My daughter attended Childroots for 3.5 years and it couldn't have been a better experience. The teachers and staff became like family. We've recommended it to several friends. The kids learn through experience and the teachers do a really great job working w the kids. I bit hippie - but we love that! read more

I have returned to working for ChildRoots for the last two years. Since my return, I have had a wonderful experience. I started back again as a Teacher then moved into the role of Specialist. Management has the best interests of the teachers in mind and strives to improve working experience daily. The main reason I have decided to work with ChildRoots is a) the management and b) the philosophy. I truly believe that children learn best through hands-on experience and exploration of their own interests. Many of the staff are some of the best people I have ever worked with (shout out to the amazing, dedicated team). I will shortly be leaving to continue my education, but I would stay if I could continue working with these amazing teachers and admin. As they say, "You don't quit a place. You quit your boss," and that's why I have returned and have dedicated myself to continue working with ChildRoots until I return to school. read more

Admin tell you to text them when you need help and then you do and you get in trouble. They play favorites with teachers, they never give you support no matter how much you ask. When you do ask for support they make you feel like you're in the wrong. Admin has gone through so many changes and the actual owner/boss isn't even there ever. She "works from home" but does absolutely nothing and has no interaction with employees whatsoeve. they don't even have a reliable hr person. The HR person isn't on site and when you text or email them it takes days for them to answer and then when you fill out your ins information with your address they mess it up and put the centers address as your home address and you cant fix it without having them completely redo the application. The Hr Person is basically non existent in the company. They used to have Greta benefits but have recently started taking them away so workers had to form a union but since no bargaining session has happened yet they are still treating employees very badly. read more

Our first child has been going to NW Childroots the past 4 years and our youngest for the last couple months. We are so grateful to this community for the loving care the provide and the fostering of curiosity and desire to learn without 'formal' preschool education. Even for the infants this is not a daycare- it's school! read more

This team loves the kiddos! We aim for a RIE approach at home and it's great to have consistent alignment with the caring family at childroots. read more

It's not everyday that you come across a gem of a place like Childroots. I've been to both the NW & SE center and they are GORGEOUS! When you walk in, you instantly think "WOW, I wish I had this back in my childhood." They bring a lot of the nature inside and the atmosphere is amazing, kinda surreal. I love my kids more than anything but they can be quite a handful. Since starting Childroots, my kids have used their words (more than their hands) to get a point across, learned new vocabulary, and MANNERS that I never thought they'd use on their own. The other day my 2.5 year old asked me "Mom, please pass the asparagus, it's so crunchy!".....Ummm, yeah, I was shocked beyond belief. BTW-they have a CHEF who goes to the farmer's market every week to get FRESH ingredients for our kids to make wholesome meals and it's delicious! The teachers don't tell the children HOW to behave but they MODEL and foster respect, love, tenderness and a genuine curiosity about life. There's no "babysitters" here, they are professional, tender, loving and the best thing that's happened to my family since moving out here. I can't stop raving about this school. It feels like home... to my children and to myself. THANK YOU CHRISTINA and everyone at Childroots! read more

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We were at Childroots NW for 4 months but we wanted out after 2 months. I will start with the positives. The rooms are clean, no shoes allowed, hand-washing and teeth brushing are encouraged and there is no need to pack a lunch or snacks. They have their own awesome chef and delicious, wholesome vegetarian menus and snacks. The NW location is central, convenient off I-405 and has its own parking lot, which makes drop-offs and pickups a breeze. Now for everything else... We started in the beginning of September, in a room with 7 kids and 2 teachers, although not all kids were full time. One teacher left Oct 11th, the other - October 31st. It became apparent very quickly that the teachers were unhappy. They looked stressed and miserable, did not say hello or make small talk. Not that this is a requirement, but it does create a certain atmosphere. CR has a philosophy to encourage independence, which we support, but there is a thin line between independence and neglect and CR was crossing over this line on a daily basis. My son, at 2 years 7 months, even though potty trained and out of diapers at home for 4months, started having accidents there, was urinating all over himself as no one bothered to pull his pants down far enough when he went on the potty. The toddler "specialist" there told me that he can pull his pants down by himself, even though he never did it at home. It gets worse... I found massive amounts of stool on his underwear - not like he had been wiped and there was some left over, I am talking large amounts of stool smeared, because he was never wiped! That happened on 3 occasions, even after a 1-hour meeting with the director and "toddler specialist". The teacher told me that usually she stayed in the room with the group, my son went to the potty by himself, flushed and came back to rejoin and she never bothered to look what he was doing in there. My biggest issue, besides finding my child with stool, is the state of their yard. It is pretty much a mud bath. It is poorly maintained, with broken slides, with some wood chips thrown in the mud, but no proper shelter from the rain! To make things worse, large trees shade it and even with sunny weather, it takes days for it to dry! I am all for outdoors play and fresh air, but I do not think that the conditions were optimal. I brought muddy pants home on an almost daily basis. I routinely found my son and saw many other kids with rubber boots put on the wrong leg and no one seemed to care. By contrast, his new daycare has a large sandpit, with a covered area and the rest of the yard is covered with fine gravel, so in a month of very rainy weather (January) he has only come home with wet pants, once and that was from sitting on the ground and refusing to stand up when the teachers asked him. At CR, there was pretty much no continuity or accountability. After another kid left and one was moved to a different room, there was a single teacher working there. If I picked up my child anytime after 5, he was in a different location, with a teacher who knew nothing about his day. That teacher would shrug when I asked where my son's stuff was or just say "probably in his room". His father and me frequently found his water bottle thrown in the yard, wherever he left it and had to go looking there in the mud and darkness on multiple occasions. I have routinely found his boots, coat, hat scattered in various locations in the daycare center and no one bothered to put his stuff in his cubby. In our new daycare, nothing has been lost, ever! It was disheartening to not have any idea how his days went and to have to only rely on the card to know what happened. The parent-teacher conference we had was, frankly, insulting. They took out the form for toddler development, which is used by pediatricians and read off some tasks that he was asked to do on the spot weeks ago by a teacher who had already left. First off, it is not meant to be done in one sitting - all 7 pages of tasks, and second of all - I do not look to the "toddler specialist" at daycare to tell me how my child is developing. His pediatrician is all over this. All I cared to know is how his days were going, what he liked to play with, who his friends were, what his favorite crafts were, and it was so disappointing when they were unable to answer any of these questions. Most importantly, I wanted him to stop having pee and poop accidents! We are so glad to have moved to a different daycare, after 2 months of feeling stuck there due to their 60-day notice policy. My child used to cry every day on the way to daycare and he no longer does! He is happy and well adjusted and now that we have some perspective with the new daycare, we know we were not the problem! read more

