Growing Minds Child Care

This is the best child care place we have ever sent our son. We tried with two different places before Growing Minds. The first place owner had some financial difficulties and they were under a lot of pressure so they couldn’t focus on the kids. The second place just let kids do whatever they want so that kids are happy and parents won’t get their kids out.
Now Teacher Kim’s place is different. She disciplines the kids so that they behave. We drop off our son before 8:30 so that he has some free play time which he really enjoys. After that is breakfast time so everyone must clean up all the mess they made. These are really great for my son because he started to learn to clean up his mess. Running around in the backyard area is also something we son really loves to do. But in order to do that he must finish his lunch which includes vegetables. It’s really hard to feed my son vegetables but because of this reward system Kim implemented at her school, my son at least eats carrots at home too. But at Growing Minds, he eats everything even if he doesn’t like them.
Some of the really good things my son learned from Growing Minds is looking after the younger kids and show & tell program. Kim pairs older kids with new kids so that the older ones can help the new ones. My son was paired with a kid older than him and much larger in size. He cared my son as a little brother and my son learned that from him and cares new ones the same way. The show & tell program is where kids can bring one thing from home to present to their friends and tell them how he/​she uses it. This gives my son so much courage to speak in front of people.
Growing Minds has dance class, singing class, picnic to the garden, visiting sloat garden, mad science program, watching plays, going to playgrounds, and show & tell. That’s how their weekly schedule is so everything is new and exciting for my son. And I am pretty sure I am forgetting some other programs they have. She also hires part time teachers for the kids and part time helpers to control the kids so there are always around 3 – 4 adults partnering with 12 kids.
Now that we have moved to east coast, we still have contact with Kim because she cares so much about our son and we want her advice on which type of school we should send him to. She is still giving us much more detail about how school system works (we didn’t grew up here) and how the public/​private schools and teachers operates.
I strongly recommend talking to her first and you will understand she treats this as a hobby/​interest first and business second.

I am one of the enrichment teachers that comes to Growing Minds monthly to do ceramics workshops with their kids. I go to more than 50 schools in the bay area, and have to say Growing Minds is one of my favorite places to work. The homey setting and the great view of the ocean set the stage for a calm atmosphere, which I consider to be very important in creating a healthy environment for kids to learn and play in. The kids are treated with respect and in turn show respect to each other and the teachers. I would definitely consider sending my child to a place like this. The fact that they have us come to teach ceramics tells me they are always looking for ways to create a richer experience for their kids.

We feel blessed to have found Growing Minds. Our son, who has been attending GM for over 2 years, blossomed under their tender care. His development at GM continues to amaze us as he is continuously exposed to a wide AND FUN curricula — such as art, dance, math, history, geography, and science. In addition, the children are escorted all over San Francisco, attending museums, concerts, and plays. On a daily basis, we can’t wait to look at the pictures of the children having fun while learning! Growing Minds is more than just a preschool or daycare, it is home to our son – a safe environment where he enjoys spending time with his friends and the staff. Lastly, I am impressed by GM’s approach of teaching our son how to care for others, such as pairing him with younger children new to the school.
Teacher Kim, owns and runs Growing Minds. We are forever grateful for her generousity and thoughtfulness. Not only is she patient with our son, and always willing to give us great parenting advice, she made sure our son was prepared for his assessment into grade school. Our son is now ready to graduate to kindergarten and we can only hope his new school will be as nurturing as Growing Minds. I asked him what he would miss most about GM, to which he replied, «I will miss Teacher Kim and my friends.»

