Twinkling Stars is the 4th daycare that our son has attended, as we felt that some of his prior…read moredaycares were not adequately tending to the developmental needs and safety of the children. We also moved homes, necessitating a change. With this context, I can confidently say that Twinkling Stars is a truly wonderful daycare / pre-school. The faculty are well trained, knowledgeable and passionate about what they do. They are extremely organized and well structured. Their communication is proactive, and they are quick to respond when needed. There is a real curriculum, sent via email and posted in the brightwheel app, so you can see what your children are learning, and they do a great job of sharing photos and videos so you can get a glimpse of what the kids are doing during the day. The food menus are thoughtfully built and healthy, being mindful of allergies. Kids get a good mix of active free play time, as well as structured activity time. Our son's teachers have been very helpful and attentive to his specific needs when it came time to potty train, and when he progressed through other developmental milestones. I can't speak highly enough of Twinkling Stars and recommend it to anyone with young children!

Prior to enrolling my 3 year old daughter to Twinkling Stars, she was enrolled in another school…read moresince she was 18 months old. Her previous schools held all her little best-friends, her comfortable grounds and beloved teachers. So you can imagine my anxieties of switching school on my daughter; will she miss her friends, acclimate well to her new surroundings and many other sleep depriving thoughts. Her first day came and she quickly pushed me out the door so she could "check-in" and play in her "kitchen loft." The next morning (and for an entire month each morning) she would wake up and her first words out of her mouth, "Mommy, could you take me to my new school...the one we walk to?" She absolutely loves her new school, her new teachers Ms Pam and Ms Jenny. And I LOVE the program. First, being in the food industry, I know how important nutrition is for young kids, the menu is extremely healthy. The lesson plan is extremely important and her teachers do an outstanding job with each children at each skill-level with monthly field trips, art, music and Spanish classes! We also live in the neighborhood, when friends and family visit us at our home, we go to Fellger Park and she takes them to "look at her school." She is extremely proud of her school and so are we.

Kumon has been a game-changer for my child. The step-by-step, self-learning approach didn't just…read moreboost his math and reading skills; it taught him discipline and time management. The center instructors are supportive and always there to guide when needed. Mr. Lee runs a fantastic center! Highly recommend!

Mr. Sang has transformed my children's lives. I have three children enrolled in Kumon since 2020…read more He has built my children's confidence and has been patient with them. My first two kids are now enrolled in a gifted program and they were able to do so because of Kumon. Also, he was so kind to my 5-year-old who would cry when he first started. Now he walks into Kumon and knows what he needs to do with confidence. My children are two grades ahead in math and it's 100% because of Kumon. Mr. Sang has a heart to see the kids at his center thrive and my family is an example of what Kumon did for us. There were season we had to pause and he worked with our family.

We absolutely love Julie and the team! They're fantastic. Both of my boys had a wonderful…read moreexperience, and it really helped boost their confidence.

The instructors are kind and supportive, always available to guide my child when needed. It's been…read morerewarding to see my child progress and develop a love for learning through Kumon.

NPTI was the best decision I've made yet career wise, other than coming to Chicago. The program is…read moreso exciting and easy to understand. It will pass you by if you don't want it, it is a lot of information. I quite honestly am biased because I think I got the best instructor NPTI has. Annette is the instructor you want for this program. Her class is thorough and really she just makes it so exciting. It took my dream of just wanting to do something, something I may enjoy and made it a 6 figure small business doing independent training. Personal training is something I wanted. NPTI gave me a strong platform for success in a competitive Chicago market.

I had a great experience at the NPTI. I learned a lot about the study of how the body moves and…read morefunctions, as well as learning about nutrition. A lot of hands on training. It is an awesome school because your school is the gym. I met a lot of good friends there. Everybody helped each other learn, so that was a plus as well. The teacher Annette Ryan really knows what she is talking about. She is an excellent teacher and a really good person. Going to The NPTI was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I am now a graduate and am continuing to learn, grow and refine my craft everyday.

