As soon as they had two spots we dropped our 100 days of remote K and signed up immediately. I just…read morehave to say, it was worth the wait! First Steps runs a kind, compassionate, creative and caring daycare program. Our girls LOVE it there as well! Picking up happy kids from school and hearing stories about their friends and teachers makes us even happier. Kudus to Ms. Kimberly, Ms. Kathy, Ms. Heather, Ms. Brandy, Ms. Kristin and the many more wonderful teachers.

My daughter is currently enrolled at First steps and We are so lucky she is. She has learned so…read moremuch. My daughter enjoys going to school and learning because of her First Steps family.

PHS is a lovely Waldorf school with caring teachers, small classes, and a wonderful community…read morecommitted to supporting the whole child. My kids are both thriving after having been home with me for a year and a half during the pandemic and a big move upstate. PHS has helped them adjust more than I could've hoped. We are very grateful for this experience.

PHS is a wonder filled environment for children to blossom. Their Waldorf inspired learning…read moresupports the whole child, mind, body, and soul. They learn through immersion with their specials teachers guiding the children in the same way. Our children spend most of their days in school, so it is important they are able to connect with Nature during this time and at PHS they surely do. Their farm and garden staff is fantastic and children learn compassion and responsibility, while strengthening their will power, through caring for their beloved farm animals. Their verses teach them reverence. Bird counting encourages observation. Planting seeds, growing flowers, and food shows them how to care for themselves and the Earth. All learning is age appropriate and really looks at where children are developmentally and how they can be fully nourished, body, soul, and spirit. My son is currently in first grade and has truly found happiness here. Everyday he wakes up dawn's first light, dresses himself, and is eager to go to school. When I ask him if there was anything not so great about his day, he replies "No, the whole day was GREAT!" We have had superb communication with his teacher and the whole faculty. Our son is truly seen and cared for individually in this beautiful, nurturing community.

High Meadow is an amazing school full of caring staff and extraordinary teachers. I was amazed to…read moresee children well ahead of grade level form early education up to 8th grade. The mixture of academics, arts, and outside time is the best of any progressive school I've experienced in the Hudson Valley. Highly recommended.

This was a good option when my child was very young, for a few years, and when there was a…read moredifferent head of school. But then she had a bad experience involving a teacher who judged her negatively from the beginning of the school year, expected every (3 and 4 year old) child to act the same and average, and gave us hardly a positive word about her all year. This is a child who is well liked by almost everyone she meets, is advanced socially and academically, and is truly remarkable and not just according to her parents. The school administration has changed and is completely unreachable, unreasonable and at times rude. The academics are non existent and the children who remain in this school through eighth grade enter high school needing remediation. I strongly caution against this school.

My two children have been attending Building Blocks for about a month now, and we all really love…read moreit. Even though it's a new preschool in town, the director Mandy is not new to teaching or running preschools, as she has another location in the city. Her experience is evident from how she has set up the school to how she interacts with the children. My 2 and 4 year old boys have had no issues transitioning to this school. They are always excited to go and happy when they talk about what they did at school. I love that Mandy does a lot with nature. In just the past few weeks, they have studied ants and spiders. She took them out on a rainy day to look for worms, and they are currently observing caterpillars. My boys are there for half day only, and they get about an hour of outdoor time each day. (I believe the full day children get another hour of outdoor time in the afternoons as well.) Mandy has set up her space well to accommodate the needs of the varying ages, 2 - 5. She has 2 different rooms for exploration/play time, a separate area for projects and snack, and a third indoor playroom for when the weather is too rough to get outside. She also has a large playground area and a big field for the children to run around in. One thing I appreciate is that Mandy makes things so much easier on the parents. They may all be little things, but they really make a difference. She provides the morning snack (and sometimes the children help cook it!), she allows you to keep your children's backup clothes, water bottle, boots, etc. at the school so that there isn't much you need to think about when packing up a bag for the day. She is also flexible. She has allowed me to drop off my boys an hour early for me to get to an appointment, and she has allowed them to come on their off-days during a week that I needed more drop-off time. At the end of each day, Mandy sends a detailed report that includes what the boys ate and how much, potty information, special activities they were involved in, items they played with, stories that were read to them, and any other general comments that were pertinent for the day. She also has the confidence to offer a live nanny cam so you can "pop in" and check and see how things are going while you are away. We are very happy at Building Blocks and would encourage anyone looking for a preschool in New Paltz to give Mandy a call/email and set up a tour.

