Our son attended Magic Cottage for more than a year prior to kindergarten, and we were very happy with the school. He came from the non-English speaking pre-school, and spoke no English. He was in teacher Stars class, and teacher Star was so patient, caring and attentive to his needs.Our son was a bit frustrated at first since he could not express himself efficiently, and teacher Star helped him with self-control, and taught him the techniques of how to manage his feelings and successfully connect with his classmates. He is now in kindergarten and doing very well in the public school setting.While at MC, our son enjoyed the cooking and the baking, community garden trips were always a highlight of the week, as well as field trips to the Golden Gate park and neighborhood playground. Our son made wonderful friends at MC, and still recalls the times that he spent there. The school graduation ceremony was a warm event that took place at the community garden, where parents, kids and teachers gathered to sing songs, listen to teacher Biancas reading the book that she authored, and have a potluck picnic.Jane, the owner, takes quite a thoughtful approach to hiring teachers and assistant teachers, who have to go through the trial period prior to getting hired or dismissed. Teachers work at school for many years, and there is no quick turnaround, as at other preschools. Jane also provides professional development days to the teachers when they have the opportunity to take additional classes and deepen their knowledge in child psychology and educational methodologies

Wonderful, loving, play-based, preschool in a homey setting, with fantastic, experienced staff. The educational philosophy is Vygotskyian (similar to Waldorf); the classroom manages to feel calm, thoughtful, and joyful, all at once--kids really blossom here. Classes are mixed-age (33mo-5y), which lets the littlest kids gain responsibility as they go through the program. Healthy homemade lunches and snacks provided by the school. The kids make great use of the small outdoor space (gardening, sandbox, tricycle course, playhouse), and each class spends the morning at a bigger playground or community garden 2x week. Cant recommend it highly enough!The owner also runs 2 very similar schools: Sunset Sprouts, just a couple blocks away on 12th Ave, and Urban Sprouts, a larger multi-classroom school in South San Francisco.