In this article the author describes how she and her partners started The Learning Tree Montessori Child Care, a Montessori program with a different approach in Seattle in 1979. The author also relates that the other area Montessori schools then offered half-day programs, and as a result the children who attended were, for the most part, privileged, suburban, and white (their mothers could easily shuttle them back and forth to a half-day Montessori session). Instead of following the common practice of a Montessori 3-hour preschool experience followed by afternoon child care on- or offsite, their school has always offered a full-time seamless Montessori child-care program for children 2 1/2 through 5 years old with a 3-year age mix in every classroom. Parents may choose an all day program from 7:30 to 5:30 or a "school day" program from 9:00 to 3:00. The school's mission was to serve children of diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds as well as children from gay and lesbian families, with a goal that at least 20-25% of the families are eligible for some kind of tuition subsidy. Another significant feature of The Learning Tree is the extensive parent involvement in school programs.