Children's Choice daycare more than prepared my oldest child for Kindergarten. The staff at…read moreChildren's Choice loves children and creates an atmosphere where kids feel safe and special.

All I can say is make sure you have a backup plan if you're planning to send your infant here. I…read morevisited this center in April 2015 to start the process of enrolling my infant to start in January 2016. The staff assured me that a spot was available and I submitted my registration. I didn't think anymore about it thinking that everything was all set. However, this past week (November 17, 2015), approximately 6 months after I registered and a month and a half before I have to return to work, I received a call from the center stating they no longer have a spot for my son because they were cleaning out an office and found a registration that came in before mine. What!? I find it hard to believe that it took you 6 months to find a missing registration, so my hunch is that somebody friend or family member needed a spot and we got bumped, but I'll never know. If that wasn't bad enough, the director of the center didn't even have the courage to call me herself, she had some other poor soul call me and bear the brunt of my anger. Since my son didn't actually attend the center, I can't speak to the care he would have received, however, in my mind a center that disorganized or possibly lacking in integrity would make me question having my child there.

This place is amazing ! Great place to bring your kids learn…read morelife skill that they will need to help survive and will help them enjoy for the rest of their life! I personally think you should bring a kid around when you're old and get them exposed to the water ! The biggest thing is consistency and keep going even in the summers and throughout the year if you can! Please give a raise to Mrs Molly ! She is amazing and is a major reason for continuing our relationship with wise !

So far we've just had a trial assessment, but the entire process was wonderful. They were very…read moreresponsive via my online inquiry, helpful scheduling the trial session, and when we got there the gal at the front desk was super friendly and helpful. She gave us a tour and walked us to where to go. We ended up signing our son up for lessons since the price is very economical. I hope it will be a good use of our time and money.

My son started at Sandcastle when he was three months old and now he's on his way to Kindergarten…read morethis fall. It's hard to have someone look after your kids while you work, but I always felt he learned so much and was treated with love, respect and kindness--it put my mind at ease from the very first day. I'd recommend Sandcastle to anyone--they've been around for over 25 years for a reason!

I love this school for my son! It was a little rough letting him go at 8 months to their daycare…read morearea and to be honest they where a little unorganized and not the best visual experience in the basement but it was worth it. He moved up to the second level with the preschoolers and my son and i just LOVE his teachers! He has had the same three teachers for about a year now and jumps into their arms every morning. They are amazing. The food they serve isn't the best, just like grade school would I guess, no organic meals or anything but you can bring your own food for them if you can afford it. They have fun side classes and my son brings home the sweetest stuff that he's worked on. My son comes home with great knowledge and the teachers communicate to me everything each day. Their facebook page is also pretty great.

Some staff was loving and caring (hence the extra star) and bonded with my children, however…read moreadministrative staff was challenging. My child developed significant behavior issues because the staff was often favoring their own children who attended at the same time over kids whose parents did not work at the center. Staff children were rarely held accountable and tended to bully other kids. I agree with the previous reviewer regarding the director. She is very unprofessional, does not want to take accountability for issues and tends to blame the child or parent. J's demeanor is very passive aggressive and unpleasant, she is slow to respond to issues from parents. There is very little diversity among staff and children. I've seen kids exclude other children because of their skin color and staff refusing to address issues of racism among children. I don't recommend it.

One of the best daycares/preschool in Moundsview. The director is so accommodating and welcoming…read more The staff is so good with my little girl. She always comes home happy and excited about the day. I love their app and the updates the do during the days. Also they are very informative if something happens at school or there's an injury they report it right away. Highly recommend this academy there is none better. Such a safe environment, friendly, welcoming environment for kids!

Love this daycare. The teachers are fantastic and there's a lot of green space for the kids to play…read moreoutside. Both my son and daughter loved it too.