We love Kalina, and if we hadn't moved 6 miles west, our 3-year old son would still be enrolled…read more The center is small and the size allows the teachers to be very hands-on and personalized with their attention. There are 2 classrooms, divided by age and each room has at least 2 teachers. The center director also floats throughout the school. The teachers are all seasoned and have been at Kalina for several years at minimum. No young teachers who look like they're barely out of high school. The curriculum focuses on a different topic every week, such as sports, the Olympics, diversity, people at work, the ocean, transportation, etc. While some of these topics sound very advanced, the teachers do a great job of doing activities that the kids can grasp around the theme. My husband and I were amazed that our son was able to talk about "kids around the world" during the diversity week. He came home with art projects every week that he could talk about, relating to the theme. The daily routine also starts with circle time, stretches and deep breathing, and songs. Our son was counting up into the 20s by the time we had to change schools. He also improved his letter recognition very rapidly. He would come home singing songs and doing little dances. It was clear that he was learning so much! Lunch is cooked on-site and is healthy--though serving soup and salad at every meal was strange to us at first, after a couple of months, our son was eating the soup and tried the salad a few times. There is a menu posted on the bulletin board, but it seemed like the actual meal served would be different from what was posted. Such as what was listed for Wednesday was served on Monday--this was fine, but it made my cooking at home around what he ate at school a little disjointed. Socially, Kalina teaches the kids a lot while also emphasizing manners and discipline. Nothing too harsh, but hitting, talking back, or throwing things is not tolerated. Time-outs and disappointed looks are the methods used. Stickers and praise are showered when kids are good. I know this might sound harsh, but believe me, it isn't. My son was 2 and a half when he started and his manners and listening skills greatly improved while at Kalina--the staff definitely instill a code of discipline that is strict, but not harsh. We felt that he was learning better manners from school than at home! He even started wanting to set the table at home for meals because that is the reward for the kids who have been very good in the morning--they get to help set the table for lunch. Awesome. Kids do not have to be potty-trained to start at Kalina but it is definitely encouraged. When my son was enrolled, we were not ready to potty-train. The center director was very direct that he was old enough but we resisted because we felt he was not ready. His teachers were very flexible and worked with him and us to start the training when he was ready, deflecting the director's insistence. Kalina is located right across from Horner Park and the teachers take the kids there to play when the weather permits. They also have an enclosed outdoor play space with toys and park-like play structures. They also will go to the neighborhood school's park or walk through the neighborhood. Parents are asked to sign a field trip form for permission for these outings. The teachers keep a good eye on the kids while they're outside the center. The center is also very affordable. For full-time, 5-days a week for a 2 year old, we were paying $220 a week. We were extremely pleased with the quality of care and education that our son was receiving at Kalina. After we moved, we kept him there for 2 months and kept driving him back and forth because we loved the school so much. With winter coming, we knew we couldn't keep up with the commute. It just made no sense to keep driving to our old neighborhood after we had moved away! We miss Kalina and would highly recommend Kalina to any parent looking for a great place for their child.

Our family loves Kalina. All three of our children (2 boys and a girl) attended over the last 6…read moreyears. It's a warm, vibrant pre-school with two classrooms for younger and older kids. The class sizes are just right -- not too big, not too small -- and for developmental reasons I like that the older and younger classes mix together throughout the day. The director works hard to have the best school possible; she keeps it clean, organized and safe for the kids. She lives in close proximity and is intimately involved in all that goes on in the school. The best thing about Kalina is the teaching staff. The teachers who are there now are the same as when our oldest son started there 6 years ago. As parents, we value that consistency and it's so important for young kids and their sense of security. The teachers are warm, caring and sincere. They emphasize music, movement, crafts and play throughout the day -- our kids always came home singing awesome songs and toting creative projects. They also learned a lot and were more than ready for Kindergarten. The price is right, too. No other comparable places on the North side, price-wise, especially given the quality of care at Kalina. We recently had to move our youngest kid to a different school due to my new work/school commute. It was a sad day for the whole family. While I really like my daughter's new school, we all miss Kalina!

I would highly recommend you take your professional development dollars elsewhere. Here is a…read moresummary of my recent experience at the Chicago GA location. I completed the 10 week part-time digital marketing course. Of the roughly 14 students in the course, a total of 5 of us launched similar complaints to the Chicago office staff. They did very little to resolve the situation and were very patronizing. CONS & one PRO: · The breadth of the content was just not there - two hours per night twice a week to cover topics ranging from SEM, SEO to content marketing and paid search was not enough; while the instructor did a nice job of providing an overview, I feel strongly that I didn't walk away an expert in any of the topics let alone one. Mobile WAS NOT covered at all. · Access to data & a client should be provided by GA. For the first two weeks, I had no connections to a customer's analytics or owned channels, and it made learning incredibly challenging. Several students in the class did not have access to analytics or owned channels throughout the course and it made learning that much more difficult. GA certainly must be well connected in the tech/start up scene, and I imagine there are plenty of small organizations, even non-profits, that GA could build relationships with to connect students. As a full-time working professional, it was hard enough to get the coursework done...let alone try to convince an organization to give you access to their google analytics or owned media. As you are probably aware, without these key insights, it would be very hard to be successful in the classroom. · Instruction - while she is no doubt incredibly talented in her own right, I feel like this course was not her priority. There were several questions that my classmates and I asked that she could not answer. I would imagine that is due to the demanding and changing landscape of the field. Feedback was given sporadically, and the fact that we don't receive feedback from our direct professor on the final project that many of us spent so much time on is astounding. I know I spent upwards of 40 hours on my final project, and the rubric provided by judges didn't justify the amount of time or effort I put into the project. · Cost - I would have been perfectly happy with the course as an intro to digital marketing course if it were at the $1,500 or even $2,000 price point. I feel strongly that the $3,995 fee is far too much for the value of the course and key learnings provided. Again, I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn - and know that you get out of a course as much as you put into it, but I wanted to bring my main concerns to your attention. Finally, a couple overall notes that I definitely think need to be addressed for the next round of students: Our final class went over by 2 hours due to the amount of presentations that were required. It's truly a shame as one of the judges had to leave at 9 pm, so several of my classmates didn't get a full review. It's outrageous and poor planning to think you could accommodate 13 ten-minute presentations into a 120 minute course. Obviously, there would need to be time for questions, set up and breaks. Again, the content of the course was just a breeze over - I definitely think there's opportunity for an in-depth overview of digital marketing, but I feel strongly that I did not get anywhere close to an in-depth overview. The most beneficial part of the course was the opportunity to learn from my peers.

