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    Use this blog to search for care providers and other resources recommended by other USF parents. You can search by keyword or narrow in by the category of resource you need.

    This blog will only be as useful as the recommendations in it – so please also take a moment or return back to share some resources that have worked for you as well using the form in the right sidebar!

  • Resource Type / Attributes

Rabbit Hole Children’s Theater

Kids at Rabbit Hole Bday PartyProvider Name: Rabbit Hole Children’s Theater

Provider Type: Camp, Extracurricular Activity, Birthday Party Venue

Ages Allowed: 2 years, 3 years, 4 years / Pre-K, 5 years / K, 6 years / 1st Grade, 7 years / 2nd Grade, 8 years / 3rd Grade, 9 years / 4th Grade, 10 years / 5th Grade, 11 years / 6th Grade, 12 years / 7th Grade, 13 years / 8th Grade

General Attributes: Potty Training Required, Full-Day / Full-Time, Partial Day / Part-Time, School-Year, Summer Break, Other Breaks / School Closures, Private

City / Neighborhood / General Location: SF – Noe Valley

Pros:

Very whimsical, creative place – they have camps for kids, playgroups and activities for kids, fun birthday parties. The staff members are more dedicated and into the kids than at a lot of camps I’ve seen. Kids get to do crafts, see puppet shows, put on performances, dress up in costumes, etc. And it’s pretty convenient to bus lines / public transit.

Cons:

For most of their camps, esp. weeklong camps, the don’t have before care, their after care only goes until 5 pm, and they have no after care because they have Friday performances around 2 or 3 pm. Kind of tough for a working parents. We love it for days off or slow work weeks though!

Cost:

A weeklong camp is about $530 not counting aftercare. Prices are pretty standard.

Hours / Schedule:

They have summer camps that are weeklong, morning playgroups, after school classes, etc. A variety of options.

Pro Tips, Tricks, and Insights:

They have date night drop-offs too but it looks like they are popular – they fill up fast. They use Care.com Explore for their bookings, but if you go on their website and click from there, I think the provider gets more of the $ (there’s some Care.com marketing fee that eats their profit if you click from Care.com).

Provider Address: 800 Diamond St, San Francisco, CA, 94117, United States

Provider Website / URL : https://therabbitholesf.com/

Provider Phone: 415-525-4085

Recommender Name: Kimberly Knowles

Recommender Email: krknowles@usfca.edu

Recommender Connection to Provider: Kid(s) Previously Used Provider, I Have Friends or Colleagues Who Have Recommendeded This Provider

Other USF People Who Have Used Provider:

Not sure of any!

Anything Else to Share:

Not sure of any!

Date Recommendation Was Created: January 23, 2020 at 7:15 pm

Date Recommendation Updated: January 23, 2020 at 7:15 pm

Rosenberg Early Childhood Education Center (JCCSF Preschool)

Preschool student cutting applesProvider Name: Rosenberg Early Childhood Center (JCCSF Preschool)

Provider Type: Preschool

Ages Allowed: 2 years, 3 years, 4 years

General Attributes: Full-time / Full-Day, Reggio Emilia, Religious: Jewish, Snacks Provided, Year-Round

City / Neighborhood / General Location: Inner Richmond, San Francisco

Pros: Beautiful facility with a big backyard with playground structure, lots of room for the kids to move around. Intro to Jewish culture, really caring teachers who take early child education seriously. Each year that figure out themes based on the class interest and follow them through with projects. They walk to local parks and eventually take field trips on the buses. They have extracurricular activities built in like music, physical activity (dance, gymnastics, etc. – changes each year), gardening, cooking, art). They send you tons of photos and newsletters so you know what your kid is up to – and they give you a book at the end of the year documenting your kids progress – and 3 years parent-teacher conferences.  Also, no potty training required!

