Any Private K-8 Schools in SF and Marin That ALSO Have pre-K Programs?

Hi E.,

Stratford just opened in SF and we liked it a lot when we went to visit. Good luck!

A.

I believe the Waldorf school in San Francisco begins with pre-k. My kids go to a Waldorf school in the East Bay and we love it! I have heard great things about the one in San Francisco as well. There are also 2 or 3 in Marin County. If you Google it, you'll find them.

Waldorf is more organic and really pays attention to the child's developmental stages. They learn how to live life beautifully while they get their proper does of academics. It was started by Rudolph Steiner in Germany after WWII with the idea of creating a peaceful society starting with our children. The children learn social skills and the learning has an underlying focus of thinking with your heart, although the teachers don't say that outwardly.

It's not your usual private school, it seems to attract creative kids and parents who are looking for their kids to have more of a sense of fulfillment rather than achievement. They ask for little media exposure and less consumerism in exchange for more quality life experiences. It's not for everyone, but for some of us, it is been a huge blessing!

Children's Day School on Dolores is really great! I know the head pre-K teacher and she is fabulous w/ the kids! They have a sliding scale so that it's affordable. It's not an immersion program, but it's definitely a good school.

I sent my daughter to The Crayon Box preschool on Ocean Avenue and that's a Spanish Immersion school and my daughter thrived! She is now in Kindergarten in a catholic school and is doing really well! They have Spanish as part of their classes daily so she still gets the practice. We're very happy with the choices that we've made so far w/ her and would not do anything different if we had to do it all over again.

I actually wanted to send her to the French/American school but she and I would be the only ones to benefit! :) Just so you know, any decision you make will benefit your child - no matter what that is. Just make sure it's the one that is best suited for your family. :) Good Luck!

The San Francisco School and Childrens Day school both have pre school programs in addition to the K-8. We wanted to send our son to the San Francisco school for kindergarten, but they only had 1 spot due to kids entering from their preschool. We were very impressed with their program. My daughter went to Children's Day and my son went to French American. These schools are like night and day. FAIS is fairly rigid and moves at a very fast pace. That said, my son recieved an amazing education, has traveled extensively in France and is bilingual. My daughter has dyslexia and would not have done well at FAIS. CDS(Children's Day School) is very different, they have project based learning and use Responsive Classroom techniques. The middle school is fairly young, but the kids have all been getting in to great high schools and are terrific kids who have learned to be strong self advocates and great community citizens. The farm and garden at CDS is an amazing learning experience for the kids as well. Hope this helps a little.

L. M

Synergy School offers 2-year kindergarten for young K's. San Francisco School offers a true pre-K that flows directly into their K-8. Both are great schools!

A.