My daughter has been attending Childroots for the last 1.5 years and she has absolutely thrived there. I feel confident in her safety and wellbeing while my husband and I are at work. read more

Our son has been at Childroots for over three years and we have had a wonderful experience. The teachers are exceptional, and the cohort system and teacher retention have made this school a true community for our child. Our son is very imaginative and strong-willed, and Childroots has offered a beautiful balance of independence, creativity, and emotional intelligence through their approach and curriculum that have helped him thrive. We are so grateful for Childroots. read more

I worked for Child Roots for 3 months. I found it to be a healthy, creative and child focused center with a lot of passionate people, when it comes to child care needs. I also found it to be a completely inhospitable place to work, and the abilty of the director as a supervisor to be totally disrespectful. I had to wait two years to post a review because they held me under a contract that restricted me from doing so. The director didn't meet the needs of the teachers, was condescending and showed favoritism to specific employees. The size of the school and the amount of supplies available to teachers was totally inadequate. The break room is the size of a large closet. I was invited to interview for a position that wasn't even available, offered another that was something it wasn't. I heard negative rumors about the owners and past care. The director also lied to me on two separate occasions and then accused me of not doing my job. I quit before she tried to fire me. I filed a complaint and it was ignored. I filed a full report and it was benched. I was the third person in the last year in my classroom to quit. I believe that treating your employees well, whether or not you pay them adequately is of the utmost importance, and clearly at this location, no one knows how to do that. read more

My son has been here for about a year and I cannot fully express my profound appreciation and gratitude to all the people that make this childcare center function. My wife and I have always experienced clear communication, positive interactions and incredible support from teachers, staff, management, etc. Even with Covid19 present in the community they have been open for essential workers like me and offered home learning when appropriate through virtual platforms. I am so grateful for this type of care for my son (and baby on the way). I can't say enough good things. Thank you again! read more

The administration at the school has left me heartbroken. I toured Childroots looking for a preschool for my almost three year old with special needs. As soon as I told them she had special needs they stated that they would not put us on a wait list without an interview first. This after stating on a tour when another mom asked if they were inclusive and the director flat out said "no". An interview was fine by me as I was advocating that she be placed in a younger classroom then her age due to her delays and her very late birthday. Unfortunately they refuse to set up an interview with us. I have called multiple times asking for the interview and get the same response "I will call you back after I talk to the director". So here is a beautiful school that caters to a very select community. I urge you to spend your dollars on a school that longs to reflect a diverse community, a community with children of all abilities. Please choose to send your child to a school that does not openly and proudly discriminate against children with special needs and if your child is enrolled in this school please let the administration know that you want your child to be exposed to a diverse community, not just a privileged one. Please understand that I'm just a mom that wants her daughter to have the same opportunities as kiddos that haven't had to struggle with delays and disorders. My daughter would have been an amazing addition to this community, I know it is your loss. But I truly hope you reconsider how you treat others that have children with varying abilities. I hope the next time you welcome them with open arms and see them as the asset to your community that they are instead of making them feel like a burden. read more