Cons: You have to pack a lunch with no pork, no shellfish, no nuts (but it isn’t as hard as it seems), because you have to walk your kid in and out, it can take a bit longer for drop-off and pick-up.

Hours / Schedule: 8:00 am – 6:00 pm – but you can drop-off until about 9:30 am and pick up starting around 4:30 pm if that works better for you. Weekly Shabbat celebrations are at 4:45 pm on Fridays – it’s great (but not required) if you can try to make it to those!

Cost: $30,300 / year for 2019-20 year, it goes up each year. It is around $2600 / month for 11 months. But you don’t have to pay for any extended care which is nice!

Pro Tips, Tricks, and Insights: I’ve heard a rumor that if you apply to multiple JCCSF preschool locations (Diller, Brotherhood way, etc.), that it’s less likely you will get a spot at Rosenberg. The competitiveness can really vary depending on the number of siblings each year. We sent thank you notes after the tour and around January / decision time – and then after we didn’t initially get in, I sent a nice note expressing our continued interest to the Director and in about a month we got in off of the waitlist. So, if you are flexible and persistent, it can happen!

Provider Address: 325 Arguello Blvd, San Francisco, CA, 94118, United States

Provider Website / URL : https://www.jccsf.org/youth-family/school-programs/preschools/rosenberg-early-childhood-center/

Provider Phone: (415) 386-4999

Recommender Name: Kimberly Knowles

Recommender Email: krknowles@usfca.edu

Recommender Connection to Provider: Kid(s) Previously Used Provider

Other USF People Who Have Used Provider: I think Calypso Fugit might her her son there.

Growing Tree Daycare

children working around table with teacherProvider Name: Growing Tree Daycare

Provider Type: Daycare

Ages / Grades Allowed: 0-6 months, 6-12 months, 12-24 months, 2 years, 3 years

General Attributes to Filter By: Full-time / Full-Day, Part-Time / Partial Day, Year-Round, Lunch Provided

City / Neighborhood / General Location: Inner Richmond

Pros: It’s Mandarin Immersion and the providers are very warm and friendly.  They are very nurturing with the infants under 1 year (at that age you provide your own food) and after that they get more socialization and they provide yummy lunches and snacks!

Cons: Both a pro and a con is that you drop your kid off right at the door / stairs each morning.  It makes drop off and pick up go very smoothly, but you end up feeling like you don’t totally know what is going on as intimately.  They don’t send photos home that often but occasionally you bring a flash drive for holidays, birthdays, etc., and they’ll put some photos on it for you.  There isn’t a ton of parent socializing but there is a Facebook group.

Cost: I paid about $2100 / month ($95/day) back in 2015 – I assume it has gone up by now.

Hours / Schedule: If I recall, you picked 8 hours that worked for you – we did 8:30-5:30 pm I think, but I’m not 100% sure if that’s how it works -it was a long time ago!  You can also just go 2 days / week or 3 days / week though I think.

Any Pro Tips, Tricks, or Insights?: If you mention my name (Kimberly Knowles from USF or Julie Orio from USF), see if they’ll give you a discount at all – or if that will help you get an interview!  Also keep in mind, they tend to add more spots after the 1 year mark, so if you couldn’t get it in as an infant, it could be worth trying to get in with a toddler.  They also have a bigger location in the Outer Sunset that has a preschool too.

Provider Address: 1028 Balboa St San Francisco, CA 94118 United States

Provider Website/URL: https://thegrowingtreeschool.com/

Provider Phone: 415-668-2918

Recommender Name: Kimberly Knowles

Recommender Email: krknowles@usfca.edu

Your Connection to Provider: Kid(s) Previously Used Provider

Any Other USF Friends or Colleagues That You Know Have Used the Provider or Resource?: Julie Orio, Julia Terhaar

Anything Else That You Would Like to Share About This Provider or Resource?: We really enjoyed this for our child – I felt safe leaving her there at 4 months, and we were sad to leave when it was time for preschool!

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