TESTIMONIALS

In the two years Mirasol attended this daycare, she learned so much. I could tell that Leah and her team were passionate about their work and really care for all the children. It was obvious that a lot of love, learning and fun took place at Furaha Child Care. I would highly recommend Leah and her teachers to take care of your little one!

—Cathy Lee, Parent

Furaha Kids is one block away from Olympic View, that makes it a perfect partner and transition to our school and kindergarten program. Over the years we have had many children from the care center/preschool join our school, including Leah’s three children!

The children that come from Furaha Kids are well adjusted and prepared for school. They are academically ready along with socially prepared for the rigor of a school day. Leah makes sure that her students have the skills needed with their letters/sounds and reading readiness. They have a solid understanding of their numbers and pre-K math skills. They are ready to go with their movement skills for PE and activities they participate in on the playground. They have a love of learning.

I realize that some families worry that their child will not be prepared for a big school environment coming from a small home child care/preschool center. I would let families know that all children go through a huge transition no matter what type of schooling situation they come from. Enrolling your child to the Jump Start program before school starts helps ease the transition from preschool to kindergarten. Having a caring program that has high standards for academics and social emotional interaction is the best way to insure your child will have a successful transition to kindergarten. Furaha Kids does that for their students.

—Anna Cieslar, Kindergarten Teacher at Olympic View

Furaha family preschool and childcare was a part of our family for 2 years. Our daughter spent ages 3 to 5 here and it was a safe, loving and enriching experience for her.

Leah and the team run a tight ship, they have a great routine that helped bring structure to our daughter’s personality. The entire staff worked with the children and formed a relationship based on trust and comfort. My daughter loves Ms. Leah and looked forward to school every day.

Leah is also very responsive and proactive with her communication with the families, she always kept us informed well ahead of time of any staffing changes or any other notification that the families needed. I appreciated the constant communication and updates. Leah and the staff also held a few events each year where the parents got to see and learn about the projects the students were involved in. There were also parent teacher conferences that provided honest insight into the student’s behavior and progress.

For preschoolers, the balance between play and academics was very well curated. On a daily basis there was designated time for academics and learning thru activities. Once my daughter mastered some of the basics, Leah provided more challenging activities for her and ensured that she didn’t feel bored with the curriculum. Leah also helped my daughter come out of her shell and build her confidence level by teaching my daughter how to stand up for herself, solve her own problems and reach out to a teacher for help. Leah truly prepared her for Kindergarten, both in terms of personality and academics.

Furaha family preschool was a home away from home for our daughter, she enjoyed being at school and formed her first relationships here, and I’m sincerely grateful to Leah for ensuring these relationships were positive and nurturing. My daughter looked forward to the parent night events as well and insisted she wanted to go to each and every one of them. Leah’s family is also wonderful with the kids, we appreciated the fact that the family was involved in some school activities and was a familiar sight thereby installing in our daughter the importance of a family unit. We look forward to and hope our infant will also be in Leah’s care once I go back to work.

—Bhavna, Parent

We are immensely grateful for the exceptional care our child receives at Furaha. The dedicated teachers shower our little one with love, fostering a nurturing environment. Outdoor time is prioritized, contributing to a well-rounded experience. Milestone development is actively supported, and the creative activities showcase a commitment to engaging and enriching our child's growth. Thank you for providing a wonderful space for our child to thrive!

—Hailey & Andy, Parents

What I love about Furaha is that they love my daughter. She has been at Furaha since six months of age and just graduated from Furaha Preschool. The teachers know her very, very well, and she always feels taken care of with Leah, Isabel and Shosho. She loves going every morning, both to see her friends and to study all the neat lessons that Leah designs. She has excelled socially and academically at Furaha. The preschool program there is wonderful, full of rich ways of studying nature, numbers, language and movement. We owe a great deal to Furaha, and I’m sure our daughter will always have the fondest memories of her years there.

—Ethan Delavan, Parent

The center is run by a young mother and her mother along with additional staff as needed to keep up with the 10 kids. My girls have been there since infancy and have thrived in a warm and loving environment. I am always super impressed by how well behaved and polite all of the children are and by the new skills and knowledge they bring home. There is an infant/toddler room as well as a preschool room that has a developed preschool curriculum. The backyard has a wonderful play structure and a garden, and the kids go to story time at the library and field trips during the summer.

