Customer Reviews

Finding a Preschool for Your Child in San Francisco & Marin

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A friend gave me this book, and it is a helpful starting point to research preschools in San Francisco. It's helpful to be able to easily reference the school hours, educational philosophy, whether or not children are required to be potty-trained, etc. The only problem with the book today is the fact that it has not been updated in a few years and much of the information about the schools, particularly the tuition (!) and contact info, is not up to date. Also, as a previous reviewer mentioned, this book does NOT tell you how to navigate the preschool admissions process, waiting lists, etc. - which is equally important in SF to getting your child into the right preschool! I'd recommend this book as a helpful reference tool, but if you're looking for information on choosing and getting your child INTO preschool, you should also read "How to Choose the Best Preschool for Your Child: The Ultimate Guide to Finding, Getting Into, and Preparing for Nursery School."

I grew up in a place where you just call up the nearest preschool and say, hey my kid is 3 and you drop them off the next day. But getting your child into preschool in San Francisco is about as competitive (and expensive!) as getting yourself into graduate school. I bought this book for a litle wisdom and insight on the process so I wouldn't end up having to educate her myself. It outlines all the preschools who responded to their survey on factors such as admission policies, parental views, costs, teaching focus, etc and provides some overall background on popular preschool "teaching philosophies". However, what it doesn't tell you is which schools are the most popular, which schools are the hardest to get into unless you build a library or know someone famous, which schools will actually call back when you try to get information, and which schools require a visit when child is still in womb. These are the kinds of things that could be helpful to know. Instead, it says more reassuring things like, all kids find the right school, don't let the process intimidate you, don't worry, blah, blah, blah. So while its a good start, I guess I was disappointed about what it doesn't say and what I really wanted to know. In fact, I finished the book more anxious about the process than when I started.

We got into the SF preschool game late and, in my desperation, I bought this book and read it cover to cover. It gives a nice summary of each school that responded to the authors' request for information and it was one of the few resources I've found that includes information on public preschools in the city. I would not recommend that parents use this as their sole guide in finding a preschool - check out savvysource.com, ParentsPlace's "Choosing a Preschool" class or preschool information night, or "Babies By the Bay" for more information - but it's a good starting point and I was happy to pass my copy along to a friend. (Our preschool search had a happy ending: we applied to three schools and got offered spots in two - one of which was our top choice. Good luck to you, too!)