We LOVE Glenview Knowledge Beginnings and cannot say enough good things about them! The staff is…read moreabsolutely wonderful and genuinely cares about our little one. We've been at KB since our little one was about 5 months old and now a year and a half later, we're just as satisfied (if not more so) than on the first day. I'm consistently amazed with the quality of the teaching and cannot believe how much my little one has learned while in their care. Every day there is a new activity, song or art project to provide engagement and learning opportunities. The teachers also work with me on specific goals, watch out for specific behaviors, and are always helpful and friendly. They truly feel like an extension of our family. The location is great and the space in the building is fabulous too. The classrooms are large and bright, there are flexible and multi-purpose indoor spaces, and also plenty of space to play outside in age-appropriate and fenced in playgrounds. As a parent, not only do I appreciate that my child is welcomed, by name, every time a teacher or staff member sees them but that I am also greeted by name each and every time I enter the building. The front office staff takes a personal interest in me and my family and are always willing to listen and troubleshoot if I have any problems or questions. I highly recommend Glenview Knowledge Beginnings if you're looking for a wonderful, loving and enriching childcare environment!

My infant son and 2-year-old daughter attended Knowledge Beginnings for 3.5 months this year, and…read moreit was not a good experience. The biggest issue was teacher/student ratios: I routinely dropped off my children into classrooms that had too many kids and too few teachers. In the most extreme instances, my daughter's classroom had 13 2-year-olds and one teacher. One day in the infant room, there was a single teacher watching 8 babies alone across two adjoining rooms. I raised the understaffed classrooms to the center's managers, including the area director, Sarah; they addressed it for one day before both classrooms were understaffed again, in flagrant violation of state licensing standards. A few other things: There was high teacher turnover; both of my daughter's teachers left in the few months we were there and both cited "mental health" in their decision to leave. In my son's room, one teacher disappeared, and two others were let go. Our last week, I witnessed a screaming match between two teachers in a classroom full of 3 year olds looking on. Clearly, this isn't a positive work environment. There were also facility issues, like a light fixture dangling loose from the ceiling where the kids play. (I was told the handyman only comes once a month and it wouldn't be fixed until then.) In the infant room, multiple times I came to pick up my then-4-month-old to find him lying on his back feeding himself his own bottle, with no teacher nearby, spilling milk all over his face. I never felt comfortable leaving my kids at Knowledge Beginnings and literally counted down the days until we could get off the waitlist at another daycare. When things got really bad, I ended up pulling them out and relying on family support to bridge the gap. Bottom line: This isn't a safe or positive environment for kids (or teachers), and nothing that I saw suggested that it was a temporary fluke--this is how they operate. I'm so relieved that my children are out of there and I hope this review helps someone else avoid making the mistake that I did in sending them to Knowledge Beginnings.

My child has been going to Dreamer for several months now and I cannot recommend this place enough…read more My child is so excited to go and has a smile on his face when we pull up. The teachers are attentive and the curriculum is more than I expected from a daycare. A huge plus is the homemade food for their lunches. I'm so glad this place was recommended to us.

Dreamers daycare and the teachers are phenomenal. My daughter has been attending for almost a year…read more She started in the under 2 year olds group and moved up to the 2-3 year olds class at beginning 2024. Not only were her teachers in both classrooms amazing in helping her grow, they were truly instrumental in her transitioning smoothly to a big sister at home. She has learned so much in the classroom but also immensely increased her social skills and having fun with friends! One thing I really love about Dreamers is, the other childcare professionals, not just my child's direct teachers, all know her by name and clearly love and care for her. We are starting new baby in the infant room next year and are not nervous (although bittersweet) in leaving her in the capable hands of Dreamers.

Great teachers and an incredibly kind, welcoming staff. From the moment you walk in, you can feel…read morethat the school truly cares about the students and their success. The teachers are patient, knowledgeable, and genuinely invested in helping every child learn and grow. The staff is always friendly, helpful, and makes both parents and students feel comfortable. What stands out the most is how excited my kids are to go to school every single day. They come home happy, talking about what they learned, and looking forward to the next day. That alone says a lot about the positive environment the school has created. It is clear that the school focuses not only on academics but also on building confidence, character, and a love of learning. We are very grateful to be part of such a supportive and caring school community. I highly recommend this school to any family looking for a place where their children will feel valued, encouraged, and excited to learn.

