How I Started A Home-Based Preschool: Little Robles

Little Robles Bilingual Preschool, founded by Kristina Gonzalez, is a bilingual Spanish play-based preschool located in San Francisco, CA.

Kristina is a therapist and early childhood education specialist who opened Little Robles to provide the community a place that promotes the healthy growth of the whole child. She also aims to strengthen connections with parents and the community through her in-home preschool. Little Robles offers parenting workshops, support groups, and mental health support from a therapist in addition to a full school day.

The challenges of starting my own preschool

I was still working full-time when I decided to open my own in-home preschool. There were so many things I had to do and it was overwhelming. I tried to do it on my own at first, but I felt like I was dawdling.

On my own, there was no way I would’ve had enough time to start Little Robles without quitting my job first, but I couldn’t do that because I needed the income.

Working with Wonderschool

Joining Wonderschool freed up a lot of time and took out the guess work on getting started. I could just follow the tasks outlined by Wonderschool and not have to worry that I wasn’t on track.

I quit my job in December, right before winter break, and started my school in January, so there was never a gap between jobs. With Wonderschool, I never had to worry about not having an income.

My home preschool success

It feels like everything happened really quickly. I originally wasn’t planning to be open until August 2017. Wonderschool really helped speed up the process for me, so I was able to open a full 8 months early, and within 2 months I had full enrollment!

It’s been a big learning curve, but I feel like I’m in a good routine with the kids and have gotten more comfortable. The support of the Wonderschool Mentors* has been awesome. Terei came out a few times and gave me great tips around the routine and the school day. I’ve also been reaching out to Evelyn on how she designed her curriculum. I’m off the month of June and will go to Evelyn’s school and see how she designs her activities.

*Wonderschool Mentors are experts in the field of early childhood education and family child care. They are available to Wonderschool Directors to help support them on a variety of things, from curriculum design, to environmental setup, to parent communication and more.

The future of Little Robles

In 2 years, I want to grow into a large 12-child program. I’m also curious about doing a half day program with an after-school component, instead of a full day 8:30am-4:30pm program. I want to find a balance between what families in my community need and what my needs are to prevent burn out.

I’m looking forward to using Wonderschool’s services as I grow and my needs change.

Are you ready to start your own family child care?

Wonderschool has helped over 140 educators and child care providers start and grow their own programs. Learn more about starting your own child care or preschool here.

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