Little Oaks Montessori School

I am writing this letter in hopes that others will read it. I am a grandparent that has the custody of her two precious grandchildren. My oldest grandchild Daniel is three and is a student at Little oaks Montessori. He has been in this school for approximately one year, He has shown remarkable growth in his social interaction with other children and adults. He is excited to go to school and he is happy when he comes home,showing pride in the work he has accomplished.It is very rewarding for me as a parent to see how his self esteem is developing and growing. I am happy to see that he has learned the value of cleaning up after himself, and l love that he says please and thank you..
I feel the teachers have the ability to treat all the children as the individuals they are.They help my grandchild grow and learn in accordance to the developmental stage he is in. they are all educators that obviously love teaching and are dedicated to the Montessori philosophy. the school is run by professionals who put the care of the children first .
I highly recommend this school to any parent that is researching a learning environment for their child.

Pros: the people that run the school

Cons: my son does not go often enough

Posted 01/29/09

Please, if you are clever enough to look for reviews on line for a school, then check out the reviews at yahoo local for this place.

Bottom line: The director has some vision of how the perfect child should be, some sort of cross between a young Mr. Spock and one of the Midwich Cuckoo children. If your child shows emotion or is different from her vision of perfection, they will be recommended for some kind of therapy.

Don't make the mistake we did. Don't subject your child to this woman. There are plenty of other choices available. Go and talk to her if you must, but use your common sense and ask yourself if you want your precious child at his/her most vulnerable and impressionable time subject to this woman's ridiculous theories. Ask her about children showing emotions, how they deal with upset children, should children be comforted, etc. Why do they send the bowel movement home with the kid's underwear? Why did she fire the kindergarten teachers in front of the kids? What proportion of kids are recommended for therapy of some kind or other? What happens if parents say no?

Just use your head, and I'm sure you'll find some place in Petaluma that is better for your child than this place - there's plenty of them.

Thanks for reading this - at least you are doing some research for your child's well being.

Pros: Tiffany and one or two other good teachers.

Cons: Too many to fully list: Mainly the mad woman who owns the place.

Posted 11/17/08