AAHCDC has earned 5 stars! This school has a wonderful program and thoughtful amazing teachers…read more Children learn and play as well as garden. They have wonderful music, art and Spanish programs for the children. I will be sending my second child soon. So happy here!

Our daughter has attended AAHCDC for two years now. It is a wonderful place with wonderful staff…read moreand we are very fortunate to have a school like this in our community. Every day AAHCDC creates a caring, nurturing, thoughtful, educational, creative, safe and fun environment for the children it serves. It understands what children are feeling and going through, and works with them and their families in wise and thoughtful and caring ways. Music, Spanish, art, reading, play, sensory table, outdoor activities, friendships and support. We couldn't imagine a better place.

Daycroft is a school unlike any other…read more The Montessori philosophy is the foundation of what makes Daycroft so amazing. The kids that attend Daycroft are genuinely some of the nicest kids I've ever met. There is a huge emphasis placed on the "culture of kindness" and it shows every day. Children are treated with respect, and therefore respect one another. When behavior issues arise, children are counseled through it by their teachers, not simply punished. There is an emphasis on understanding and empathy rather than control. A HUGE reason this is possible is the faculty to student ratio. Every grade-level classroom has two full-time, certified teachers. The class sizes are nearly always 20 kids or less, so that's a 10-to-1 ratio max most of the time. When they go to specials (music, art, gym, Spanish, library, and technology), each class is split in half (half go to music and half to art, for example, then they switch) to preserve that ratio- unless the class makes more sense to have more kids (such as gym or orchestra). Daycroft is a school where everyone knows everyone by name- students know and are friends with other students at other grade levels, teachers know students' names in grades other than just the ones they teach, and specials teachers get to teach the same kids for up to nine years. The bond that is created with such a close-knit community is special. Daycroft is a family.

Our family has been at Daycroft Montessori for four years and are starting our fifth year. We…read morehighly recommend the school. We annually renew our decision to enroll at Daycroft due to the following: 1. The Montessori philosophy: mixed-age classrooms, children work uninterrupted on learning activities that they freely choose from a teacher-created set of options, children primarily learn by working hands-on with a myriad of subject-appropriate materials rather than verbal instructions from an instructor, and work plans designed for each individual child to the point that, depending upon the needs of the child, work plans can range from daily to weekly in duration. 2. Two teachers in each Daycroft classroom. This translates into a ratio of approximately one teacher for every 10 students. 3. The extraordinary religious, racial, and ethnic diversity of the children enrolled at Daycroft. For those of you reading this review who are new to the Montessori philosophy, let me explain that Montessori means disciplined choice. There is zero chaos in a Daycroft Montessori classroom. There may be a quiet hum, or happy chatter, but no chaos. From their workplan, children choose which item to address when. They are taught how to effectively focus and not interrupt other children's work. Because workplans are individualized to best fit their learning style, the children become deeply engaged. Before they move on to a new activity, the children must clean up their current activity. So, classrooms are tidy, calm, and, at the end of the day, everything is back in its place. We particularly love the diversity of the Daycroft families. Because it's so diverse, children learn experientially about the many skin tones, religions, & ethnicities. The teachers invite families in to share their rituals, foods, and experiences. Parents have the opportunity to become as involved as desired. I've volunteered in the classroom and my husband has volunteered in after-school. (There are quite a number of after-school activities for the children.) Daycroft has two locations. The Zeeb campus is K-6. Our family's experience has been at the Zeeb campus, which is where I will focus my review. The building is in excellent condition; bright, clean, and well-designed. It includes the K-6 classrooms, a robust library, media center, well-appointed art room, music room with risers and instruments, multi-purpose room (used for lunch, spanish, and after-care), kitchen, gym/auditorium, science room, sickroom, and administrative offices. All classrooms have smartboards and other types of technology (computers, etc). All children at Daycroft have Spanish twice a week and upper grades learn additional languages, and the etymology of language. Musical instruments are introduced at an early age, and increasingly sophisticated instruments are added as the children progress through the grades. There is an orchestra, choir, and band, and the children perform a concert semi-annually. Annually, in the spring, there is an all-school musical that is amazing. Every child is involved - creating the sets, singing in the chorus, and/or being on-stage. At Daycroft, children have choices appropriate to their age and abilities. All subjects are taught extensively and deeply throughout the children's time at Daycroft. For example, geometry and algebra are introduced in pre-school; each year, a child's learning of such subjects advances in sophistication. Because the children have individual workplans and uninterrupted worktime, they progress at their pace (with the teacher's encouragement and guidance, of course). What the children learn at Daycroft is far advanced from what my husband and I were taught at the same ages in our own school experiences. The administrative and teaching staff are always available to the parents. Two years ago, our daughter hit a personal "bump in the road". We spent time with her teachers and the head of school to work through this and found the experience to be very gratifying. All of us worked collaboratively to help our daughter traverse the situation successfully. From a distance, I've noted this scenario repeated successfully with other children at Daycroft. All children, at some point, will need some extra attention and the Daycroft staff has the time and commitment to provide it. From a physical perspective, children have gym three or four times per week. Plus, of course, recess. At the Zeeb campus, there are two playgrounds with age-appropriate equipment - one for lower elementary and a second for upper elementary. Zeeb has a garden, pond, and wetlands for the children to use in their curriculum. Some classrooms also include yoga daily for the children which has been a wonderful thing. Check out Daycroft Montessori - you'll be glad you did.

