Montessori Toddler Program near Ingleside
A small, deliberately calm room for two- and three-year-olds — and potty training is not required to start, which rules a lot of families out elsewhere. Mills is about 4 miles from Ingleside, at 1400 Hillside Blvd. in South San Francisco.
Why families here choose it
The honest pitch to a Ingleside family is a short one: one campus, one method, ages two to eleven, and a price list you can read before you call.
Ingleside and the streets around it are an easy run down to Hillside Boulevard, close enough that some families walk part of it in good weather. What brings people here to us is almost always the elementary years: plenty of nearby options will take a three-year-old, and very few will still have them at ten.
What Montessori toddler program at Mills actually is
Preschool I is most families' first experience of leaving a child anywhere, and the room is built for that rather than for academics. The work looks like pouring, scooping, carrying, buttoning and tidying. To an adult eye it looks like housework; what it is actually building is the ability to sequence a task, concentrate on it and finish it — the foundation everything later rests on. Separation is planned rather than endured: a predictable arrival routine, the same adults, the same shelf in the same place.
- Potty training is not a condition of entryPlenty of schools gate admission on toilet independence. We do not — at two, that mostly measures the parents.
- Practical life comes firstCarrying a tray without spilling demands the same control that reading and mathematics will later require, and transfers directly.
- Movement and language all morningNothing in the room asks a two-year-old to sit still for a lesson they did not choose.
The details that decide it
| Our campus | 1400 Hillside Blvd., South San Francisco, CA 94080 |
| Distance from Ingleside | About 4 miles |
| Getting here | South on Junipero Serra or Mission Street. |
| Area | San Francisco |
| Local public district | San Francisco Unified School District |
| Ages served | Two through fifth grade |
| Hours | Monday to Friday, 7:30 am – 6:00 pm |
| Enrollment | Open year-round, subject to availability |
Distance is approximate and measured in a straight line. The honest test is to drive it once at drop-off time — book a tour and you will.
What Montessori toddler program costs
At about 4 miles from Ingleside, most families choose a full or extended day rather than making the drive twice for a half day.
- AgesAges 2–3
- Rates$1,100–$1,750 a month depending on days per week and length of day. Every fee is on the tuition page.
- SchedulesMorning, full day, or extended full day 7:30 am to 6:00 pm — three, four or five days a week.
- EnrollmentOpen year-round, subject to availability, with a one-time $200 new-student fee.
What Ingleside families ask about Montessori toddler program
- My child has never been away from me. Is two too young?Only you can answer that. What we can say is that the room is designed for this exact transition, with a settling-in period rather than a first full day thrown in at the deep end. Come and watch a drop-off before you decide.
- Can we start with mornings only?Yes, and many toddler families do, lengthening the day later. Morning is 9:00 to 12:00 and covers the full work cycle, which is where the learning is.
- Is the Montessori toddler program different for families traveling from Ingleside?No — there is one program and one campus. What changes with distance is the schedule that suits you: families driving further usually choose the extended full day so they are not fighting the peak twice a day.
- Do you have a campus in Ingleside?No — and we would rather be straightforward about it. Mills Montessori has a single campus at 1400 Hillside Blvd., South San Francisco, CA 94080, about 4 miles from Ingleside. Everything on this page is about that one school and the families who drive to it.
- How long does the drive from Ingleside really take?South on Junipero Serra or Mission Street. We will not pretend to know your morning — the useful thing is to drive it once at drop-off time. Book a tour for 8:45 am and you will find out on the way in.
- Do you give priority to families from Ingleside?No. Enrollment is open year-round and offered in the order places come free, regardless of which town you are driving from.
- Is there before and after care for a longer commute?The extended full day runs 7:30 am to 6:00 pm, which is the whole point for families driving any distance. It is a schedule, not an add-on billed by the hour.
Montessori Toddler Program in other areas
Come and watch a morning
Tours run mid-morning during the work cycle, year-round, by appointment.