I enjoyed the free class. Nice clean area, two projectors in classroom. Even for a free class I…read morelearned a lot and I am debating going back. They offer loner laptops, but they are Mac's. I had a bit of a learning curve with the laptop in addition to the class. I was informed of needing to bring my own computer by an email sent out at 8am the day of the class. I didn't notice it till I was out the door already :( Other than the communication about the laptop I did enjoy it.

We've been attending MIC (Lake Forest campus) for about 3 years now and are big fans. The director…read moreand support staff are friendly and knowledgeable, and my son absolutely loves his teacher. I have no doubt that has been a big part of his motivation to play. In that sense, the initial meeting with the director was a real home-run for us (when you're a new student, you go through an intake meeting). It was all about my son, what his interests were, what instruments he liked, had he considered this?, etc. My son ended up deciding on a different instrument than expected (or perhaps that mom had been interested in), and as noted above, the teacher match the director made was spot-on. Some other things I really like about MIC... the fact that tuition includes a separate music reading class. This is obviously very important, and it's great that students get extra attention in this area. I also like the sense of family at MIC. Not to discount independent music teachers, but it's really nice to be part of a larger organization; I feel like this instills an even greater appreciation for music (not to mention the fact that students at MIC & family have access to special events throughout the year).

I had two boys that took piano lessons here for 5 years. Teacher dropped us (scaling back his…read moreschedule, was the reason) and I was told someone would be getting in touch with me to work out a new teacher. No one ever did. Not only that, but I contacted Clark (the Winnetka director) on numerous occasions over the summer to try and get a new teacher for them. He never bothered to return emails or phone calls. After 5 years of being a part of this school - 5 years of paying tuition - this is how they treat me? I contacted the director of the whole school - Mark George - and explained what was going on. Even he didn't have the courtesy to contact me personally. He passed my info along to his assistant who barely apologized for what had happened (and never offered an explanation). Then she quickly tried to sign us up for more lessons. Really? Clueless.

My daughter and I took this class in winter 2018 and LOVED it. My baby was about nine months old…read morewhen we started, so a little young to actually be signing, but it set the foundation for her first steps in communication. We loved our teach Wendy Auffant! She was always upbeat and had fun lessons which focused on relatable themes (animals, bath time, meal time..) They were all very practical signs, things we could start using right away. I especially liked how she used music to incorporate the signs into our routine. My husband and I found ourselves singing or humming the songs all afternoon which helped us learn them as well! The repetition and music helped our daughter as well. While taking the class, I loved seeing my daughter LEARN what communication was. I could see her brain working as she processed that I was saying a word, using a sign, and was trying to tell her something. It took several weeks but through that, she started trying to communicate back to me. I don't think I realized that babies have to learn first what communication IS and then how to respond. Now that my daughter is about fifteen months old, I am continually amazed at her use of signs and how it helps us communicate. I think we avoid a lot of frustration on both ends, because we often know what the other is trying to say. We started off just using the basic signs "more" and "all done" for meals, but I am proud to say she regularly uses the following signs: help, please, brush teeth, share, ball, outside, milk, eat, water, thank you, and hurt. Seeing her sign "please" and "thank you" is just so cute! I highly recommend using baby sign language with your child and recommend Wendy's class! She was an excellent teacher and I have nothing but positive things to say about her class!

I highly recommend this class. Just learning a few signs is incredibly helpful before your little…read moreone is able to talk. Wendy is wonderful! She is so sweet and kind and you can tell she loves teaching.