We transferred here to 1st grade from a public charter school and I didn't realize how unhappy my…read moredaughter was at the charter school until she was enrolled in Sankalpa and seeing the difference. She now looks forward to going to school and describes school as awesome and fun - every parents dream come true for their kid to love school! She now comes home singing songs whereas before she needed to disconnect and would beg to watch TV (she's not interested in TV since Sankalpa - I think the environment fosters self esteem and love of productivity). She does yoga, learns Chinese and Spanish, and the staff are unflinching in their standards for teaching the children grace and curtesy. I'd say this school is great for any child, but more for children and parents who: 1. Like a quieter learning environment: it gets loud, but at specific times. During the work hours it's quiet and relaxed. 2. Love nature (they're often out and even with clipboards studying things like plants and fractals) 3. Like forging deeper relationships with others: because of the more intimate setting, you're going to interact with parents and the teachers every day. This isn't for everyone, but if you like that sense of community and extended family, it's like that here. 4. Are ok with their child not taking state tests: there are other tests given (one of the very cool things about Sankalpa, it's what first perked my ears) to see where the child is in their learning, and then to tweak their learning program to "fill in the gaps" so to speak. This is how every child has their own individual learning program. 5. Are willing to pay tuition: I was worried about this until I saw how much she loved school and learning, then I realized it was the best investment ever. They're only this little once, and it's the best thing ever to find the school where they can thrive and be enlivened. 6. Want experienced teachers: Sankalpa might be a new school but all the teachers are seasoned and it shows in their interactions with the kids. The principal also has worked at nearly all the alternative schools in Austin so she knows what's what. 7. Are okay with going through Sankalpas admission process: for us this was actually fun, but everyone is different. We enjoyed taking the tour, meeting with the principal and spending an hour getting to know each other, and our daughter loved her trial time at the school which was a week, some kids might be longer or shorter. I loved going through all this because it really helped us make a decision based on facts rather a feeling. It's like getting to know someone before getting married or making a commitment. :) If you're considering Sankalpa at least go through the admission process, it's the best way to really know if it's the right match for your family (but more importantly your child).

Our family has enjoyed our time at Sankalpa. We really appreciate how warm and welcoming the staff…read moreis every single time we see them - it is clear they are all dedicated to the students and to their growth and success. The small class size is wonderful, as it is a great location for walks and field trips. They do a great job of instilling a sense of ownership in the students - the kids are responsible for their rooms, their supplies and their work. It's awesome to witness them tiding up at the end of each day. An all around inclusive education.

Every day I am more and more amazed at how caring,professional and sincere the teachers at…read moreMainspring School are. My granddaughters are both under three years old and look forward to going to school every day. When I pick them up they tell me they had a great day and they say that every day.

I love this place it has the best Teachers.Staff..and very structured days…read more I Love the commitment of the staff and the way the children are taken care of. The smiling faces of all the children is a great indicator of a great school.

This is truly the happiest place on earth. We are not church members, but my son as been in the 2…read moreyear old class all year. He loves going to school and has made such great friends. The activities are awesome, and the teachers are incredibly engaged. We were at a full time daycare before I decided to stay at home and wow, what a difference. Now that I've decided to go back to work I'm trying to figure out how I can keep him in FPDS while going somewhere else the rest of the time. We LOVE it.

We attended another school down the corner, and are very happy we switched to 1st Presb. The focus…read moreis more around play-based learning (as it should be at that age!), the teachers are just amazing: dedicated, caring and creative in their weekly plans, and seem more experienced than other places we visited. The new administrator, Leigh-Ann is the best... she brought a lot of fun family events, like the Gingerbread house decorating, but you don't get an aggressive fundraising push like at some other schools. It's a big choice where you send your little one to school, and I couldn't be happier. It's a warm and relaxed environment, and our son is happy and doing great developmentally, socially, etc. A+

We have absolutely loved the Woodland Schoolhouse. During the pandemic, our family planned to keep…read moreour 4 year old son at home. But once we learned about Ms. Nicole's outdoor school option and small class size, we had to take the opportunity. My son loved spending his days hiking, catching frogs, building forts, and learning about snakes, insects, and edible plants. He came home snuggly, tired, and happy after a full day of adventure and play. The best part of the Woodland Schoolhouse is the positive community Ms. Nicole creates everyday. She teaches children to be inclusive, speak kindly, and set respectful boundaries with one another. She is a wonderful communicator and was always willing to talk with me when we had concerns about our son. Ms. Nicole is a teacher who gives 100% of her best energy and takes the time to really know each child individually. We are so thankful our son was able to spend this year at the Woodland Schoolhouse and look forward to when our daughter can join next year.

