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San Francisco, CA
Lone Mountain Children's Center

Parents at this school would recommend this school to other parents.

Review this preschool

neighborhood: Presidio ·  Telephone: (415) 876-0057

• Summary
• General Info
• School Philosophy
  & Day-in-the-Life
• Curriculum &
  Teaching Approach
• Quality of
  Teaching
• Home/School
  Connection
• Discipline,
  Health & Safety
• Ages, Schedule
  & Tuition
• Application &
  Admissions
• Kindergarten
  Placement&Tips

General Approach to Learning

	Play-based
	Play-based with some structure
	Predominantly teacher-led instruction
	Montessori
	Waldorf
	Co-op
	Reggio-Emilia

source:

Director's Comments

We offer a developmental, theme-based preschool program for children age two years and seven months through five years and six months. The program is designed to be nurturing, creative, and fun, in a context that honors structure and develops self-discipline. Each of the three levels actively supports and cultivates a child's social, cognitive, physical, emotional and language development, utilizing an array of primarily experential and hands-on educational techniques. In addition, the school offers a curriculum that is unique to Lone Mountain in both approach and degree of sophistication. By the culmination of the three-year program, Lone Mountain students have been exposed, in an age-appropriate manner, to most of the traditional academic disciplines: Art, Music, Science, History, Sociology, Geography, Psychology, World Religions, etc. Our hope is to inspire a life-long fascination with learning and discovery.

Social Skills & Work Habits

OVERALL RATING (5.0)
This school has increased my child's:
Ability to listen and follow directions
Ability to sit still for longer periods of time
Ability to be a part of a group of children
Self-sufficiency and independence
Awareness of others’ feelings
Cooperation with other children

source:

Curriculum and Teaching Approach

	PLAY-BASED	PLAY-BASED WITH SOME STRUCTURE	MOSTLY TEACHER LED	NOT FORMALLY IN CURRICULUM	CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENT
Language					Yes
Oral language	-	-		-
Nursery rhymes, poems, songs	-	-		-
Storybook reading	-	-		-
Emerging literacy skills	-	-		-
Cognitive Development
Math and number sense	-		-	-	Yes
Time & space	-		-	-	Yes
Sci. reasoning/physical world	-	-		-	Yes
Music	-	-		-	Yes
Visual arts	-	-		-	Yes
Physical activity	-	-		-	Yes
Other subjects taught	Our two older groups have weekly teaching specialists in music, movement, and science.

source:

Director's Comments

We have a theme-based program with a balance of child-directed and teacher-directed activities.

Parents' Comments

Parent #1
Lone Mountain offers science, French, drama, art, music, and pre-academics enrichment to all students. All these activities are presented in fun methods, so the children love all of them - even pre-academics! Children are also given free time for physical activity, playtime, and coloring. The curriculum is well balanced between structure and kid-time.

Parent #2
I checked the same one for all-free play with some structure. But I know that everyday there is a set of goals that are to be met. They break up into small group and rotate around. Depending what station they are working in, it could be completely free play or completely teacher-led instruction. They just don't wonder around freely with encouragement form their teachers.

Parent #3
I would say that all of the above are part of the curriculum. They are modeled and discussed by the teachers but there are always opportunities for children to engage in them as part of free play.

Parent #4
Lone Mountain's general philosophy and curriculum are play-based, but they also have some structure. My son has attended two other preschools and LMCC is right in the middle in terms of allowing the kids to have a lot of free time to explore and play, but also having rules and a schedule they stick to. In my opinion, it's a nice balance.

Parent #5
Lone Mountain does have an academic program.

Parent #6
n/a