Octopus Garden Preschool

The very first morning we dropped off our oldest son at The Octopus Garden, I was sad getting into my car, that mommy feeling of longing for her child. Another dad, getting into his car, recognized my feelings and reassured me with a smile and «Don’t worry. Pretty soon it will feel like family!» He was right. The Octopus Garden has become all three of my children’s home-​away-​from-​home. They feel safe. They are loved. They learn. They have good friends. It’s a preschool where manners and kindness are taught along with the ABCs and 123s. It is a very special place, a place that is governed by Love.
Now when I drop my kids off at The Octopus Garden, they run in happy! They are greeted with smiles and hugs and everyone is eager to begin the day. Each week they are introduced to new concepts, books, activities and are fed healthy meals. The dedicated teachers at The Octopus Garden have become our true allies in parenting. They are our friends and they do indeed feel like our family. My husband and I are comforted with the knowledge that our kids are being provided with the same care and kindness that we provide in our home. We feel so blessed to have The Octopus Garden as our preschool!

Not great. The school’s website and staff appeared to misrepresent what the school’s strengths and weaknesses were. The website says they have won awards for being good with kids who have special needs — they were not good with my son, who was just diagnosed with ADHD. The parent manual says they work with parents if kids have trouble in the classroom. They did not work with us, although the director did tell me that they worked with another child for a year until he went to kindergarten and ended up bringing a knife to kindergarten. It seemed like they favor kids who have been there for a long time or whose parents they know, I’m not sure. They did not appear willing to work with our son’s therapist to develop a plan for our son, either. The director told us, «sticker charts don’t work.»
I also didn’t feel like they did much «teaching.» My son did not do one worksheet during his time here. I did not see any educational work coming home. The children in his class seemed to bully a lot for such young kids. They called our son a cry baby and made fun of him for calling his mom «mama.» The teacher is very experienced, but she appeared to be worn out or overwhelmed. The facilities are inviting but seem crowded and less than pristine.
On the positive side, I will say that my son had fun with a lot of the activities they did, such as the summer luau. The director is pretty good at communicating with parents, even though I felt that she was either biased or dishonest in her communications with me.
Bottom line? If your child is a fairly easy kid, and you aren’t too focused on your child getting the best educational environment you can find, this school might work for you. If your kid is hyper or challenging like mine, this might not be your first choice.

Seriously, how does this school have NO reviews. I found some on Google, but really Unilocalers we need to start reviewing businesses more often. I cannot say enough positive things about this school. Now let me preface this review by stating that due to us moving, I had to move my daughter from this school and it was not easy for me nor her. She went to this school for over a year and absolutely loved it. She learned soo much in her time there. How do I know this? The school that I had to move her to hasn’t taught her ½ as much as Octopus Garden could do in a month. The food they serve the children is the things that you WANT your child to eat. No pizza, hot dogs, chicken nuggets and sugar laden milks here! No way, they are way to smart for that. Ms. Carol runs the school and she ‘gets it’. Ms. Jessica was my daughters teacher and my 4 year old still asks me about Ms. Jessica after 8 months. She won’t be forgetting Octopus Garden anytime soon and neither will I.
Ps. Ms. Carol, opening a private school for older kids would be awesome. I would make the drive!