Our daughter joined the toddler class (Teacher Amanda) when she was 18 months and as I write this, she is 3.5 years old and in the preschool class (Teacher Nicole). The following are the reasons we love this place: - Nia house has many decades of history (read: licensed 1982): we found out about this place because we had mature customers coming to our bicycle shop in Berkeley who spoke about their adult children being at Nia House. Everyone we spoke to loved it there. - Join a community: When you join Nia House, you join a community of parents learning to be parents. The educators and leaders are always trying to improve. They listen, they hang out together, they struggle together, they do it all together. - They know what they're doing: Our daughter transitioned VERY EASILY to Nia House at 18 months. It's easy - all kids should walk to their classrooms, where everything is set up to empower the child. If your child is crying and needs to be carried, you carry them to the teacher who is always there to greet you and your child, and hand them to the teacher. One safe place to another, the child understands that you trust the teacher and they can too. Remember to tell them goodbye, and when you'll be back. Don't sneak off. - Diversity: There is representation from the teachers and students of many countries, from Thailand and Japan to Iran and USA, your child will meet many people from many places, with many stories and experiences similar to and different from theirs. - They love your child: It's hard to describe but simply put, they'll love your child. They'll help you with potty training, with naptime struggles, and more. Families get together to let the kids play on days where the school is closed at parks in the neighborhood because we're that close. We go to each others birthday parties when we can. - Kids belong wherever they choose: If you have a kid who loves being indoors, they can. If you have a kid who loves the outdoors and running in the yard, they can. Kids are empowered to choose what to learn and when within boundaries (There are adult spaces such as the school office). In summary, this place is a wonderful place. There are monthly or bimonthly parent meetings, families pack lunches for kids that are expected to be healthy (no nuts, dried fruit, crackers, sweets, but don't worry, we have blog posts about lunch ideas). Two-parent households complete 20 parent hours per year, single-parent households complete 10 hours. Parent hours can be fulfilled helping to dust/ do laundry on site, feed or care for chickens/ rabbits, fixing Montessori tools, helping out with small projects such as dollhouse building or setting up a new climbing structure.