Appleseed International

Overall we are happy with the school, safety, curriculum. It has safety keypad entry for each classroom. They do gardening, outdoor play, and learn manners in the classroom. Since it is based on Montessori way of education, there are kids of different ages in the same classroom which is good because it is like growing up among siblings. I am grateful to the lovely teachers of my kid’s class. They are extremely caring and responsible and are always ready to discuss child’s progress and general behavior.
Things to improve:
1. Management — Please observe less holidays. School closes in Spring for a week, 3 days in July for Teacher training, Thanksgiving week and Christmas week and a few more days here and there. We end up spending for backup care during those closed days. Look at the holidays at
2. Every month there are outings, which is good, but that means parents have to participate (not all — but at least 10 out of 24 kids’ parents). So that means we need to take half-​a-​day off now and then
3. Choicelunch program the school enrolls with has very few options for vegetarians. Mostly cheese based:(

Finding a pre-​school for our 3 years old son was harder than we thought.
Walked into the first school and I was excited; walked into the 2^nd school and i became indecisive; walked into the 3^rd school I felt something was missing…
What should be the most important factor? Convenience? Facility? teacher to student ratio? Program? Until we walked into AppleSeed international, we knew right away that we wanted our son to be in this school! It’s not only a pre-​school, but also a big loving family. From the director, to teachers, to every kid we see, everyone has a big smile on their face. What can be more important than that?
It was tough for the first two weeks. Little one started crying as soon as he sensed I was going to leave him, but the teacher was very caring and loving, picked him up right away and distracted him. Parents can watch the web cam from the main room to see how is the kid doing in the class, so we watched the webcam for 5 minutes until he stopped crying. Two weeks later, he was happy to go to school and wave bye ;-)
Now it’s been 1.5 months, our son has known all his classmates names, and his communication skill is developing amazingly, he has claimed couple best friends and he’s happy!
There are few small things not perfect, and the teacher to student ratio is high (1:12), but the school has met our criteria: safe, loving, open, bright, structured, organized, fun…

I took both of my kids there. The best thing about the school is the toddler class. Both teachers are great and they truly love the kids.
After that things change. I thought that child #1 was happy there until I took her out and she started attending kindergarten in our neighborhood public school and the after school YMCA program. That’s when I realized that she didn’t really love Appleseed, she just didn’t know anything else. She loved and still loves the programs she’s in now. As far as academics, if that’s important to you, I would suggest looking elsewhere. My daughter didn’t learn very much there .
Child #2 also started in the toddler program and moved on to preschool where he did not learn anything. We recently took him out and enrolled him in another small school. I can see that he’s much happier now because when I drop him off in the morning he’s happy to be there. When I told him last night that his mom and I had decided to take him back to Appleseed he looked at me with a sad face and said:“Nooo”. I was just testing him and that was the confirmation that we did the right thing.
A note to the director of the school: not every school charges a re-​registration fee. The new school that my son attends doesn’t even charge a registration fee. That fee is legalized burglary because it should count towards tuition if the child remains enrolled and not to enrich the owner of the school.

All I know is how the person that «greeted» me treated me.
She was rude and unhelpful because I didn’t have an appointment. I only stopped in because I was checking out another location in the area. I hadn’t seen this facility even though they were high on our list of possiblities since the hubby did a visit a few months earlier. I got a great vibe from the teachers and the students, but the lady that «helped» me was so rude that I decided to scratch them off the list. I figure that if they are that rude when they «want» my business what would happen later?
First impressions are lasting impressions. All she had to say was that I should make an appointment instead of making me feel bad that I didn’t have one.

My first experience with Applessed International was by accident. My husband sumbitted an application to the wrong location since Appleseed Montessori School was just right next to each other. Anyway, I spoke with Ann/​director on the phone couple of times. She is really caring and professional. I feel really comfortable talking with her. I was planning to send my son to Appleseed Montessor School in January since I had tour with them. Anyway, at the end, I chose this school for my son because their teacher is really nice and caring. My son like it really much.

Appleseed International is an affiliate of the Appleseed Montessori schools (Dunford and Warner sites).
In this site, there are 5 classrooms: one classroom is dedicated to toddlers, two to the bilingual Mandarin preschool, one to an English Montessori preschool and one to elementary school kids in the main «room».
Our experience is with the bilingual (Mandarin) Montessori program. We toured many bilingual pre-​schools in the South Bay, and chose Appleseed International. I was originally looking for a play-​based, NAEYC accredited preschool that was bilingual, but I’ve yet to find one near us. However, Appleseed International is part of the American Montessori Society.
Since our main focus was to find a bilingual preschool, we were undoubtedly limited in our choices. Having said that, we chose Appleseed International. Being Montessori, the classroom is multi-​aged: 3 – 6 years.
What we like:
1. Administrative Staff — professional, caring, dedicated (so important!)
2. Teachers! — caring and great with kids; this school has to have one of the lowest turnover rates around
2. Atmosphere — the rooms are airy and have a lively feel; bathrooms are clean
3. Neighborhood — it’s located in a residential neighborhood on an old elementary campus, but close enough to Wolfe and Lawrence Expressway so it’s easily accessible.
4. Kid Tested and Approved — what more can you ask for?
Yes, there are a slew of things I wish would improve, but overall, I this was definitely the best choice for us!