Franklin Welcomes Project-Based Preschool

The "TOB" in TOB School, the newest preschool in Franklin, stands for "think outside the box." 

TOB School, (styled TOBschool) is founded on the tenet of project-based learning, which founder and director Neeti Agarwal defines as a focus on hands-on learning as opposed to lecture-based lessons.

The school hosted a ribbon-cutting on Monday, and students will begin attending on Jan. 20. When full, the school will welcome 121 students ages 2-and-a-half to 6 years old. The cost is roughly $1,000 per month, per student, for preschool, but the school will also offer summer camps. 

The curriculum is written by Agarwal, who has a background as an electrical engineer. She previously owned Engineering For Kids, an after-school and summer camp program, which began her transition to the early childhood space. 

In children, Agarwal found people who were just as interested in how things work as she is. She will implement science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) into the TOB School curriculum. 

"I thought that if we limited their learning time by just offering it for 45 minutes or one-and-a-half hours, one time per week," Agarwal says. "What if we did it for a longer duration and expanded from just engineering to all subjects that are required for them to go to kindergarten? That's where all of this started from."  

Agarwal is also a self-published author, having written five children's books since 2022. In the books, two children ask their teacher about something they saw out in the world, and the teacher comes up with an activity to illustrate the point. TOB School will reflect those stories. 

"We're constantly thinking outside the box to bring the best for our students and for our families," she says. "Being as an entity of our own and not being a franchise gives us the flexibility to bring other modern resources or new research and incorporate that into our day to day."