My review is based on the OLD owners. Lil Rascals went under new ownership in May…read more My son started at Lil Rascals in late December and after him attending for a month I felt like I had finally found childcare I would use until he started kindergarten. My main concerns were that my child felt loved, safe and happy and Lil Rascals accomplished this. My son absolutely loved going to "school" everyday (and he is not a social butterfly). He loved his teachers and his classmates. The hours were great at 6:30-6. The cost was in line with the area. In late April we were informed lil rascals was going under new ownership. It appeared the philosophy changed as curriculum being a priority. The price more than doubled for my son as a full time attendee at $10 per hour and the hours were cut from 7am to 5pm. My son no longer attends lil rascals.

All 3 of my kids attended Li'l Rascals. It's a fantastic place with a great staff who cares about…read moreyour kids. Highly recommended.

A great childcare! My three kids went there. The best infant care classes around. And my sons…read moreloved the summer camp. Mary, the owner is the best!

They get one star for some of the nice people there but overall I can not even express the level of…read moredisappointment I have. My children were constantly sick, it was disorganized, they couldn't follow directions about my children. My son was bitten and NO ONE told me about it until I asked what happened. Also, the camera system network was overloaded and had serious blind spots that the teachers would hang out in. Even though we are no longer with them I can still access it which says a lot about their security. I probably would have just parted ways and quietly went on our way, my son did learn some things there and did make some friends. However, they informed me two weeks after we left and over two months after the fact that I had missed a payment. The owner refused to return any phone calls to my husband on the matter and they sent it to collections adding over $100 in additional fees to the original balance. After I found the receipt for the week in question they supposedly rectified it with the collection people however they had previously told my husband they couldn't do anything about it once it was in collections. So we can just add lying and misdirection to the heap. No one has offered an apology and instead of addressing my complaints they just deleted my review on Facebook. Both of which would have gone a long way in rectifying this situation and leaving my husband and I with a more complacent view of them.

This is the absolute best place to send your child. It feels more like a family than anything…read moreelse. All the staff are amazing and the children are provided with quality education at all learning levels.

I had my son in a different prek and it was the worst experience we ever had. My son is 3 years old…read moreand a friend recommended me Spring Ahead Academy, I was desperate so I tried. It was the best decision. The place is clean, the teachers are amazing and all the staff and services are outstanding. My son loves going to school and loves every member of the staff. I don't have enough words to describe how happy we are we was able to get my son in this beautiful school. We appreciate every effort they put into teaching and preparing our children for school. We love them and thank them from our harts.

Great place love all the people here, both of my daughters went here and I couldn't have done it…read morewithout there help!

Love everything about this daycare. Teachers are awesome and love the kids. The owner Debbie…read morecouldn't be nicer, more responsible and more dedicated. We have had our oldest son in two other daycares in the area and nothing compares to this experience. It is by far the best selection we have made and both of our kids love going to daycare every day. They learn to respect others, to take care of their world and the environment plus they learn thru experiences and great learning tools.

I couldn't have found a better daycare! I wouldn't even call it a daycare, it's like going to…read morePre-K! My daughter loves it and so do I! Mrs. Cheryl is so sweet and kind & we can have a conversation for hours! It's always a delight! My now just turned- 5 yr old daughter has learned SOOOO much in a matter of just a few months... she already knows how to spell her name, all her alphabet, knows how to count all her numbers, the sounds each letter makes, I'm just so blessed to have found her! And it's in the comfort of her own home so it's a very homey feeling! Every time my daughter leaves when I pick her up, she always gives her a hug !!! Definitely recommend having your kids going to her!!!!!! I wish I could rate this 100 stars !