We had had enrolled our son in a very popular south Austin preschool right before he turned 3. He…read morehated it. The teacher said he never talked, they rarely went outside and most of the day was spent sitting at a table doing table work. I searched high and low and just couldnt either find a place I liked or had openings. I called probably about 30 places and toured about 10. I came across an alt ed website and found Woodland Schoolhouse. It's run by a lovely woman named Nicole out of part of her home she has converted to be solely dedicated to school space. Words cannot express how thankful we are for Nicole and her teaching assistants. Under her care, I have watched my son find his voice. He loves school and loves Nicole. Some of the things I love about Woodland? Nicole's patience. At this age, so much of the learning is social interaction. She doesn't "deal with the kids", she gives the tools to deal with things on their own. What's the adage about give a man a fish, feed him for a meal...teach him to fish, he eats for life? I watch her patiently teach the kids to verbalize their thoughts and feelings and consequently how to respond to another's. I've watched her model and instruct these little people to have better communication skills than many grown adults I've known. We've frequently encountered another child upset or lashing out (in normal child like ways and not at school). My son has my son has learned to keep his cool and I often hear him telling his friends or family "it's ok, accidents happen." He has also learned to calmly and confidently tell others when he's not ok with things instead of getting upset or walked all over. I love that the kids spend so much time exploring outside. She encourages imagination and independence. My son is learning how capable he is of so many things both mentally and physically. I read somewhere that the core of a child's personality is set by the age of 5. With this in mind, I took it very seriously who I left my son with. I wanted someone who I felt could offset our weaknesses as parents to help develop a well rounded little person. Both my husband and I couldn't be happier and only wish we had found her sooner. We will be forever grateful for the time our son did spend at Woodland. While we are excited to see him enter kindergarten in the fall and having another son whom is 17, we know we will never have it as good as Woodland again.

We absolutely adore Copernicus, we could not have asked for a better or more caring environment for…read moreour child's first daycare/school experience. The class sizes are very small and the communication is outstanding. We have had a few waitlist spots open up at other schools and continue to choose Copernicus because our girl has loved each teacher and gets so excited when we drop her off. Thanks for being such incredible care givers to our kiddo!

Bone dry truth. They target black children ( my child is actually Asian and West Indian but…read moreidentifies as black) and make them feel bad about themselves. Yesenia complained about my child a lot. He was only two and had not been enrolled a full two months and had not attended a full week due to constant illness. There is no curriculum. My child often played alone and the staff did not help him develop any skills. They are his linch and told me he didn't eat. Km aware of this because when he came home and I would give him a similar snack he was say "give me that!" and snatch from me which was new behavior since he was entilled. He often came home with cuts and scrapes and one time a burn on his arm. Do not leave your minority child in their care. Not warm and fuzzy towards blacks. Period.

We've loved our past 4 years at St Martins Preschool! The teachers, staff and administrators all go…read moreabove and beyond to make sure your child is loved and cared for, all while meeting their individual educational needs. It's more than a school, it's a community and family

We have been at SMLS for the last 2 years and we cannot express how amazing it is. The teachers are…read moreamazing and really care about our boys. We love that the facility has 2 outdoor play areas and an indoor gym which really makes a difference on those hot days in the summer. The curriculum is also really great, my oldest is so far ahead of other kids his age and we constantly get compliments on how smart he is for his age. The best part is we feel like we are part of a family and everyone really loves our boys as much as we do. We would highly SMLS recommend to anyone considering a place to send their kiddos.