—Jessica Raker, Parent

We loved having both of our kids attend Furaha’s family daycare. The kids are treated like family, there is a bright and beautiful yard to play in, and Ms. Leah takes great care to make things interesting and teach the kids loads of useful stuff. From safety features (like teaching them their home address and phone number, etc) to really fun stuff like having them work with plants, animals, letters and colors, my kids were more than ready to start kindergarten when the time came. I strongly recommend it! My kids still love to go there after school every now and then. Can’t praise them enough!

—Denise, Parent

Furaha has been part of our lives for the past 3 years. When our two children started at Furaha, I felt like we’d been saved from a hurricane. Leah’s patient, honest, gentle, and loving nature has nurtured our children and helped them thrive through these critical years. It is as if we gained another parent in our family. Our son’s nature is often hyperactive, aggressive, and unruly. Despite these challenges, Leah is able to perceive and reach out to his loving core. She provides firm boundaries with reasonable natural consequences. She’s incredibly consistent, organized, and implacably calm. In this environment, Furaha was able to teach our son how to take care of himself. Furaha played a big role in teaching our son potty training, hygiene, and dressing himself. When issues come up, Leah addresses them in the caring manner of a family partnership with mutual goals.

I particularly like how the kids get lots of active outdoor play in the beautiful and well maintained back yard. I appreciate how Furaha does frequent trips with the kids as well, such as the library or playground. It’s definitely a healthy environment with the appropriate amount of stimulation.

The small size of Furaha is very appealing to us as well. It’s just Leah, her mother Shoso, and friend Isabelle on staff. Shoso means grandmother in Swahili, and indeed she is like a grandmother to the children. Isabelle is absolutely lovely, and teaches the kids Spanish class. They have never had any staff churn and very little turnover of kids. I think this consistency helps gives the kids a secure foundation that builds their confidence.

Although I think that the main purpose of preschool is to learn healthy social behavior, I have been impressed with how much the children have learned at Furaha. The kids learn to write their names, recite their address and phone numbers, and do fun projects such as gardening. Leah notices which letters and numbers they struggle with, and has them focus on them until they get it down. I fondly remember one evening when our daughter told my husband to take 3 deep bunny breaths to help him calm down. Of course she learned how to calm herself from Leah.

I don’t know what we would have done if we hadn’t found Furaha, but I will always be grateful for their positive force in our lives, lifting us to a better trajectory.

—Parent

We searched long and hard for a good daycare for our two boys, and within the first five minutes of my tour, I knew Furaha was the place. It is instantly obvious how happy the children are at Furaha, how caring Leah and her staff are, and how diverse the program is. We feel so lucky to have found them.

Not only is the teacher-child ratio high, the weekly curriculum is diverse and well-structured. Leah gives thorough feedback each afternoon about anything from naps, behavior (good or bad), or skills they worked on that day. Through songs, artwork and stories, the kids are exposed to many cultures and traditions throughout the year, including regular language lessons. Leah is organized and diligent in planning for the week ahead and communicating upcoming events to the parents through email. They provide some truly unique experiences for the kids each year, including an annual summer play in which the kids get to perform songs and act out scenes for their parents in the audience. The kids also have the opportunity to plant and care for their very own garden all season long. My son never willingly ate a tomato until he was able to grow and pick his very own from the children’s garden! They also invite the parents to pay a visit as a special guest from time to time, to teach the kids about a special topic. And their offering of an occasional Saturday ‘parent night out’ is also fun for everyone!

Other meaningful activities happen quite regularly, such as physical education, creative games as a group, walks to the park for picnics, trips to library story time. During the summer months, there is always a fun weekly field trip to places like the zoo, the science center, the local splash park etc. And almost every warm summer day was ended with fun water activities in the beautiful backyard. My kids loved it all! And we were so happy knowing that they were having such a great time each day.

Thank you so much Leah, Rachel, Isabelle and Meghan for loving our boys like we do!

—Erin, Parent