Ms. Cheryl is absolutely amazing! My son just thrived while in her care! He was with her for 2…read moreyears and was so sad to leave! Her curriculum helped prepare my son for kindergarten and then some! When in kindergarten he was pushed up to 1st grade level math and reading! If you are on the fence...don't be! This place is a great place for your child! If God had blessed me with more kids, they'd all have been with her! Xoxo

Our son has been enrolled at the Montessori Academy for pre-school and a summer session. He has…read moreabsolutely thrived and learned so much; we are so happy with his experience here. Fast forward to our local kindergarten enrollment and he is extremely well equipped to tackle kindergarten. When most kids are just learning to put together words, he is already reading and writing. While YMMV, we have been very happy with our son's experience at the Montessori Academy. It is a small school with a low student to faculty ratio. There is a lot of individualized attention that I think is key component to the kids' successful learning experience.

From the owner: Montessori Academy Of NWI provides Montessori trained and certified teachers to teach toddler,…read morepreschool, kindergarten, and after school care to the Merrillville, In area.

Many reviews speak of the director as being mean and dishonest! I definitely agree!! She has no…read morebusiness working with children. There is a high turnover with employees, they are always closing due to staff issues or changing hours. There are a few good staff. One being Tiffany as she was the only reason we stayed. It is affordable compared to most daycares in the area but you get what you pay for.

Updating my review due to recent information…read more As time goes on, it appears that World Of Rainbows is a daycare straight out of 1987. Logs of activity, bathroom breaks and naps are scribbled on paper that has been Xeroxed so many times you can't read it. The sign in sheets look like they were made on the world's first copy machine. Furniture and toys seem archaic. Before we launch into the ugly, here are the good and the bad: GOOD: The employees are very nice. They seem to be patient and good with children. BAD: Without any new technology, it's not only hard to know what's going on at the daycare, but it's light-years behind other centers. There are no video cameras you can view when you're away. You cannot view your child's log online. You can hardly contact the center: when I call, over 50% of the time I get an answering machine. I have emailed them and never received replies. I feel like the center is allergic to technology. Monthly calendars are hand-written and Xeroxed. So are notifications and postings. UGLY: The owner seems to be completely out of touch with how to run a daycare. My assumption is she is running things EXACTLY the same as she did 30 years ago and turns a blind eye to any new technology, processes and regulations. I'm kind of surprised they're still open. The state regulations by the State of Indiana are clearly posted online. Meal schedules have to be posted. I've come in on Tuesdays or Wednesdays and no schedule exists for the current week. The state of Indiana regulates that if any child exhibits signs of sleepiness (laying down, putting their heads down, rubbing their eyes), that they should be offered the option to lay down even if it's outside of naptime. This daycare WILL NOT ALLOW THIS. If your child is sleepy and wants an extra nap, they are forced to stay awake. On a similar note, during nap time, children are forced to lay on their cots for 45 minutes. The state regulates that if they lay down for 30 minutes and do not show signs of sleepiness, they are to be given an activity of some sort. World of Rainbows takes it upon themselves to force an extra 15 minutes on these children. If you want your child to adhere to a special diet, although they allow you to bring in food for very young and older children, you are not allowed to bring in any food for your toddler. They will be forced to eat what the center provides and the only exceptions include doctors' notes or notarized religious documentation. The center owner claims this is State-regulated but that's completely untrue. If the parents provide a different meal for their child (paid for by the parents), there is no reason why it cannot be served to their child. The center may ban things such as peanut butter due to allergies, but the center can approve specific items that you can bring in for your child. Lastly, even if you're full time, you cannot take your child out of the center and bring them back. Scenario: my child had a doctor's appointment during the day. This was a check-up, not due to illness. I picked him up for his 10am appt and was not allowed to bring him back in after the appointment even though I pay full-time. Every problem with this daycare stems from the owner. She'd rather be dishonest than simply say, "no, this is too much work and we don't feel like being accommodating." Don't hide behind the lie that the state forces you do to things: if anything, you are much stricter and care less about children than the state mandates. I would steer clear of this center. There are plenty of other places in the surrounding areas that will allow your toddler to lie down when they are tired and will allow you to provide the food you'd like your child to eat. Last note: My son fell and hit his head recently. No one documented this and no one told me. I had to ask the NEXT DAY and only when I asked a teacher directly was I told what happened. We all know kids fall and hurt themselves. However, hiding this from their parents is extremely serious.