If you are thinking of sending your child to Goddard Deerfield, please read this review and…read moreconsider other options. About us: Hard working blue collar parents of 2 kids and one more on the way in July 2022. Our daughter attended Goddard Deerfield for over 1 year and we initially enrolled our son to start in August of 2022. Problems: The owners of this location, Jane and Genia, consider your child a walking dollar sign and nothing else. They will put the economics of getting every dollar out of you rather than creating a safe environment for your child or respecting any of your parental concerns. The situation and response: Goddard's AC system had broken during a 90+ degree week. Goddard has no extra classrooms so their response was to have the children in the classroom at that temperature for 30-40 mins at a time. We decided to not send our daughter to school until the AC situation was fixed due to extreme heat and ventilation issues that could lead to spread of COVID (my wife is currently pregnant with a high risk pregnancy). The AC repair took over 9 days and no surprise, there was a COVID case in the classroom during this time. This left our daughter out of school where we had to pay for additional childcare for 2 weeks. We reached out to the owners for a credit of our tuition for the time and that is when Jane's true colors showed. Over a phone call a screaming and angry Jane claimed: -"AC breaking is an Act of God and that they had to pay $5,000 to repair it so they are not liable." -"It builds character for children to be in that heat because life isn't always perfect" -When I told her again that my wife was pregnant and our own doctor said this an unneeded risk. Jane claimed "COVID is overblown and it's just an excuse now. My sister in law had COVID during her pregnancy and was fine, so your wife shouldn't be worried" We were so shocked by this response. After that last bizarre call, my wife had a 1-1 in person conversation where Jane took ownership of the things she said but the damage had been done. We knew our daughter would not be safe in their hands and that ownership would potentially target our children. Even worse ownership behavior: Our daughter stopped attending Goddard in June and our son was enrolled for upcoming August start - we asked what the process is for terminating enrollment and how we would receive our refund of enrollment fees and they took that as an opportunity to immediately cancel his enrollment, keep the enrollment fees, and take money from another family to fill his spot. Not only did they not return the money, they cancelled his enrollment and filled his spot in a breach of their own enrollment document/parent handbook. We now have to consult a legal expert to recoup our fees. I am a small business owner myself and would never ever target or leave a negative review unless it was 100% necessary to warn others. There are other schools in the area that will look after your child, look elsewhere. During the last few months of dealing with Goddard I felt like a failure of a parent to have not seen the other red flags and cannot believe I allowed my child to be in the care of Goddard Deerfield. The worst part of it all is that this is all I know about, what about all the other things that may have happened while my daughter attended school here that owners with this character may have put their own business in front of my child or any child? If you think maybe this is a one off situation and your child could be okay, Google search "Goddard Deerfield Indeed reviews" to see how their own teachers review the school. It is very evident that this is a common theme. Reach out to me if you have concerns as I have documentation of all of this.

This not-for-profit center has treated us like family since day one. Many of the teachers have…read moretheir bachelors degrees and all are engaged in their jobs and our children. Not like other centers who have 19 yr olds who work there because its easy, not because they care. We tried out another center before this one (smaller national chain) and I can't rave enough about GBN when comparing the two. My child is not only loved by her teachers, but nurtured with excellent programming. Separate sleeping rooms for infants and max of 8 infants in a whole room, outdoor water playground for older kids. Costs are higher than some ($1640 a month for infants, cheaper as the child gets older), but is childcare really where you want to scrimp? Only downside is construction in the area - but I would hate to see the best child care center in the state suffer due to traffic patterns. They do tours once a month for prospective families.

We adore GBN, their incredible staff and their curriculum. Our first son has been at GBN since the…read moreinfant program, now a Toddler 2 and we are putting our second son there shortly. We also scouted other schools and none even came close to the amazing program at GBN. Thanks to the amazing staff of teachers, who truly love the kids they teach, my son has grown into a well behaved, well rounded little boywho knows how to play well in the sandbox (pun intended!). The teachers provide music lessons, art, sensory, water play, education, and I swear the food they serve (all organic) is far superior than what I eat on a daily basis! We purposefully moved closer to GBN to make the commute to and from work and home easier. That's how important they are to us and how strongly we believe in this program. It is also NAESYC accredited which was hugely important to us. That way we know that GBN abides by a strict set of regulations that are to the children and parents' benefit.

My child has gone to Children's Land for the last four and a half years and we couldn't be more…read morepleased. The teachers are absolutely wonderful, the food is spectacular (my daughter would constantly rave about the food), and the environment itself is VERY clean and child friendly. In addition, the curriculum is great! They provide group instruction that is fun and easy for the children to pick up and they also provide individualized and small group instruction for children who are at a different pace. They attend to each child and take notice of what they know and don't know and provide instruction based on that. Children's Land definitely prepared my daughter for school. She went to kindergarden being able to read, write, and her math skills were certainly more advanced than at the kindergarden level. Other great assets to the childcare is that they teach music, dance, art, Russian, and Spanish! Overall, our experiences at Children's Land have been great!