We love Building Blocks and both our kids have enjoyed going there. Mandy is fantastic and the…read moreschool is so warm and fun. Highly recommend.

I'm so glad I enrolled my daughter here. She is learning and developing so well. She loves the…read moreschool, all the teachers and of course her friends. I would recommend to anyone looking to enroll their children in preschool. You won't be disappointed!

Disappointed with my child being turned away after one day. He is on the spectrum in kindergarten…read moreand they never gave him a chance to learn the rules and expectations. When we spoke over they stated they had experience with special needs children. very sad. Our community deserves better. There is already such a lack in programs for children like him.

My grandson attended Mountaintop for several years. What a special place to begin schooling! The…read morewarmth of the people and the space and the land create a comfort and a safety that all young children need in order to be left for the day. The Waldorf programming allows for lots of free play to inspire imagination and uses nature to create a homey atmosphere. Wendy is a very wonderful head teacher and all of her staff is carefully chosen. It is a great choice for your little ones!

I am writing up a follow up review after being at Middle Way School from K-6 and now my daughter…read morehas just transitioned to public junior high school and I can very highly continue to recommend the Middle Way School!! Our daughter's transition to public school has been very easy, she is ahead of many of her peers academically , which has been proof to us that Middle Way ,as well as giving her a wonderful love of learning and social- emotional skills also did a great job preparing her academically! Our years at the Middle Way School were wonderful..they hire excellent teachers and the culture of the school fosters independance, mindfulness and compassion in the kids and our daughter has benefited enormously from having her primary education there. She has a love of learning that I dont think she would have had if we had been in a public school setting for elementary school. I have witnessed how critical the early educational years are to fostering curiosity and fun in learning and Middle Way was excellent for that. We also loved how much outdoor time they get as young children which is so important! We highly recommend Middle Way to families, it was a wonderfully inclusive and educational space for our daughter to flourish and with that great foundation she seems to be set up well to continue her educational journey.

Our experience at Middle Way School has been very positive. This is our second year and our…read moredaughter is in first grade. MWS's approach is a very nice balance of academics and experiential learning. The children are given lots of outdoor time as well as a complete afternoon outdoor program where they learn wilderness skills, gardening and play with their peers. The teachers are phenomenal and the academic curriculum is structured to meet children where they are as they can move between class rooms and are not stuck in one grade, the school hires wonderful staff. Our one concern going in to the school is that although we are spiritual people we do not consider ourselves "religious" and we wondered about how Buddhism would be represented in the school. So far we are very happy with the Buddhist philosophy and tenants that are foundational to learning at the school and that their has been little in the way of religious doctrine. We feel that our whole family is benefiting from the tools and wisdom my daughter is surrounded by at the school and this also radiates out on the campus of the school that is very sweet and compassionate in it's atmosphere. We are very grateful that Middle Way School has fostered in our daughter a very positive relationship to learning early on. She loves it and that happiness translates back to our home!

This school offers a nice balance between Montessori learn-through-play and directed study (which…read moremany Montessori schools lack). Our kids were in their pre-K program, and we were impressed by what they were doing during the year. We were even more impressed after the kids "graduated". At their kindergarten orientation (for the parents), we were given a list of things that the kids would know by the end of the year. The Lucas Ave. Montessori pre-K program essentially taught our kids the entire kindergarten curriculum. In other words, our kids have a great start on their education, thanks to the Lucas AVe. Montessori.