*** Let me preface by saying I did not actually use Edgecumbe Montessori for my child care needs…read more This review is purely based on my experience calling and emailing them in consideration of using them for childcare. *** When I called the school to inquire about rates, etc. I have no idea who I spoke with - I could barely understand her, I even had to question whether I had dialed the right number. She could not answer any of my questions and simply told me to email them through the website. So I did. My emails were responded to casually, slowly, were not signed so, again, I have no idea who I was corresponding with. Sometimes I would go a week without receiving a response at all, and when I finally did my questions were not even addressed. To me, it showed a lack of organization and care. They were the most proximal and least expensive of the dozen daycare facilities I contacted, which are huge pros, but how can I possibly send my kid to a place that rubbed me wrong every step of the way? UPDATE: Th director of the school emailed me back (nearly 8 months later) apologizing and saying my message "went to the spam folder and got deleted". Since my emails were in direct reply to their own, I don't know how that could have happened except by someone tagging it as spam (perhaps by accident, but either way only reinforces the disorganized impression I have of this place)

Our daughter has been enrolled at Kinderstube for 7 months now. She attends the Diamond Lake Rd…read morelocation. So far we are very happy with everything. The teachers are all very nice and seem to genuinely enjoy working with children. Being a German immersion program, the teachers speak to the students only in German however the kids are not forced to speak in German if they do not know or feel ready to do so. Whenever we drop off or pick up, the classrooms are clean, orderly, and safe. They do many different activities that our daughter loves to bring home and show us. They also have additional dance class that you can purchase that the students can attend. We get our weekly yoga and dancing lesson once she comes home because she's very excited to show us what she's learned. Overall, we are very satisfied with everything at this school and plan to enroll our son next year once he's of attendance age. Most importantly, our daughter always looks forward to going and has never complained or not wanted to go.

You will notice from my other reviews here that I am not really a negative review type of person…read more But unfortunately, I feel the need to share; So this review is really two-reviews in one. Review 1: If your child is "normal," then they will probably have a great time. The actual teachers are very caring, and I can't speak enough praise about Michelle, Kirsten and Robin at the Minneapolis campus. I truly think that Michelle is one of the best early childhood educators I have ever met. She is genuine, hardworking, and really gets kids. Review 2: If your child is a boy, or has a higher level of energy, or has any kind of mental illness, disability or special needs, I unfortunately cannot recommend this school. My son attended school there for 7 months and most of his time there was uneventful. A few months in he started talking about fears about the head teacher Vincent and how Vincent was mean to him. I still do not know what happened to make my child so afraid of Vincent, since my son shuts down anytime I try to broach the subject (although since he left the school his stomachaches magically disappeared). Although I do think (I hope) there was not any abuse, I really am just stumped and will have to be satisfied with never knowing. In unrelated move, my family decided to also pursue mental health treatment for my son for sleep. We mentioned this to the school in an effort for open communication. There were occasional "bad" days and difficulties hitting, but nothing that any of the teachers, nor Vincent, nor Babett, the director, said indicated that this was anything but typical rowdy "boy" behavior. However, after we revealed the diagnosis to the school, it seemed as if Vincent made an effort to remove my son. He repeatedly called us to pick up our son, with crisp phone calls without providing any further discussion about strategy, behavior modification or any other problems. In these calls, he only indicated the problems and never mentioned any attempts at solutions. Only two weeks after we shared the diagnosis, in what my husband and I thought was a strategy meeting, Vincent and Babett literally said, "he has to go" and that they, "didn't want to manage him." In every moment, up to that point, my husband and I were open and interested in engaging with the staff. We provided a book to inform them of our son's new diagnosis, sent a LICSW to discuss some of my son's "problem" behaviors, and even came to the expulsion meeting with our behavior strategy plan. Vincent and Babett never showed any interest in meeting with us or even discussing anything with us prior to the fateful meeting. They never attempted to discuss with us any plans, behavior modifications, or even asked us what worked well for our child. Given Vincent's strange schedule at the school, he was never available to chat with after the school day. Furthermore, they have a so-called-level system in their handbook, which they did not follow at all. Our primary concern, after this situation, was not that my son is no longer there (I agree, 300% that it is not a good fit; and personally, I wouldn't even send my "normal" child there), but it was the lack of communication, lack of empathy, and lack of any attempts to accommodate a child's disability that make me question Vincent and Babett's choice of careers. Discrimination is not acceptable. Although private preschools can do what they want, they need to realize that expulsion is, as child psychologist Gilliam writes, not a child behavior; it is an adult decision. There is great research out there showing that most "expel" worthy behaviors are easily changed with both parent and teacher work. Although every child is different and I have known children who had a great time with the Kinderstube and even with Vincent, I personally cannot recommend the school. Until they deal with their internal issues about discrimination and address their relationship to preschool expulsion, it is not a safe place for children.