3 years after my son Tomas graduated from Children Land I have the greatest respect to all…read moreteachers! The best place to go if you have 2 yrs or older kid ( they didn't accept kids under 2 at that time).

We've had a great experience with this daycare/pre-school. The space and approach are…read moreMontessori-inspired and there's a focus on sensory play. I love that my kids get to spend lots of time outside, with routine trips to the beach, the park, and the library. Teachers are caring and thoughtful. My now 7 year old has great memories from Our School Haus and is always excited to visit. My 4 year old asks to go to school, and my 2 year old adapted to school within a week! Our School Haus is a little hidden gem in Highland Park.

This was mine and my daughter's favorite daycare. She liked it because she got to create very…read moreinteresting projects, made lots of friends and went on interesting walks to the library and the beach. I really liked it because I knew that my daughter got a lot of individualized attention and care. She also had an excellent balance between academics and play where she learned a lot and was prepared for school, but also spent a lot of time playing and developing social skills. The day care is located near a beautiful beach, Highland Park library and downtown which makes it easy to take trips to the beach, library or other interesting places in downtown Highland Park. If you have young kids and in search of a home daycare, I highly recommend Our School Haus.

We have had such a great experience with the Gardner school so far! Ms Allison is approachable,…read morekind, and transparent. My almost 4 year old loves going to school. His teachers ms. Kassy and ms Jess are very knowledgeable and caring. He has invited them for dinner multiple times haha! We have seen so much growth in our son in the few months that he's been there. Thank you to all the staff at the Gardner school :)

Had a terrible experience with the Gardner school…read more Pay attention if you want to enroll in this school as it has three major risks: 1. Lack of skilled teachers. 2. Really short of staff, only within a few days, we've seen a class with 1 teacher taking care of 16 students, also the director had to take care of the class and clean the kitchen by herself, therefore, refusing to talk to parents. 3. Manager in this school is very impatient and not friendly/professional upon issues. We'd been there only a few days until my daughter was bitten by a random kid full of blood on the face (still with scare after 3 months). Faculties were buck passing saying this happen in 2 secs without any possibility to stop that. Later we realized my daughter was bitten at two separate spots, which can't be done in 2 secs, at least they are lying and shirking off their negligence of duty. Nevertheless, we tried to work with the Director of the school trying to resolve/reduce risk in the future, the Director was very impatient not only documenting inaccurate incident reports but also refusing to make any accommodations. We requested multiple times for updating the report but only got "I will work to fulfill your request" yet never did it nor responding emails for 2+ months now. As we've hoped this school can improve itself in the future, but it's been a terrible experience for us.

I am writing this review so other families can be aware of what happened to us…read more My family began planning our move several months ago, and in August, we contacted Children's Land to secure a January start date for our daughter. We toured the center, submitted all required paperwork, and followed every step exactly as instructed. The previous director personally reassured us that our daughter would definitely have a spot in January, even after she transitioned to another location. Because of this reassurance, we planned our relocation, work schedules, and childcare arrangements around this enrollment. However, in mid-December, just weeks before the planned start date, after we brough our kid to touch base this place, we received an unexpected email from the new director stating that there was no availability for the Two-Year-Old program -- with no explanation, no acknowledgment of prior communication, and no alternative options offered. When I asked for clarification, her response was simply that she was "not aware of previous conversations," and that "typically enrollment begins with a tour." What was even more shocking is that she considered our brief visit last Friday -- which was meant to be a transition visit for our daughter -- as a "tour" that supposedly starts the enrollment process. If this is the case, it implies that after a director change, families must restart the entire enrollment process from the beginning, regardless of months of prior communication, paperwork, or commitments. This is not only ridiculous, but extremely unprofessional and unfair to families who plan responsibly and rely on the center's guidance. The new director's position seems to be that all prior communication "does not count" unless it went through her, essentially erasing months of work, promises, and planning. The tone was dismissive and lacked basic empathy for the situation that her own center created. I understand that childcare availability can be limited, but what was most disappointing was the lack of transparency, poor internal communication, and the absence of courtesy in how this was handled. No family should be told "you have no spot" at the last minute after being reassured for months. I sincerely hope Children's Land will improve their internal processes, director handoffs, and communication with families so that others do not experience the same disruption and frustration. We started from August, and now ended up with no spot. Thank you for letting me your dark side as this is trult not professional.

I feel lucky to have both my kids enrolled in Children's Land at Lincolnshire…read more Irina, the Director, has everything well organized. The staff there really take good care of your children and my kids love them. The daily routine is well mixed with various activities and learning. Another great thing is that they serve breakfast until 9AM!