Grace Garden is one of Austin's hidden gem. I was looking for a developmentally appropriate,…read moreloving, play-based program for my child. Grace Garden has drop in tours and my husband and I fell in love with the program. The school has good teacher retention and amazing teachers. My oldest has been her since she was 18 months old and we will be leaving to enter kindergarten in the fall. I'm so excited that my youngest gets to start in the spring. If your child will be 18 months to PreK in the fall, come check it out.

My husband and I feel so fortunate to be able to send our little girl to Grace Garden. The school…read moreis all about love, patience and kindness. We absolutely love the staff and how nurturing they are with her - and us! She attends music, chapel, garden and comes home with lots of art every week. She is teaching me new things. I love to hear about her daily adventures and so thankful that we found such a wonderful community to be a part of. Grace Garden is definitely where love grows!

There are a lot of issues with this daycare facility which is why we took our daughter out at the…read morebeginning of the year. For the sake of brevity, I feel that the most important thing that parents considering this facility should know is that it is no longer a Montessori. None of the teachers are Montessori certified so they're essentially charging Montessori prices for standard daycare. The owner, Jennifer was dishonest with the parents when they moved to this location from the Jollyville location where our daughter attended so I would recommend taking anything that she says with a grain of salt.

TLDR: We had some wonderful/loving experiences with Ms. Cynthia and Ms. Mayada, but have zero trust…read morein owner Jennifer Weerasuria and her husband Matt Nachreiner (COO). The way they handled our kid was completely inappropriate and painful for our family. We attended IMHOC for 2 years, and when we left our kids were 2 and 4 years old. We had slight red flags about the school here and there, but for the most part our kids were happy and seemed to be learning a lot. There was a high rate of turnover with the teachers and staff, and we experienced 3 different directors in the time that we were there. We brushed this off as par for the course at a preschool, but I really wish we hadn't. These things were symptoms of mismanagement and poor judgment on behalf of Jennifer Weerasuria and Matt Nachreiner. A few weeks ago we noticed that our 4 year started having more emotional tantrums and started expressing that he didn't want to go to school. This was unusual behavior, but we chalked it up to being a new developmental stage. We were called in for a meeting with Jennifer Weerasuria to discuss our son's challenging behavior. We worked with her on a really solid plan to help address the behavior, and for the first time felt like we were working with a real partner in helping our son grow. He was exhibiting behavior at school that we weren't seeing at all at home, so we were happy to have the insight and ready to help mitigate. That meeting happened at 2pm, at 5pm we got a call that we needed to pick our son up because he was having a huge tantrum. When my husband arrived, Matt brought our son out and said, "He's not welcome to come back here, man." He said this right in front of our son, and we were expelled from the school on the spot. The other thing Matt said was that the only thing that he could do to "calm" our son down was that he told him that the sirens they could hear were "the police coming to get him". When I asked Matt and Jennifer why we weren't given a chance to work on our son's behavior plan before being kicked out, they said that his behavior had been concerning for weeks. If they were so concerned, why didn't they tell us weeks before? Instead of taking accountability, they blamed the Director they fired the previous month for blocking the teachers from giving us feedback. When I expressed concern over Matt's inappropriate communication with our son and lack of credentials as an educator, he said (happy to share the email): "I'm not sure why you continue bringing up that I'm not an educator, I believe we all are aware this is a fact. However, I can share that I am a parent of 3 and if one of my children ever acted the way we allowed XXX to for so long I would be embarrassed." Please think twice about whether or not you want your kids to be immersed in an environment with this kind of "leadership". Matt is frequently on campus and often working directly with the children. Our son is wrapping up his first week at a new Montessori school and he is a completely different kid. He's back to his happy/positive self and recovering quickly from being redirected. When we ask him how his day was, he chatters away about all the things he got to do at school. When we used to ask him about his day at IMHOC he would kind of clam up and not really say anything. Today he accidentally broke something at the new school, and he immediately ran away and hid. He was terrified and wouldn't come out. When the teachers finally coaxed him out and told him it wasn't a big deal, he said that at his old school he would get in a lot of trouble by "a man" and be sent to the office. Matt is the only man that works there, so clearly our son was intimidated and scared by him. This isn't how a 4 year old should be made to feel in order to help them learn.