I cannot say enough good things about this preschool- my daughter loved her time in the yellow room…read moreand i equally adore the staff and their focus on nurturing kind and loving human beings. Before the school year started we were able to meet our daughter's teacher, Sally, with a one-on-one classroom visit and she took special care to both share with us about her experience and what we could expect in the classroom. The staff wanted to know about our daughter ranging from her interests to level of potty training so they could help her appropriately;-) I was relieved that my three year old didn't have to be 100% potty trained before we sent her. They also sent home a picture diagram of the classroom schedule for the day so we could talk it through with our daughter and she had much less anxiety about her first school experience. Throughout the year, the preschool and staff continued to impress me with their awesome hands-on activities, music curriculum (brought in by mcphail music) and opportunities for my daughter to learn social, academic, and motor control skills. The fall parent-teacher conference was focused on how our daughter was adjusting to school and the new structured learning environment. The spring conference was very helpful in learning where our daughter excelled as well as where she could use improvement (especially before starting kindergarten). I thought our teacher, Sally, did a great job of clearly and directly communicating with us. Judson's director, Kelly Hollis, was new in the 2017-2018 school year and she has worked hard to get up to speed with the school's activities and students. It seemed like the year had just started and she knew every student's name and any individual needs (dietary, behavioral, or other). Our daughter had a bee land on her hand in the playground outside of school hours and Kelly happened to be there and very quickly calmed our daughter down (even though she wasn't stung she was scared by the incident). Kelly called and emailed us at home that night just to check on our daughter. You will be hard pressed to find someone that cares about the children more than Kelly. If you are looking for a great preschool community to be a part of- I would wholeheartedly recommend checking Judson out!

In response to the last poster- I'm a parent of two children that went through Judson in 2012-2013…read more Judson preschool offers a play-based curriculum, which based on the latest research is found to be a more effective way to instruct preschoolers. Blind focus on numbers and letters and hard academics doesn't actually help children succeed in Kindergarten. It's part of why Minnesota and other states are breaking away from the rigor of No Child Left Behind. Any kid can memorize their numbers and alphabet, or watch PBS kids to learn. We want children to understand the foundations and JOY of learning. In terms of donations, we expected to donate so that tuition could stay low. Donations are typical for private preschools. In the Catholic school my son previously attended, the suggest amount of donation- and parent volunteer times- were given in writing and we had to commit at the beginning of the year! I appreciate that Judson was more flexible and allowed parents to choose the amount of money and time they could donate. As a working mom, I need that. Parents that are not happy have ample opportunity to voice concerns to the management and teachers in Fall and Spring conferences. The school also does a survey at the end of the year. Parents can also serve on the Board. Judson school was a wonderful experience for my children. We've been through a few schools and daycare settings, and it by far exceeded what is available in the market. Even the NAEYC-accredited daycare we tried fell short.

My daughter has been going to Academic Tutoring and Testing since 3rd grade. The tutors there are…read moregreat, and she trusts them and likes going to see them. Alex is flexible with scheduling which is important when our kids have such busy lives. Highly recommend this place.