The Orange House family child care

My son has been at Orange House for 3 years and soon he’ll be going to kindergarten. Helen has been a life line. Her small daycare provides much care, personal attention, and routine. When I take our son to OH in the morning I know he will be safe, seen and well taken care of. I specially like that the small group of mixed aged kids has gently thought him to be mindful others. And in the last year, as he has become one of the big kids in the daycare he got plenty of experience of being a teacher’s helper and feeling helpful and big before starting kindergarten. While son is pretty high energy and not easy by any standard, I’m genuinely proud of his manners and care and Orange House has played big role in that.

Helen cared for my kids (now 7 and 3) for 3.5 years. Though my son loves his preschool, he still loves talking about The Orange House and says Helen is his favorite teacher. Ever since my daughter started going to The Orange House in 2014, Helen’s house has seemed like home. We are so glad that we found such an amazing place where our kids could make friends, learn, play, laugh, and bond with truly caring adults. My kids have been both the youngest (14 months) and oldest (48 months) kids at The Orange House. No matter their age, they were always happy, safe, engaged, and attached to Helen and her wonderful assistants. To my daughter, who went to Helen’s from 25 months to 48 months, Helen’s home felt like a continuous playdate with her 10 best friends. But it also prepared her extremely well for pre-school. As she became older, she enjoyed helping the younger kids, which taught her both patience and compassion. It was also great training for her future role of big sister. When it was my son’s turn to start at The Orange House (at 14 months), my daughter counted down the days. She was bursting with excitement for many reasons. She wanted to see Helen. She wanted to see Helen’s own children and her husband, because they were also like family to her. Finally, she wanted to see one of her favorite assistants, Emily, who had been working at The Orange House before we even started in 2014. To me, Emily’s longevity at The Orange House epitomizes so much of what is wonderful about this daycare. Helen and her assistants truly care about the children and love interacting with them, and also seem to enjoy working with each other. Given the longevity of many of the assistants, Helen appears to be a great manager and The Orange House, a great place to work. Helen’s management skills extend to the many aspects of running The Orange House. Helen makes the whole operation seem painless and fun, while most parents have, on occasion, been secretly excited on a Sunday night to know that their little terrors will be in someone else’s care in the morning. When I count my blessings, I often think of the positive starts my kids have had. Positive starts that are due in large part to the experiences both of them have had at The Orange House. While my kids have moved on to school, Helen and the rest of the OH team will always be family and we’ll forever be grateful.

We stayed in Berkeley for four months in 2024 and used Orange House for our daughter, who was 18 months old at the start. We were very pleased with our experience. Our daughter learned so much and would come home singing new songs, playing new games, using new words, and telling us about her friends and teachers. Helen is very detail-oriented and communicative. The transition to the childcare home was very smooth. Helen and her staff did an excellent job, and we are so happy that we used Orange House.

I cannot recommend the Orange House enough. It's the perfect environment for children: nurturing, caring, relaxed and fun. I am faculty at UC Berkeley and spending my sabbatical year abroad next year and my main concern is that my daughter will be away from the Orange House for a full year - she had such a wonderful experience there. My 2yo daughter would look forward to the orange house every morning and happily trot in there and wave me goodbye. What I really loved about Helen, Margaret and all the other teachers is that they all seemed to genuinely care about the kids and to provide a stress-free environment where the kids are nonetheless very engaged and stimulated. My daughter grew and learned a lot during her time at the orange house but without being sat in a circle and made to "learn" as it sadly (imo) happens in many daycares around the country. There is a lot of emphasis on play, but also on art, which I (and my daughter) really appreciated. Again, I can't recommend them enough.

We loved it! Our daughter Giulia (now 3 and a half) went to the Orange House while we were visiting UCB with an exchange program for a few months in summer 2019. We are used to a very high standard of childcare here in Italy and our daughter was only speaking Italian when we arrived…so we were afraid that it could be stressful for her to adapt to a new place and a new language. However, Helen managed to make it natural and easy for her. Giulia enjoyed very much the time spent there and Helen’s care. She was appreciating the songs and playing in the garden. She loved the place and the warm and cheerful atmosphere. She still asks us to visit Berkeley to see Helen again and remembers her time there. Giulia was waking up in the morning asking to go to the Orange House. And we were very happy to know she was taken care of in such a good way while we were away. We were extremely happy also with all the organization. Helen Alvarez is very experienced and professional. The rules that she applies are very standard and common-sense rules for running such a place.