I love bringing my daughter here. The staff is great. Always professional and kind. They treat my…read moredaughter like their own. The building is always clean and I never have to worry when I leave. 10/10!

This daycare used to be a great facility before the COVID lockdown last year. They were in a…read moredifferent building. The rooms were bright and organized. They had great teachers. The parents were updated all the time on the Brightwheel app. I received regular updates about how they were doing. When everything closed last spring, Bright Beginners moved to a new location a few buildings away. Their "dream" seemed to be to open a whole bunch of classrooms (instead of two) so kids can spend more time with children their age on their own level, which is a great goal. Unfortunately, starting with this move, everything unraveled. The building isn't great. The rooms are small and dark. Many don't have windows. Only two were being used: 1-2 year olds and 3-5 year olds. Instead of keeping their website updated, as teachers quit (and a lot of them were unhappy with the lack of leadership and communication), their images still remained on the website. No one's profiles were updated. No new teachers have their credentials listed, or even their pictures. Teachers appeared and vanished and the parents had no idea who they were. Then, the schedules disappeared from the website. The website has pictures from 3 years ago. Not only is the website outdated and incomplete, most teachers stopped using the Brightwheel app to communicate with parents. We used to get videos and pictures throughout the day. After the move to the new building, I would be lucky to see one picture of my son in a week. When I would ask how he was doing, I was usually told by the teacher, "I don't know, I wasn't with him today." No progress reports. No information. His clothing started vanishing. He came home wearing another child's underwear. What's worse, is the staff seems to have the hardest time wearing masks. We know it's the easiest way to prevent COVID and yet, some keep their masks on their chins. Some under their noses. Some not on at all. When you ask the teachers about COVID, most state it's not a big deal or "assume" they already had it. They seem unaware that having it once does not make you immune, and they also don't realize that they can easily be carriers without symptoms. Then the pull their masks down and breathe all over our children. The center is more concerned with "ratio" than they are about the well being of the children. Instead of keeping rooms open, children of all ages are combined so they can have as few teachers as possible at the center. Never mind the fact that they're overwhelmed and the kids are having a hard time adapting to new rooms at random as well as other children, all they care about is not having one extra teacher there for one hour because they would probably have to pay her $10 for her time. As a former elementary school teacher, I assure you in school they still teach that children, especially young children, thrive from routine. This center has no problem shuffling children around and confusing them as long as they don't need to pay one more teacher for one more hour. When they did have COVID scares (and they did), they were forced to close the entire center because of the insane amount of mixing they do with teachers and students. Also, you will never see the director or assistant director unless you show up during the day. Most parents bring their children to daycare because they work, meaning the children will be dropped off before work and picked up afterward. The director and assistant director make zero effort to ever come in early or stay late (which means their teachers are responsible for opening and closing the center and addressing issues) which shows you how little they actually care. Shortly before I switched daycares (my son no longer goes here but I did want to write a review to warn other parents), the center started a newsletter which I thought was a great idea. However, it's not filled with any content. I didn't know what concepts or information I should be going over with my son. Knowing he's learning about "the letter B" isn't helpful: he's known that letter for 3 years. I thought Preschool actually meant the children would be learning. A coloring page? How about the center informs you IN ADVANCED of the days it will be closed in case we don't keep our handbooks open on our kitchen tables. How about it informs us of new policies and procedures at the center? How about future improvement they can make to the center? Perhaps information about how to obtain a progress report? What improvements, you ask? Perhaps label the 20 doors in your hallway so we know which one is the kitchen, which one is the bathroom, which one is the preschool room... Or replace your mud pit with sod so when the children come home from playing outside on a damp day we don't have to throw away their entire wardrobe? Perhaps invest in a sign on both of your doors so people actually know this is a daycare? I used to love this place. It's very sad what happened.