Berkeley School or Hearts' Leap North?

Our daughter attended Hearts Leap North for 2 years (starting at 2.75 y.o. until she began TK in BUSD) and we couldn't be happier about our decision to send her there. The awesome, intelligent, engaged, loving teachers are the main reason, but the space and location are also lovely. Sure, there isn't a huge garden, but they make great use of the small outdoor spaces with lots of art and nature-based projects. The playground is a perfect size for the number of kids, and boy do they have it mastered by the time they graduate! Upstairs, there is a huge church hall and kitchen for rainy days, gatherings, and gym classes. They often took short walks around the block and learned all about native plants. And I found the classrooms to have plenty of natural light. Perhaps you visited on a rainy day? As to the potty-training aspect, I really don't think we could've gotten it done so quickly without the tremendous help of the teachers—they were gentle and encouraging. Combine that with the subtle peer pressure and voila! I take issue with these preschools that require kids to be potty trained first, as it puts too much pressure on kids and parents, leading to relapses and other problems. I could go on and on about our beloved HLN! Feel free to contact me if you have other questions.

I have two boys, one at TBS and the other at HLN. Both schools are great options. My older son spent two years at HLN and we switched him to TBS to take advantage of their transitional kindergarten program. He is thriving there, but honestly he would have been great continuing on at HLN as well. Our younger son is in his first year at HLN. The HLN teachers are phenomenal. I can't say enough good things about how involved, caring, and dedicated they are. The classrooms and outdoor space may not be as fancy/expansive as TBS, but this doesn't hold the kids back in any way. We plan to keep our younger son there through to kindergarten.TBS is a much bigger, more expansive community since it goes through 8th grade. HLN is a more intimate, cozy community. You can't go wrong with either option.

I think if your son is ready you should definitely go to HLN. Both my kids went through this school, my daughter is there now. The Juniper room teachers are as good as it gets. They are nurturing, loving, intelligent and amazing with the kids. My kids have been so happy at HLN. I think kids this little are not so bothered by switching schools, maybe it gets harder later on? SO if you do a year at HLN and then switch its not the end of the world. My kids were also SO ready to begin school and I feel like waiting would have been a disservice to them. I understand the appeal of the bigger space at TBS, however the love and sweetness of HLN will have you feeling like you made a good decision I am sure!!

 I am the mom of a 2.5 year old son who attends Heartsleap North (HLN). My husband and I did on site visits at both campuses and really liked both programs for their emergent theory and also the enthusiasm and warmth of the teachers/admin. We were accepted into the HLN program, which was our second choice ONLY because of geography (Heartsleap South is about 10 minutes closer to our home). Our son was 2.0 when he started in September and and seemed like just a wee guy - we were worried how he would transition from 1:1 family member care to a "school" setting. Both of us work full time and I have a commute into SF, so time is precious. We have come to realize that we made a GREAT choice despite the longer commute to school! Our son went through the transition with loving care from the three teachers and support from the program director. In fact, they also provided much love and guidance for us parents as WE also had a big transition to go through (worry, guilt, etc). I cannot stress how much we lucked out on getting a full time M-F spot at this program. The parent community at this campus is very tight and there are opportunities to be a part of it if one so desires. I want to put in a good word for HLN as there wasn't much info re: opinion when I was looking for it. We could have chosen a closer and more economical program, but are really happy where we are and feel the value is there. We get daily written (short 2 liner) reports about something significant that happened during the day tailored to our child, a general short written report on class activities for the day and nap/potty logs in addition to weekly newsletters from the teachers. The kids have a general daily routine, but it is flexible and changes with activities of the season and parent-involved activities. Our son has started to show interest in potty training and the teachers have helped us to start getting ready for training by suggesting the next steps. They are all so supportive in their suggestions and not demanding as we felt some of the Montessori preschools we looked at seemed to be (with regard to potty training). I hope this helps to tip the scale for someone reading this. HLN is a great program to be in (child and parents both!). 