Many years pass in between Unilocal reviews of Growing Minds Child daycare/​preschool. This is most likely because families stay for the long haul, and don’t often come and go for short periods of time. My daughter is finishing up her 2^nd year at GM, and I know many families stay for 4 years+ especially when younger siblings attend after the older siblings move on to Kindergarten.
Growing Minds is a curriculum driven preschool/​Child care with a great value! Ideal for working parents as there is no part-​time option. Your child will be missing out on the curriculum if he/​she was gone! You will hardly find a place in the west side of San Francisco that takes your child on 2 – 3 field trips a WEEK at their price. This is the biggest draw for us because we have witnessed the benefit of exposing our daughter to the culture in SF (museums, science classes, ballets) while also practicing a lot of independence riding public transportation– but we don’t always have time to go to these busy places ourselves. GM is also a wonderful value because with a class of only 12 children you get a high adult: kid ratio with the college students that help throughout the day.
Our daughter attended from age 2yrs 9 months and after nearly 2 years there we are confident that she is more than ready for kindergarten. When we first toured the space, which is in the lower level portion of Kim’s own house, we were worried that our toddler would not adapt to an environment with so many rules, let alone know if it was too early to introduce structure to our carefree child. Within a very fast month our daughter adapted and a lot of the listening skills established at preschool carried over in our home.
Kim used to homeschool her now-​grown children, so her planning and breadth of discovery with her preschool children follows in the same passions with her own family. Every half-​year focuses on a general topic (for instance the Rain Forest) and the kids get to experience and learn about it not only in story books, but physical activities, making art, taking trips to the Academy of Science, learning songs, planting, visiting the Reptile Lady etc. A full spectrum of learning that is unique and I’d say sometimes akin to 1^st grade level. The kids are so lucky to get this! A benefit to all this exposure is that your child will improve not only in his/​her attention and interest in science/​art/​reading while having fun, but also learn to behave in public spaces. GM is usually the only group of 12 kids (all dressed in green shirts) listening and behaving when at the Legion of Honor, for instance, when other kids require many parents to chaperone while their kids are running around. My daughter hardly held my hand crossing the street before GM and now she is always partnering up for safety.
This is not a place for free-​play, all day. There are designated times and days for free play (whether at the playground before a trip to the library, or running around on Kim’s very-​safe-​ocean-​view patio). The days are packed with stories, singing, learning, practicing, in between a set weekly schedule of MyGym, dance, Music, Art, Library, Spanish, field trips, cooking/​prepping, nap, show and tell. Forget about schlepping your child to art classes, dance, science enrichment– it all happens here as part of the program, which is very convenient. Kim clearly loves involving science/​math, reading/​stories and art/​performance into the children’s every day attention and the continual, deep focus on all these topics are equivalent if not better than you paying extra elsewhere. For example I enrolled my daughter in a early ballet creative movement class after school and felt it was not a good use of time and money because those classes are mostly to introduce movement, listening&following and fun to the kids. Our daughter gets this every day at GM!
GM is ideal for responsible and receptive parents, because 2-​way feedback is crucial in making your child’s experience successful and worth-​while. Kim has witnessed and significantly helped shape my daughter’s interest in school activities and as a parent I continuing the learning at home. If there are any behavioral issues parents are notified and the correction is taken seriously. If there are great achievements from the day you will also hear about it. A binder full of the past 6 months’ activities is sent home during the class Performance, which is usually a dance and several original songs.
Parents are updated on a daily basis through the Google + photos that are taken throughout the day and uploaded during naptime. I love this time of the afternoon when the email comes in with the photos to view. There are about 200 photos– a DAY!
Add your child as soon as possible to the wait list. Usually spots open up when the soon to be kindergarteners leave in the summer, or if a child leaves mid-​year due to a move etc. A trial day is recommended, as is a tour with your child.

GM ended up being a perfect fit for my daughter and she has learned so much about the arts, music, and science. I love hearing her sing songs from school and she has really come out of her shell over the past three years there. GM has helped me raise my sweet girl.
Almost daily on rain-​free days, Kim takes the kids to museums, parks, libraries, and gardens all over the City using public transit. They also have weekly instructors stopping by for music, baseball, and gymnastics (My Gym). Not including all the wonderful art projects she brings home.
I thought long and hard about placing my second child into a different daycare/​preschool since he is the complete opposite from my daughter. My girl is the quiet artistic one, where he is all BOY. I never in a millions years thought he would sit still long enough to learn from Kim’s enrichment program.
I tried a daycare that I thought would be a good fit after talking with the provider, but my son let me know that he didn’t want to go after the first day and physically got sick when I tried to make him go the second day. I made him go and just thought it may have been separation anxiety. After picking him up later that day, he still kept telling me he didn’t like the school. I paid for the week, even though we went two days and started looking at more providers.
I spoke with Kim about having him attend with his sister so that he could get excited about going to preschool. What was going to be a therapeutic transition to another school turned out to be a good fit for my son! He has long forgotten that bad experience at the other daycare and is attending GM full time now! I am so thankful for Kim for turning a bad experience at another daycare around. Now I catch him singing those same cute songs with his big sister.
Check with other providers, since most other daycares have one outing a week and the rest of the time is spent cooped up in the facility. Kim exposes the children to all the Arts that SF has to offer through the daily field trips. She has a garden outside where the kids see the vegetables they plant, grow and later harvest for their meals. She even has the kids help prepare meals. Also, prepare for the 100+ daily photos that capture all the fun activities they do at GM!
Now my daughter is off to kindergarten and she will flourish, thanks to the strong foundation that GM provided. We are so lucky that GM was a good fit for both our kids. It is a testament to Kim’s abilities in dealing with different toddler behavior and working with the parents on issues that may arise.
There is a waiting list, but its well worth the wait. Just plan ahead for the tours to find the right fit for your little one.

