Fourteen months through six years. That covers toddlers, preschool and pre-kindergarten, all in one small group rather than separate rooms, so younger children learn by watching older ones and older children learn by helping.

Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. We also offer morning and afternoon part-day sessions — exact times and rates are on the tuition page.

In Blossom Valley, San Jose 95123 — a residential street a few minutes from Oakridge Mall and the Santa Teresa and Blossom Hill corridors. The exact address goes out when we arrange your visit.

Yes. Krishna Scholars is a licensed large family child care home, regulated and inspected by the California Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing Division. Our facility number is 434416594, and you can look up our record and inspection history on the state's website. We would encourage you to check any program you are considering, including this one.

Twelve preschool places, with one adult for every six. That ratio is the reason this school exists. There is one caveat worth stating plainly: California allows a large family child care home to care for up to fourteen children when at least two of them are school-age — one enrolled in and attending kindergarten or elementary school, and a second who is at least six. For us that happens during school breaks and over the summer, when older children join us for camp. So on an ordinary term-time day there are twelve; in July there may be thirteen or fourteen, and the extra two are always school-age children, never additional preschoolers. For comparison, California law lets a licensed preschool classroom run twelve children to one teacher, or eighteen to one teacher plus an aide, and centers near here commonly run rooms of twenty-four. None of that is illegal or even unusual. It is simply a different thing from what happens in a room of twelve.

A home — and deliberately so. A large family child care home is its own license category in California, with its own inspections and its own limits on group size. The difference a parent actually feels is this: your child has the same adult every day, in one mixed-age group, in a house rather than a wing of classrooms. Children are not moved to a new room and a new teacher every birthday.

Availability changes, so it lives in one place only, and that place is kept current: see current openings on the tuition page. If the age group you need is full, join the waitlist — there is a $100 deposit that comes off your first month if you enroll. Places under two in particular tend to open on a predictable schedule as children move up.

Rates for every age group are published — we do not make parents call to find out. See the full tuition schedule. Tuition is all-inclusive: meals, snacks, books and materials, and festival celebrations are in the price, and there is no registration fee.

Arrival and settling first, so nobody walks in halfway through a lesson. Then kirtan and shlokas together, then a focused learning block in small groups by age. The main meal at midday, then outside. Rest after that. Afternoons are lighter — a Vedic story, a second meal, kirtan, and outside again before pick-up. The timings are posted in the room, and you will get the schedule at enrollment. More on what we teach.

Letters and sounds, numbers and counting, colors and shapes, chess, Sanskrit shlokas, Vedic stories, rhymes and kirtan — and a great deal of the ordinary social learning that matters more than any of it at this age — taking turns, asking rather than grabbing, sitting through a meal, cleaning up. More on the curriculum.

Yes, and by someone qualified to. Your child's teacher is an eight-time national chess champion of Turkmenistan and has played in several world championships. Children start around four, with pieces and patterns rather than notation. Nobody is pushed. Chess here is a way to practice sitting still, thinking ahead and losing gracefully — not a competitive pipeline. More about your child's teacher.

Krishna Scholars is rooted in Vedic culture. In practice that means vegetarian food, Sanskrit shlokas, festival celebrations, and an emphasis on respecting elders and caring for smaller children. There is no doctrine taught and no conversion of anybody. Families of every faith and none are enrolled here, and they are welcome. If you would like to know exactly what your child would be doing, ask on your visit — it is a fair question and it deserves a specific answer rather than a reassuring one.

The school runs in English. Children also learn Sanskrit shlokas by heart, which is memorization and pronunciation rather than a language course. We do not teach Spanish, Mandarin or other languages, and we would rather say so plainly than let you find out in October.

None. No tablets, no television, no videos — not as a treat, not on rainy days, not to settle a difficult afternoon. This is one of the few things here that has no exceptions.

That is what the pre-kindergarten year is for. Children leave here able to recognize letters and sounds, recognize numbers and count confidently, hold a pencil properly, follow a multi-step instruction, sit through a lesson, and manage their own shoes, meals and bathroom. We do not run children through worksheets or claim to teach arithmetic at four. The academic half is the easier half; the sitting and listening part is what schools actually notice on day one.

Every day that weather allows. Outdoor play is part of the daily rhythm, not a reward.

Freshly cooked pure vegetarian meals, prepared here, offered as prasadam. No meat, fish or eggs, and no onion or garlic. Children get a main meal at midday plus snacks.

Yes. All meals and snacks are included in the rate. There is nothing further to pay and nothing to pack.

No. Outside food is not permitted — partly to keep the kitchen consistent, and partly because at this age a lunchbox from home becomes a negotiation at every table. Everyone eats the same meal.

It is extremely normal and it is not a problem. Nobody is made to finish a plate, nobody is scolded for eating too much or too little, and nobody is talked about at the table. Most picky eaters widen their range within a few weeks, mostly because they are watching eleven other children eat the same thing.

Tell us before you enroll, not after. This is a small kitchen cooking one meal for everyone, so whether we can keep a particular child safe depends on the specific allergy, and that is a conversation to have honestly and in advance. We will tell you straight if we do not think we are the right place.

