Children's Montessori Adventure

CMA is not for every kid. In our son's few months of attendance, multiple families (including ours) were asked or encouraged to leave. Our son internalized being a "bad kid" in his time at CMA and ultimately we feel that the staff are ill-equipped to handle children who don't fit into their specific, and strict archetype of the "perfect" toddler.

For kids who are able to follow the specific rules and procedures, there's no doubt that they are able thrive at CMA, the activities they do and crafts they make are amazing and really encourage fine motor skills and cognitive development, but it seemed that our kid was far too often prohibited from just playing and being a kid and had to follow very strict guidelines and rules which made him frustrated.

When he didn't follow the rules he was separated from his friends further which caused even more anxiety for him, leading to him to act out more, which staff at CMA didn't know how to address; possibly due to staff/student ratio.

Communications with us was rare, and often only when something was "wrong"; we received very rare positive feedback. Even during our parent/teacher discussion near the end my wife had to request for Ms. Lorena to say a single positive thing about our child.

Our son has since been at another preschool. He comes home every day enthusiastic and happy. He gets to play with friends all day, he is learning, growing and enjoying life. Staff at this new school have only positive feedback for him, they communicate very often, post pictures of him having fun with friends, etc. He went from feeling excessive anxiety at CMA to loving school.

Our son learned a lot in his time CMA, but he was unhappy, and they made it very clear they did not want him there which is a shame. He internalized being a "bad kid" during his time there, and if I could go back in time I would have avoided CMA altogether.

We are nearing the end of our daughter's time at Children's Montessori Adventure and while I'm excited for her to enter Kindergarten, I'm extremely sad to say goodbye to CMA. We moved to San Leandro in 2017 and were new to the area. We checked out a few places and ended up at Lil Angels off of Lewelling. While the staff was solid there, we were yearning for a bit more in terms of structure, learning and development as she was approaching the age of 2--that's when we found CMA.

During our first visit with the Director, Ms. Lorena, at the end of summer/ early fall of 2017 we were immediately sold. Not only was she so easy to communicate with, she was also so great with the kids (kind, patient, yet firm) and her staff. This is a woman who truly cares about her school and the people in it. At that initial visit, we immediately knew that it had (and still has) everything we were looking for--structure with room for creativity, learning at the pace and interest of the child and on top of that, they learn practical life skills too.

Our daughter has come to love this place and til this day, even when we pick her up she still loves to linger in the classroom and its a challenge to get her out the door (good problem to have). I love when she comes home singing new songs or even saying phrases in spanish (she can event count to 20 in spanish because of this school)! In addition to this, there are so many other wonderful benefits to having your child at this school:

-- the teachers and assistants (while there has been some turnover in the past, but all of the teachers we've encountered since we've been there have been amazing, caring and nurturing
-- there are often events for major holidays and special days for grandparents and parents to enjoy, it allows you to come in and see what the children have been working on. always a great time!
-- they consistently change out the activities so that the children are always learning, challenging and ultimately enjoying themselves. our daughter is always excited to tell us about the latest and greatest activities
-- they keep you up to date on your child's overall development with semi-annual parent/teacher conferences.

Overall, I highly recommend this place--definitely one of the best schools in the area for ages 2-6. I'd be happy to share my experience so please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. I know how stressful finding the right school for your little one can be!

Thank you, CMA! You will be missed come the end of the school year!

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