follow the children’s interests and build on concepts. They say the program is different every year. For example, this year, they studied migration and whales in particular, which led to drawing a life-​size whale, measuring parts of the whale, migrating around the whole school building and grounds themselves, and trying to locate sounds in the classroom while blindfolded — you could have scraped me up off the floor when my four year old came home and asked me to help him spell «echolocation.» CEC is awesome.

We’ve had 2 children go through Children’s House and our youngest is currently in their 2s program. My middle child is now in Kindergarten and is thriving. I think this is in large part due to the fact that Children’s House prepared her well for what to expect in Kinder. CH provides a great balance between play-​based/​academic preschool programs. In Pre-​K my daughter had enough time to explore and enjoy self-​directed play but also learned to follow a structured and appropriately academic program. I’ve heard other parents of Kindergarteners say that their children attended more «play based» programs and that moving to Kindergarten has been a bit of a tough adjustment. I’m thankful that we had a great experiences with CH and that my two elementary aged children got started on the right foot thanks to be well-​prepared.

We are in our 2^nd year at Children’s House of Los Altos and could not be any happier with the program. I am your typical picky parent who wants to find a place where it meets 100% of your needs so you can work and feel assured that your kids are in excellent care and learning all they can.
Our first year, 2012, we had one child in the 2’s program and the other in Reggio (he was 4). Now we are in the 3’s and Young Fives program. The teachers are excellent. They are caring, personable and very educated. My kids surprise me constantly with how much they are retaining from the programs at school. This is no joke and really gives me the confidence that they are getting a solid pre-​school foundation and preparing them for all schools. I wish more people had reviewed this school when I was doing my pre-​school research.
In regards to some of the negative reviews, here are my thoughts on some of the points that are raised:
* Office is tiny… yes but there is no need for a bigger office. The staff that occupies that room is limited to 1 – 2 people. Yes they could use a larger office but please remember this school is in los altos… land/​space is not cheap. The size of the office has no impact on the education and care your children receive.
* the play areas (2 of them) outside and one playnasium inside are good sizes. I have never once heard my kids complain its too small. In fact, there are 2 playgrounds in the adjacent elementary school that the kids also have access to which does make the options and adventures vary day to day.
* The school offers montessori and Reggio programs. They also have EXCELLENT art, music and language classes.
As a parent I hope you find this review useful. Perhaps this school might not be perfect for everyone but for us, it has been a very positive experience.

We just toured the facility today. As the name the layout is like a house. The office room was so tiny and quite chaotic with papers and books all over. They got outdoor area both in the front and back. They are very small, especially the backside was quite narrow for bunch of older toddlers to run around and play with bike etc. When I asked about the outdoor area being small, the owner who gave us the tour says «all these kids are from houses which got a very big play structures in their backyard». I don’t understand what thats got to do with the school not providing one. Kids spend their prime day time in the school and moreover they come to play with other kids, otherwise they would be staying home playing in their backyard. I am not sure of her intention by that comment but it just did not feel right.

I put two children through their program starting in the two’s. I felt their 2’s program was truly uniquely excellent which is what started me there. My oldest child was verbally delayed and went to school signing and the teachers TOTALLY accommodated her without question and signed with her and got her speaking AND my kid actually cried when she had to leave school at the end of the day and LOVED going. My other child was super mommy-​attached and they worked with her to get her friends and liking school. They offer an amazing selection of classes so that you can chose what is right for your child and both my children stepped into kindergarten perfectly socially and academically strong and confident. They also have integrated excellent Music, Art, PE, etc. And class pets that you can take home (complete with lessons and care books of course). An amazing experience. Ella is not just a fantastic school director, we had her as a teacher on year and she is a truly fantastic teacher as well. I truly treasured our time at Children’s House and will always feel a part of the Children’s House family.

I can’t say enough good things about this preschool. I have three little boys and they all adore (d) going to Children’s house. The teachers and staff are smart and kind and make every effort to tailor the program to fit the needs of the children. The school provides lots of structure through routines — lesson time, snacks times, free play, circle time, etc. The kids really enjoy the rotations though language, science, math, art, gym, music, etc — and they NEVER get bored. The facility is enchanting and adorable with great indoor and outdoor spaces and the learning tools/​toys are excellent. This school is the best of both worlds — there is a strong academic aspect AND the kids are encouraged to express themselves through free play. It’s perfect… your kids will be happy, well-​adjusted and well prepared for kindergarten. I LOVE this school.

Our son attended a «young 5s» program before kindergarten and I am so pleased that we found Children’s House. He has truly enjoyed going to school every day. His teachers are warm and nurturing. He has learned so much socially, emotionally and academically. I cannot say enough good things about Children’s House.

We put two children through their program — from diapers to Pre-​K. I cannot say enough about them! We had distinct challenges with each child and the teachers were amazing at working through them. I didn’t feel at all that the atmosphere was «quite serious» as Mama B. feels. But, yes, it is a structured day with specific activities. The Holiday production of The Nutcracker is an amazing feat and I will always treasure those performances.
I do recall some confusion on occasion about the billing stuff, but everything always got resolved.
A special thanks to teacher Helen who really did a great job with my very busy PreK boy! She is a gem and I am very grateful for her energy and creativity.
I recommend this without any hesitation.
Mark Brown.

Offers traditionally designed montessori program. Teaching staff pay a lot of attention to program structure and are methodical. General atmosphere is quite serious, not especially warm and fuzzy. Is a good fit for children who can follow a lot of detailed directions easily. Art-​based classwork is well designed. Both locations have smaller-​than-​usual outdoor play areas.