Our 4.5 yr old son has been at Growing Minds for 18 months and we have been thrilled. He absolutely loves it and we have seen incredible growth — socially and academically during that time. Most importantly, each day Leon is as excited as the last to be going.
Kim never ceases to amaze me in the lengths she will go to to ensure a broad and varied curriculum for the children. Gymnastics, French, guitar, basketball, dancing — all weekly, in addition to regular field trips to the Academy of Science, museums, playgrounds and more.
The size of the school is perfect for us, as we know that Leon gets all of the attention he needs, but at the same time has enough children with different personalities, to play and develop relationships with.
To us, the fact that Growing Minds is a relatively new school is one of its biggest advantages. Kim and the teachers are ‘fresh’ and so very enthusiastic to develop an incredible environment for our little growing minds!
Leon is well and truly prepared for Kindergarten, even though he has another year to go. He has been reading for some time (GM uses zoophonics which really resonated with our son) and has grown in leaps and bounds in his ability and willingness to engage with other kids.
Thank you Growing Minds for being a second home for our son.

Like most parents in San Francisco, searching for an appropriate preschool was an arduous process. After interviewing with and touring roughly 20 schools, ranging from large, corporate preschools, play-​based, to Montessoris, we knew that Growing Minds was where we wanted to send our daughter. First, a caveat: we wanted a school with semi-​structure, and not on either side of the play-​based or structure extremes. GM is a nice blend of the two, and if that is not what you envision for your child, then GM is not the place for you.
Before deciding to enroll our child, we visited GM twice and were impressed both times with various facets of the school. Teacher Kim impressively spent great effort renovating the space, complete with wooden furniture and an array of educational toys. A curriculum focused on early learning including zoophonics, introduction to musicians and artists was more than we could ask for. In fact, our daughter recognizes van Gogh’s «Starry Night,» and Monet’s «Water Lillies» when shown pictures; and, just last night she pointed to a painting and wondered whether it was by Picasso (incidentally, it was not). Our daughter has also been exposed to an array of classical musicians such as Wagner and Bach, and knows how to pronounce several letters of the alphabet.
The curriculum also places priority on science and reading. Our daughter has been exposed to various books and enrichment activities, such as visiting the Cal Academy or a nearby gardening center to purchase plants and ladybugs. A lesson on ladybugs and aphides led our daughter to query why ladybugs eat aphides and why aphides eat lettuce. And, at just shy of three-​years-​old, she’s even taken part in her first «empirical» study by taste testing the lettuce the kids (and teachers) planted in the garden. We often talk about ocean life, including dolphins, sharks and sea stars. These are all new adventures since she has started at GM.
Teacher Kim is not only professional, but also very personable. She keeps an open line of communication with parents during pick up/​drop off, and is also very accessible by phone and email. We were careful to ask necessary questions about disciplining when we visited the school, and we consistently check-​in with Teacher Kim about our daughter’s progress and whether there are issues we should take note. Ultimately, we think it is important for the teacher and parents to work together and to continuously communicate.
By «play based» standards, GM is a little bit more structured, which works for our family. While we can teach our daughter everyday manners when she’s at home, the school environment is in some respects, more important. Peer socialization influences the way children interact with one another and conceptualize themselves, and Teacher Kim provides a positive environment that cultivates respect among the students. Children are taught to respect one another, and with good manners to boot (i.e. asking for permission with «may I…» or saying «please» and «thank you,» etc.). Additionally, Teacher Kim reinforces proper behavior, such as treating inanimate objects with care by not pounding on them, throwing them, etc. These are all life skills that children need as they prepare for kindergarten and beyond.
As for the staff, there have been some minor turnovers this summer. Teacher Kim is not only the director of the school, she is also the primary teacher. She has academic credentials and professional training for the post, which is more than I can say for the teachers at many of the other schools we visited. Aside from Teacher Kim, there were two assistant teachers when we started in the Winter. Unfortunately, one teacher was unable to continue her position there, and Teacher Kim has been very carefully accepting applications, and interviewing candidates to fill the position. In the interim, her sons were home from college and have been assisting at the school. I confess that while there was initial trepidation, I quickly learned that her temporary helpers are more than qualified for the position. Many of the teachers at the larger schools we visited were not trained academically (i.e. no BA or BS) in early childhood education, yet were still preschool teachers. Teacher Kim’s sons are good with kids, and it is obvious the children adore them; in fact, our daughter has really bonded with one of them over the past two months and will miss him when he returns to college at the end of the summer. The transition will hopefully be seamless as Teacher Kim has already hired an assistant teacher who will begin soon.
We are very happy with our decision to enroll our daughter at Growing Minds. The atmosphere, teacher/​student ratio, teachers’ educational and professional credentials, curriculum and homemade meals, are precisely what we wanted for our precious only child. And, a view of the ocean is an added bonus!

I just wanted to write a quick update that expresses my happiness with this daycare. They are still excellent and I am so happy with my decision to go with this place. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

Excellent childcare facility with preschool curriculum. This place is an enriching environment for developing children. There is a schedule where the children go from one activity to the next. There do «zoo phonics,» cooking projects, science based activities, outside/​gardening play, story time, and arts and crafts. The place has a safe homelike feel and is fully converted for childcare. It is a great value for early child education.