Montessori Community and Family School

Our oldest son graduated from Montessori Community & Family School three years ago and is thriving in 2^nd Grade. Our youngest son will graduate this summer and is already well-​prepared for Kindergarten. Heather and her team foster an environment that’s safe, conducive to learning, and filled with caring & mutual respect. From child-​rearing banter with teachers to knowing smiles from parents to high fives from kids, it truly is a community in every sense of the word and I can honestly say that drop off and pick up are generally the best parts of my day. We’ve entrusted our children’s future with Montessori Community & Family School and I hope that you’ll trust me when I say that you should do the same.

We have two kids here now, and plan on sending our next child as well. Under the supportive supervision of Heather, our children have a wonderful learning environment where they are surrounded by positivity and encouragement.
A wonderful gem in the bay area, and the only place we would consider sending our children.

Montessori Community and Family School:
Where a young and inquisitive mind enters…
And a caring, compassionate, and intellectual individual emerges.
This is what comes to mind when I think of Montessori Community and Family School, it’s lead teacher and director, Heather Houde, and the caring co-​teachers that work with Ms. Heather. Our family has had the great fortune to have both our sons attend MCFS since the age of 2.5. Since our first meeting, we have continued to marvel at the way Ms. Heather commands the children’s attention, interest, and respect. She models the behavior she wants to see in the children and she has high expectations of every child. This school is a tight knit group, which has allowed the children and parents of MCFS to form friendships and positive relationships with one another. The lessons she teaches her students extend well beyond the classroom; she helps teach them to be independent, to be problem solvers, to respect one another, as well as our Earth, and to be responsible individuals within the community.
Children learn differently and MCFS has allowed our boys to work at their individual levels. As a parent with a child who has some special needs, Ms. Heather and her teachers have gone above and beyond to assist our son, while still encouraging him to push his boundaries and keep moving forward. Our sons love Ms. Heather, their friends here, and being at this school.
Our oldest son is now in first grade and our youngest will be off to kinder next year. However, no matter what the future brings their way, we know our boys have had the best start possible having been with Ms. Heather at MCFS!

Our daughter has attended the Montessori Community and Family School (MCFS) since she was 2. Heather, the director, and her team of teachers, usually two others, have created a caring and structured environment. When our daughter started, she was in the process of completing potty training and they helped us through that process. During her first year at the school, she worked mostly on practical life skills, peer relations, and learning the school routines. She is now working on more academic skills like learning the letter sounds. They spend time outdoors every day, and then in spring and summer they learn about plants and gardening. Our daughter, now 3, states that her favorite part of school is her friends. Since it is a small school, the students develop close relationships with each other and most of the parents know one another too. We are pleased with the progress our daughter has made –especially her language skills. We are happy to be able to recommend MCSF as a place that offers fun, academics, art and music, and teaches the students respect for themselves, each other, the larger community, and the peoples of the world, as well as the environment.