Green Apple is a gentle, progressive, and amazing daycare experience. The kids are treating as…read morethinking, authentic, and individual human beings instead of a collective. Care is individualized for each child and each child is given a chance to grow and learn in a respectful environment. The kids spend a good portion of the day outside so if you visit and the space seems small it is because they don't spend all day in the building. If it is over 10 degrees they are outside playing. Kids come home exhausted, happy, satiated, and wonderfully dirty. They are fed organic, healthy snacks, and they actually eat them. I almost choked on my coffee when I read the email that my son had asked for extra kale at snack time. Are you serious? It wasn't in chicken nugget form and he ate it? The administrators are working with kids and teachers all day so sometimes it can take a few calls to get questions answered. Don't get discouraged by this. It is worth the effort to get a hold of them and take a tour. As a foster parent I've experienced a lot of daycares and preschools in the area. There is no place in the county that compares to Green Apple.

My daughter is in Kindergarten at Ann Arbor Learning Community and attends the afterschool program…read morethrough Green Apple Garden. Jill and Eric are absolutely amazing people and always treat my daughter as an equal and not a "child". They refer to eachother as "friends" and take a very gentle and realistic approach to how they construct their afternoons. Jill and Eric plan activities that involve mostly items found in nature and encourage the children to utilize their imagination to create fun and educational activities. I'm super excited that Green Apple is offering Spanish Immersion at AALC and will definitely be enrolling my daughter in this awesome opportunity. Thank you Green Apple for providing such wonderful care to my precious girl.

We want to address the "Anna N", who used a fake name and posted elsewhere with the N meaning…read more"nonymous". The School does not know this person or their experiences, but it does sound as though they were in a springtime 2017 herbal class, and not enrolled in the School programs. Please do read the google reviews for ANN ARBOR SCHOOL OF MASSAGE, HERBAL & NATURAL MEDICINE, which is a positive name change to reflect the growth and focus - and Identity- of what started out as Naturopathic School , still at www.naturopathicschoolofannarbor.net It is sad with false and bitter energy is put out by someone hiding behind fake names, spreading hearsay. There was no " Anna N" in our classes, but she is invited to discuss via our e mail , any issues, in reality time.

I've never in my life felt the need to write a review, but I feel a very real responsibility to…read morewarn people away from this 'school'. I crimped and saved in order to finally take an herbal intensive and was very excited to invest in furthering my education. The first couple classes I felt a tad uneasy, but I chalked it up to getting used to being in a classroom setting after years of having never set foot in a school. But as the course went on I realized that my intuition was correct. This was a TRAP! Basically, Mary Light gave us a list of books we needed to purchase on top of the tuition costs and told us to read them. As if the reading list was what we paid upwards of $2,000 for. Some of the lectures had a modicum of information, but if anyone dared stop her to ask a well-intentioned clarifying question they were met with a very roundabout non-answer that redirected you to one of the books on your reading list. If she wasn't duking it out with a student, many of the lessons just devolved into a bitter and defensive diatribe about how conventional medicine was more riddled with quacks than the herbal community...or talking about her cat. After meeting up with one of the more advanced students I was told that there were at that time and times before been some law suits against Mary and that her credibility was in question. Whether or not she has legitimate certification and/or experience I haven't investigated, but I can safely say she is not a good teacher. I somehow mustered the energy to attend all the classes except the last one and with every class more and more people had dropped off. I have to assume that anyone giving this school a good review had a good experience with a class taught by someone other than Mary, feel somehow indebted to her and want to dilute the awful reviews, had much lower expectations than I did, or are just trying to stay on good terms with her so they can justify giving her so much of their money and make it through the course with their sanity. No wonder the change in the name... I also happened to have a housemate that wound up taking the Massage Therapy course, which is even more expensive. She validated a lot of my experiences and added that Mary would tell their class they'd have a sudden pop quiz the next day, the students would go home and kick their studies into gear studying something Mary hadn't even really touched on only to have Mary deny she'd ever said anything about a pop quiz the day before. And I don't think it was a tactic to get a lazy class working harder, I just think she's off. PLEASE DO YOURSELF A SOLID AND SAVE YOUR MONEY! The only reason I didn't take Jim McDonald's course was because I didn't have proper transportation capabilities. Even an online course will bare more fruit than this place. I would hazard a guess that the Mary L. that has review on here is the owner of this school. I have no idea how one is able to swindle people repeatedly without apparent consequence.