We're finishing our 6th year at Hearts' Leap North, with both kids starting at 2 years old and staying there until 5 or 5.5. I wasn't sure about it holding the kids' interest for 3 years, but it absolutely has. They have wonderful teachers who are constantly finding and developing the kids' interest. The classroom space is half-below ground, but the windows are full-sized and it's never felt subterranean to me. They do such a lovely job rotating play stations and wall displays (tons of art and documentation of kids' discussions or activities); it's hard to imagine a more inviting space. The play yard is not large, but I've realized the play equipment is really built to grow with the kids; my kids were thrilled when they learned to climb high and now they have an entire higher level to play on. The teachers also make excellent use of a few small dirt patches both for gardening and as mud hole play areas. 

All that said, the most important factor to your decision is how much you like your current child care situation. Do you see your child being happy there until age 3? Is it more affordable than preschool? It's hard to guess at age 1.5 what your child will need at 2.5, but I do know a couple of moms who wished they had switched to preschool closer to 2 than 3 since the child (and mom, in one case) had outgrown baby-mom time. My kids were ready at 2, and Hearts' Leap was as wonderfully nurturing with that young age as they are stimulating to my now-5-year-old. 

good luck.

...To continue what I just posted, Hearts' Leap also has a lovely parent/family community that the school actively encourages with potluck breakfasts throughout the year. We continue to benefit from this (carpools, playdates, family dinners, babysitting swaps) and being there the full 3 years for both of our kids really helped with that. Transitioning the child between schools may or may not be an issue, depending on the child, but it seems to me that adult relationships take quite awhile to develop in our busy world.

Forgot to mention that HLN offers soccer and music lessons weekly. Our son gets both as he is 5 days/week. 

We could not be happier with Hearts Leap North and our son is in his 2nd year of this phenomenal program.  He and we have now experienced both classrooms.  What truly sets Hearts Leap North apart is the highly-skilled and completely engaged teaching staff plus the lovely and amazing director Gretchen Stitzel.  Each and every one of the 6 teachers and Gretchen demonstrate warmth, love, fun and sheer dedication to growing young hearts and minds every day.  They are all excellent communicators with the parents and (of course) the children.  I truly get the sense that they are helping to make the world a better place with their focus on social-emotional learning and the way they embrace divergent thinking along with their anti-bias curriculum.  I remember being worried about the church basement being too dark or claustrophobic but after talking it over with lots of folks, I realized this was my (adult) concern and that the children are perfectly happy in the space (and I am, too, now!)  In fact, both classrooms get a good amount of sunlight and the playground is always bright.  The visual environment of each classroom is a wonderful balance of calm and creative - full of art and nature and science and sensory experiences and all manor of things that spark young imaginations.  It never feels too busy or crowded in any way, and the materials the teachers choose are always as simple as possible and aesthetically appealing.  The books in the classrooms are always great and always changing.

Sending our son to Hearts Leap North for preschool was one of the best decisions we could have made as a family.  It is truly our son's home-away-from-home.

I want to add to my previous post that the Juniper Room teachers (the 2s and 3s classroom) made potty-training an absolute breeze for us.

You may want to ask an early childhood educator, preschool director or child psychologist about how detrimental -if at all- it would be to move your child from one school to another.  Although we haven't experienced this firsthand in our family, we have many friends whose children switched preschools at age 3 and 4 and all of them seemed to handle the transition with great ease.  Made our friends think the switch is far more difficult for the parents than the child!

We are a happy TBS family and would not change our decision for anything. I believe that the pre-school starts taking children at 2.7 as long as they are potty trained. Our older daughter started at TBS at the Early Childhood Center and we all fell in love instantly. The head of school Kathy is so caring and attentive to everyone's needs. We have been in the Eugenia classroom and the educators are creative, talented and thoughtful not to mention caring too. Our younger daughter started at the ECC this year and literally leaps out of the car everyday. The community is wonderful as well, we have met so many great families and it really feels like an extended network of support. We also looked at TBS because it also offered a K-8 program and we knew that was something we were going to need. Hope you are happy with any decision you make. We love ours with TBS!