Thursday was our son's last day at school as we were told to leave Childroots. He attended Childroots at the Ainsworth Annex for just two months. Soon after starting daycare, he was bit on the cheek. We understand this behavior occurs with some young children and while the incident upset us, and unsettled our son, we moved on and tried to let it go. However the biting continued and we asked Childroots what steps they were going to take to protect our child from future biting. Could they shadow the biter or have more teachers to ensure this behavior doesn't continue? If not possible, could our son move to a different facility? Could the biter move to a different facility? We know Childroots cannot guarantee our son would not be bit again, but in the end all we wanted was a clear plan of how they were going to try to ensure our son was as safe as possible. In the end the response we received from Childroots is that toddlers bite and they believed this was a not a good place for us. Now, after 2 months at Childroots, he has been bit 4 times, twice on the cheek, once on the left temple and once on the nose. Nearly every week an incident has occurred although only two incidents were formally documented. When picking up our son, we've seen two other incidents of children being bit in person. Childroots is correct, this is not the place for us, but we wanted to inform you all of how they treat anyone who asks them for a plan on how their child would be protected from known danger or harm. If you have the misfortune of having to deal with a similar situation, you should know that if you voice concern and ask for a plan for addressing any challenging issue, they will likely just tell you to leave rather than trying to work with you to develop a plan to protect at risk children under their care. Avoiding hard issues and asking families like ours to leave is easier when there are large waiting lists. Hopefully that next family on the waiting list won't just accept the Childroots status quo and be silent in the face of adversity. read more

My son has been going here for a little over a year, and he's 2 1/2. The teachers use the RIE method by Magda Gerber. They respect each child and really help them grow as individuals and help them harness their own abilities and creativity. They feed the children organic vegetarian and teach them to clean up and help. They have also helped my son learn to use the potty. The enough in itself. His teachers are great. They do science and art and always seem to be learning new things through play. They really encourage the children to be independent but are there to help support them along the way. I'm very happy we found this place and he will continue into Preschool. read more

The bar was set quite high from our daughter's years at Child Roots. The teachers were phenomenal - exceptionally supportive, nurturing and caring. They also did a great job at teaching many of the basic skills for reading, math and other subjects that's give our daughter a great start in kindergarten. We could not have chosen a better community for pre-school. read more

Great daycare. Their program is wonderful. We love the interaction with the teachers and their education methods.

We've been at Childroots in NW for 5 years - through three kids. Dedicated teachers, as stable as you can find in this field. If the childcare philosophy is a good fit for you family (REII for infants, Regio inspired for preschool) it's a wonderful environment. read more

This school / daycare exceeded our very high expectations! When leaving your kid(s) with caretakers outside the home, it's nerve wracking to say the least but when my son is at Child Roots, I have zero concerns. I know he's in excellent, capable, loving hands. He comes home every day excited to tell me about his activities -- playing, learning, books, the science lab and sensory bins, and all about his friends. It's amazing. His language has grown exponentially. We've been there nearly a year and are only leaving because we're moving out of state. Cannot recommend this school highly enough! read more

Just saw the recent review and have an alternate viewpoint: my son has special needs with developmental delays and we found Childroots NW to be incredibly inclusive and helpful during the nearly two years he was there before starting Kindergarten. They modified the room dynamic to make things a bit simpler for him to understand, even assigned him what turned out to be a part time "aide". They were accommodating when his therapists would arrive, and they also advocated on his behalf with county providers. We were grateful for and appreciative of their open-mindedness, and I see that continuing as my younger (typical) child has attended class with other kids with special needs. read more

I have two boys, 8 and 4 that have both gone through Childroots from daycare to preschool. I can't say enough good things about the school. Childroots has helped to foster both of my boys to be kind, considerate, respectful, and self-confident human beings. It is really obvious when they move on to Kindergarten how far ahead they are in their social skills, emotional regulation, and independence. They LOVED coming to school here. They always felt supported, respected, and safe. The curriculum and spaces are interesting, engaging and fun. Toys and play spaces are rotated and changed on a regular basis. The afternoon "atelier" programs are amazing and have exposed them to all kinds of different art and activities. Childroots is very selective about the teachers it hires and trains them in their specific methods of how to communicate and interact with the kids. Everything is intentional and designed to nurture their independence, self-regualtion, and social skills. When I had my first child I was clueless about parenting and took huge cues from the "Childroots way". I think I would have been lost without it. Even with my younger one finishing there, I still look to the Childroots approach for refreshers when I get stuck on a behavior, and will often stop to observe the teachers interacting with the kids to get parenting pointers. Childroots has been a huge part of our family. The tuition was a stretch for us, but the value we got back was priceless. I feel very fortunate that this program exists and my kids got to attend. read more

We feel so lucky that this new branch of ChildRoots opened up right in our neighborhood. Our preschooler and toddler love it. The teachers and staff are so caring, knowledgeable and responsive to kids and parents alike. It is obvious that the first priority of this business is the well-being of the children, their families and school community. Our kids get to go outside every day, rain or shine. There is a full kitchen right in the building where the school chef prepares fresh, from-scratch lunches and snacks from fresh vegetables, fruit, whole grains, legumes, etc. The mix of free play and structure for each age group seems to be working out just right. We are impressed with the preschool ateliers and the rest of the classroom curricula, which are well planned out and well run. The toys are all those nice wholesome types that appeal to parents, but are also apparently fun, since our kids like them, and the staff does a great job rotating the toys. Our kids surprise us all the time with the new concepts, skills, words and even table manners they have learned at school. We've been very happy here and would definitely recommend the school to other parents. read more