Best Kindergarten Irvine Near Me

4worldlovers: Irvine Montessori School is dedicated to providing an enriching and challenging educational environment where each child is encouraged to grow to his or her fullest potential academically, emotionally, and socially.

Through the dynamic partnership of child, parent, and teacher, a consistent Montessori framework for learning is established, offering “An Education for Life.”

4worldlovers: To provide life-relevant, purpose-driven Pre-K - 5 education to every child that comes through our doors.

Our mission is rooted in the idea that education should help students discover their talents, interests, and true purpose in life, starting at the preschool level. Our goal is to provide an educational landscape inspired by the Montessori and Reggio Emilia approaches where every child can realize their potential and dare to dream, connect to their purpose, and lean into their creative ability to make the world a better place. Contact us today to enroll your child in one of our schools.

The Pomegranate Child is the very heart of our education system. From where their learning starts with child-led, child-discovered education and play to the day they graduate from Pomegranate Schools, the child is our driving force and inspiration.

We chose the name “Pomegranate” because the pomegranate fruit is represented in many cultures’ art and architecture as a symbol of knowledge, learning, wisdom, virtuousness, fruitfulness, prosperity, ambition, and joy.

We see each child in our program as a pomegranate seed that, with time, patience, and nurturing, will reach its full potential by exhibiting all these beautiful qualities!

Our physical environment is professionally designed to allow for the cultivation of beauty, creativity, innovation, the free flow and exchange of ideas, self-awareness, social-emotional regulation, and multiple intelligences.

The interior of each school is designed with extra care and imagination. We believe that the spaces in which we live, work, and learn greatly shape our lives and reflect what we believe. The patterns of light and shade, the colors we choose, the shapes and type of material the space is built out of, and the furniture or materials we use (or don’t use) in the spaces we inhabit have a direct and daily impact on our lives. That is why the design of each site is particularly important for the mission of our school.

We’re More Than a School - We’re a Family!

Pomegranate Schools is the mother program of a group of Montessori and/or Reggio-inspired family child care programs as well as a commercial learning center for early childhood education and elementary-age students living in Irvine and broader Orange County. Our sites include:

Pomegranate Schools is dedicated to empowering others to offer high-quality education and care to children. We partner with incredible educators and caregivers who are excited to join the Pomegranate Schools family, and we work with these providers to incorporate Pomegranate’s curriculum, philosophy of care and education, and support in the design of the learning environment. Contact us today for enrollment information.

How our different sites are managed: Pomegranate Schools is an umbrella organization that contracts with trusted and vetted providers of Family Child Care Homes (FCCH) and educators in providing curriculum and marketing support to them, as well as uniform customer service. We use a uniform marketing strategy, advertise and promote all of our sites together, and provide our clients with centralized customer service and curriculum. Pomegranate Schools is not a franchise nor does it own its partner sites. It is simply a network of in-home and commercial schools that share the same mission and passion for excellent care and education.

Program Type: Private/Alternative School for Christian Homeschooling Families K - 12

4worldlovers: Cheryll Ruszat grew up with a very clear mission - to teach - and she has been doing just that for more than 4 decades. Her passion? Montessori education! Cheryll found Montessori education for her own two children when they were preschoolers and, as she says, "My children grew up but I stayed behind!"


University Montessori Teacher Education Program at UC Irvine is the only Southern California Montessori preparation program which offers college credit from a public university that is recognized both in Montessori Schools and by the State of California Community Care Licensing as the core of required units to teach in Montessori as well as all early childhood programs.

"Our boys have been attending Westpark Montessori since they were 2 years old, and we cannot imagine where we would be without this community. Westpark Montessori and now Village Montessori for our oldest son, have continued to create an environment that challenges and encourages our boys in ways beyond what we knew how to. The focus is on the child and that is witnessed in many ways other than just following the Montessori method including: the low student to staff ratio, the biannual assessments for each child in their developmental journey, and at the end of the school year, the teachers gift each family a beautiful memory book of the child’s journey including pictures of the child, their art- all personalized for each child. This school has surpassed our expectations and the staff has become part of our family. The teachers, the assistants, the Directors and the owners truly care about the children and know how important of a role each conversation, each lesson, and each smile makes in our children’s lives. Our family is forever grateful that we found a home with the Westpark and Village branch of Montessori Schools of Irvine."

"For the past five years, I have had both of my boys attending the Montessori Schools of Irvine program. We have been fortunate to attend the University, Westpark and Village campuses. Every educator we have interacted with at the Montessori Schools of Irvine family has been amazing. You can tell this by the way your child is greeted each day with a warm smile and small chit chat as they arrive at school. Every teacher knows your child, as they have the opportunity to interact with them during the school day, after school play, nap times, early morning circles or playtime in the atrium. Each hand-selected teacher by the Director Ms. Cheryll truly has your child’s best interest at heart.The curriculum and methodology that is used at each grade level is superior to none. You will value each of the lessons and jobs your child has the opportunity to work with as they progress through the program. Each task they perform has multi-levels of learning. Each week your child will come home with stacks of paper they have worked on during the school day. As you look over their work; your child will guide you through their day at school. Your child will become an independent learner and will gauge problem-solving. They say “it takes a village to raise a child,” Montessori Schools of Irvine is that village."

"My daughter started University Montessori when she was four months old; now she is in the third grade at Village Montessori. The Montessori Schools of Irvine have provided a nourishing, loving yet extremely stimulating academic environment. The teachers are excellent. Through their experience, passion, and enthusiasm they make their students super excited about learning and self-motivated. Each child learns at her/his own pace enabling each student to reach a full potential. The students excel in science, language, and art. Very importantly, the children are taught kindness, respect to others and nature, and responsibility. My daughter is always excited to go to school, to learn, work with teachers, and meet her friends. Throughout the years we have appreciated the School tremendously; we could not have chosen a better school for our daughter."