No. We take children from fourteen months and we change diapers. When your child is ready to train, we work on it here alongside whatever you are doing at home — it goes far better when both sides are doing the same thing.

A short list, all labeled with your child's name: three or four diapers if your child is still in them, a water bottle, a sun hat, three or four changes of clothes, and a jacket in cold weather or a warm hat in winter. Food, materials and everything else is provided. Please do not send wipes — we clean with water here, which is gentler on skin and is what the children get used to. If diapers run out mid-week we will use ours and add a small replacement charge rather than call you at work.

Whenever your child needs it, which is not the same as every two hours. Children are checked every fifteen to twenty minutes, and a soiled diaper is changed the moment it is found — stool left against skin is what causes rash, far more than urine does. On top of that there are set changes built into the day: on arrival, between the morning activities, after each meal, before rest, and before you collect your child. The two after-meal changes are deliberate — most children this age pass a stool shortly after eating, so that is where the changes are placed. During rest we change a soiled diaper straight away but will not wake a sleeping child for a wet one. Nobody goes home wet or soiled. We clean with water, not wipes, so please do not send wipes.

Yes. There is a fixed rest period of about two hours after the midday meal, at the same time every day — the rest of the timetable bends around it rather than the other way round. Younger children usually sleep; older ones rest, look at books or do something quiet. No child is forced to sleep and no child is woken.

Keep them home. A child with a fever, vomiting, diarrhea, an undiagnosed rash or anything contagious cannot be here, and needs to be clear of symptoms without medication before returning. This is not strictness for its own sake — in a group of twelve in one house, one child sent in unwell becomes six children unwell by Friday, and one of them will be yours.

Tell us as early as you can and we will manage. A late fee applies beyond the grace period, charged by the minute; the rate is set out in your enrollment agreement. The fee exists because staff have their own children to collect, not to catch anybody out on a bad traffic day.

Not at present. Eight to five is what the staffing supports, and stretching it would mean either a teacher alone with children or a higher rate for everybody. If early drop-off matters a great deal to you, say so on your visit — it is worth knowing how many families need it.

Ask us. Full-day and part-day places are the standard options, and part-week places depend on what is free in that age group at the time. Get in touch and we will tell you what is actually possible rather than a general policy.

Major public holidays, plus a small number of days for festivals and for the teacher's own leave. You are given the calendar for the year when you enroll, so there are no surprises to plan around.

Immediately, every time, and gently. A snatched toy goes back and the child asks for it properly. A child who hits is stopped, told plainly that we do not do that, and shown what gentle looks like. Nothing unkind is ignored and nothing unkind is punished harshly — both of those teach the wrong lesson. Children this age are not being bad; they are being new. But they learn what is allowed from what is allowed to pass, which is why nothing passes here.

Yes — the first month. It runs both ways. It gives you a month to see whether this is the right place for your child, and it gives us a month to be sure we can keep every child in the group safe. If a child is repeatedly hurting others, or if the basics on the parent's side are not being kept to, the trial ends and we part on good terms.

Assistant teachers, employed and approved as part of the license. Every adult who is here with the children has been fingerprinted and cleared through the California Department of Justice, the FBI and the Child Abuse Central Index before setting foot in the room. Your child's teacher holds current CPR and pediatric first aid certification. No uncleared adult is ever alone with the children.

No. A live stream of twelve children means broadcasting eleven other families' children to strangers, and we are not willing to do that to them or to yours. What you get instead is the thing a camera cannot give you: a teacher who was actually with your child all day and will tell you how it went at pick-up — the difficult parts as readily as the charming ones. If something happened, you hear it from us first, not from your child in the car.

We follow California licensing requirements for emergency procedures, first aid and illness, and we call parents immediately — before it escalates, not after.

By arrangement, yes. What we cannot do is unannounced drop-ins mid-morning: there is no second adult free to host a visitor without pulling attention away from the children, which rather defeats the point of a small group.

Yes, and you should. Visits are weekday evenings, 5:30 to 6:00 p.m., after the children have gone home — that way nobody's day is interrupted and you have the teacher's full attention. Arrange a visit.

Please do. We want to meet them. A great deal of what determines whether a child will do well here is visible in ten minutes of watching them in the room, and it is not something a form can tell us.

You visit with your child, we talk through your child specifically, and if it looks right on both sides you complete the enrollment agreement and we agree a start date. The first month is a trial. There is no registration fee.

No registration fee, and nothing to pay to come and visit. The only thing paid before a place starts is the waitlist deposit, and only if you join the waitlist — see the next answer.

Yes. Ask when you inquire and we will give you the exact figure for your two ages.

Two weeks, in writing. The same applies in reverse.

Joining the waitlist costs $100. If you enroll, that $100 comes straight off your first month's tuition — so it costs you nothing. If you decide not to enroll, it is not refunded. We are direct about why: a free list fills up with families who are hedging, and then a place opens and nobody on the list actually wants it while a family who did want it has gone elsewhere. A hundred dollars is enough to make the list mean something and small enough not to be a barrier. Places under two open on a fairly predictable cycle as children move up into the older group, so a waitlist place is worth more than it looks.