Provider 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!