We were at Schoolbell for 2 years. We grew to love the teachers like family and developed amazing…read morerelationships. The teachers genuinely cared for our children and loved them like their own. We have since left due to many issues with the owners NOT the teachers. Writing a bad review is not something I ever do, but I feel like it's necessary after all that happened to warn other parents. We had many issues with our checks being deposited whenever they felt convenient for them (over the course of a year)- we are talking a month later (they do not offer online payments).When the issue was discussed, and I stated that the parents are expected to pay each week, therefore they should be depositing our checks weekly, the response was less than friendly. Stating I needed to be better at balancing a checkbook, even though they were being extremely unprofessional. In addition, prices have increased 3 times in the past year (with very little explanation). Many parents were frustrated but understood due to inflation and figured the teachers deserved more money; so we stayed because the care our children were receiving was phenomenal. Summer came and the lunches WE PAY FOR in our weekly tuition were taken away and we were required to provide lunch for our children, while STILL paying the same tuition. When brought to their attention, there was no straight answer given. Where was our money going? Not to the teachers like we assumed, so where?The final straw was them taking away the toddler room and moving all the young toddlers into the room with the babies. This was not only unsafe, but an unrealistic expectation for the teachers. I felt like what once was an amazing center has turned into a chaotic, money hungry business. The teachers are underpaid, understaffed and overworked. The happiness in the center had dissipated and we finally had enough and left, along with MANY other families that have been there for years. The amazing teachers that we love so dearly have also left (these teachers have all been here for years and were long-term employees). There is a REASON why parents and teachers are not staying at this center. It is saddening, disheartening and was a tough decision to leave. I wish that the owners would open their eyes and realize that they are the problem and are the reason for staff leaving and parents pulling their children from this center.

I recently enrolled my son into School Bell and I'm very impressed. Everything is taken care of so…read moreprofessionally and everyone is very kind. The staff are all willing to assist you and I have never run into any problems. Also, it's a very clean environment. And most importantly, my son loves it here too! Really recommend this preschool!

Love SOTL. My son is in preschool there right now and I have nothing but great things to say, even…read moreamong the struggles the teachers have had to endure with COVID. The principal sends out an email every week to keep you updated, and the care is very compassionate by all of the staff. I especially love how my son's preschool class uses the ClassDojo app so we can see pictures and videos of what our kiddos are doing in class. Thanks for being so great and giving a great preschool program that talks about Jesus!

Awful experience in which my child was put in an unsafe situation due to the school's inability to…read morebe inclusive to all students personalities and learning styles. Questions of my character as a parent came into play instead of focusing on the needs of my child and effectively communicating concerns. Principal is unreasonable and took statements geared towards open discussion and escalated them instead of putting me at ease. Principal was not open to helping and was condescending. When looking at the parent's statement below who engaged an attorney to speak to the Principal, I am not not surprised and saddened I sent my child to this school after making such a financial sacrifice to do so. The school promises low class sizes but this is untrue. Lower grades can have as many as 26 children- making this comparable, or even more in numbers, to public school. As a Christian, I am grateful I won't be sending my child here again and that the truth of how the school operates was fully exposed to me. I would not recommend this school.

We have been a part of the Everbrook family for 5 years. Our daughter started in the toddler room…read moreand is wrapping up summer camp to head to kindergarten - incredibly prepared! Our son started almost a year ago and is currently in the toddler classroom. We have experienced all of the classrooms, and we are so thankful for this school. The leadership team is absolutely amazing and the heart of the school. They truly treat our children like their own and have been there for our family any time we need them. Cannot recommend this school enough!!

Our kindergartener attended the South Lyon Everbrook Academy Wondercamp this summer, and we could…read morenot have been happier with the experience! He traveled to so many fun places that I never would have had the time to take him myself. The classroom programs kept him engaged and focused on academics, helping him prepare for the upcoming school year. Most importantly, the staff are caring, supportive, welcoming, and truly go above and beyond to create the best possible environment for their kiddos. We could not have asked for a better summer experience at South Lyon Everbrook Academy. We are so grateful for the wonderful memories and experiences they provided, and we absolutely plan to return next summer!

My children have attended Saline Cooperative preschool for two years. The school is a warm,…read morefriendly, clean space. The teacher Mrs. Mahatzke, is caring, knowledgeable and committed to creating a welcoming, diverse, inclusive classroom setting. Our children are loving all the activities that happen at Saline Co-op (monthly field trips, donating to local charities, music & dancing, art and plenty of outdoor play) and they adore their teacher. Mrs. Mahatzke adapts her pedagogical approach to fit the needs of the children in the class and is wonderful at teaching them to become more independent and ready for the next steps in their education. The cooperative aspect means that the parents run the school. The only paid staff are the teachers. Parents definitely have more responsibility than in your standard preschool, but it also means that there's a real sense of community with the families and a sense of ownership because you're the one making the decisions about how things run. Can't recommend it highly enough.

This was our first year with our 3-year-old enrolled at SCOOP. We were searching for a community,…read morenot just a daycare type of school, and we are so happy to have enrolled our son here. I have continuously been impressed by the dedication of the parents and the teacher to create such an enriching environment. The teacher Mrs. Mahatzke, leads the students with ease through creative and play-based learning, to which our son looks forward to each day. I am amazed by how much he has learned and grown in this past year, and I believe SCOOP has helped foster this. At first, we were a little hesitant about being assist parents, but as the school year is coming to an end, we look back and see how much of a value it has been to not only spend that time with our child, but also to actively participate in growing a community with him. Looking forward to another year with SCOOP!