If you want your child to have a holistic screen free education, this is the place. There is more…read moreevidence coming out at the harm that screens are doing to children. And AI is a threat to the intelligence of children. This will be our first year at the Wadorf School of Bend. We attended two other Waldorfs previously. The teachers and staff so far have been very nice. The class sizes are small, especially from 5th grade through middle school. Your child will get one on one attention and the best holistic education possible. They are offering 50% off for middle school right now and it's a great time to get in. We tried public school for middle school and regret it. Our son is looking forward to going back to Waldorf! The tuition may seem expensive, but they do have financial assistance. And do whatever you can to get your child into here. 2nd job, skip the fancy vacations or car. Make Waldorf a priority and you will not regret it.

We love this school! Not only does our child have a sweet, kind, and nurturing learning…read moreenvironment, but the parents are also a real community. We can make decisions together as a team about what is best for our children and what they are being taught in the classroom. You get a choice with waldorf and its 100% worth paying for.

Bend Forest School has amazing preschool and primary school programs. Our children have grown so…read moremuch academically, socially, and emotionally during their time at BFS. The staff are amazing and work hard to meet kids where they are at.

I look at photos of my child now, after he had a year to clear. He is doing so much better, removed…read morefrom this environment. I see friendships he forages, the confidence, and how much he has learned; long division and multi-digit math, his journaling, his joy of reading and ways he has expanded with art to come up with new creations that even surprise me.

The school was more concerned with their reputation on tests and online reviews than service,…read morecommunity/ kindness. We are glad to have left as we entered year two, on seeing just how gross staff became with the new leadership, and wish we had trusted ourselves to have done so sooner. There were students using the N* word, saying they were black inside (despite having blond hair and blue eyes... saying it was the same as being trans...) The founder had 5 meetings with this student's parents, due to parents complaining along lines of sexuality. The student was saying to girls, "I am going to stuff myself inside of you" or "You are too ugly to date me." He was saying he would kill himself if a girl didn't get back together with him. Teachers said he was just coming into his sexuality and weren't concerned. He was popular. He was saying the other boys watched porn (to upset the girls and move the focus from his watching porn... as he was getting in trouble for this.) He'd then say the other boys were gay and that is why they had a sleepover. He would use his sway with the girls and they would yell at the boys and try to force their coming out (as if it was an afterschool special and they, the girls, had the right answers for the boys who were being targeted in this way.) As another parent said, "It is the victims who end up leaving, not the ones causing the disrespect." Kids and families did leave due to this, as it showed disrespect and modeled this student could use his popularity as power, to get them in trouble and also to define their sexuality before they were ready to/ aware. The Learning Specialist would use these rumors and try to find out the truth, too, not allowing for respect for a process of kids coming into sexuality and gender in a light and respectful way. Just like students, who were using force & coercion, language / actions that were violations, the Learning Specialist would force kids to come out, when there wasn't trust or respect in the relationship to begin with. As always, there are exceptions of staff who are kind and credible, though they largely left or were powerless, if they did stay. The founder/ director of the school was counseling students out, with the Learning Specialist. She would test kids on entering/ being admitted and have a meeting 30 days in, saying the school didn't have resources to help with reading and math. Abilities don't come on board in math and reading until 9 or 10 years old, for many. Charter schools receive the same funds as public. We came in and didn't know how many parents had struggled with this previous to us, though other parents talked about the PE teacher calling the kids retards, and many staff being unprofessional, such as the guidance counselor, and Learning Specialist occupying a discipline role that kept them from listening or guiding kids, scholastically and emotionally. The district and former director had obstructed progress over a new 504 for us with scheduling filibusters. My child came in with a 504 and they said it wouldn't be followed. In it, it said not to test him with new proctors, at the start. They did anyway and wouldn't put a new 504 in place for his heart condition. I finally said we would give it up as it angered the teacher to make accommodations. He said my child needed to be toughened up and was a brat. The district said our existing 504 was non-existent. We found out many parents had filed complaints and lawsuits. (The founding director was asked to leave by her board finally, after our first year there. She told the school she was leaving due to a family death.) Our doctor wrote us a note to allow my child to try having a service pup that summer. He sometimes has stopped breathing and this was a new solution. I came a week early and talked to the teacher and new director. They didn't listen, didn't open the letter sent by his doctor. I dropped my child off for the first day and had a call in 10 minutes. The school counselor had grabbed my child by the collar of his jacket and forcefully removed him with other staff. The director yelled at me, saying I was manipulative. She thought that she could refuse the services by ignoring my meeting with her and the doctor's note. I asked her to read the email sent to her and the teacher and she refused, screaming on the first day of school in the entryway. The Dept. of Ed. called her and coached her through our rights, but it was a moment of embarrassment and shock and my child decided to forego any kinds of services, based on this experience and our experience the previous year with trying to honor or make a 504. It had been an endless filibuster and an experience of absence being more apparent than presence. The founding director had tried to ridicule me to dismiss me. I found out how many people she has done this to, how many families she has coached out... that the other families in our class remembered. I now don't take it personally and feel we learned What Not To Be.

My child started out at a traditional middle school and he floundered. We found out later that he…read morehas ADHD and it tends to come out in middle school. We switched schools and he was so much happier. The smaller class size suited him. All the teachers and staff know him and they go out of their way for our family and other families as well. The director is kind and very open. My son is now in eighth grade and I'm going to miss this school tremendously. Thanks to Bend International School, he has learned the tools to deal with his ADHD, become a kind person and is ready for high school.

Our son loves Seven Peaks School and so do we. His teachers have taught him so much in a kind,…read moresafe, and nurturing environment. He really enjoys his "specials" classes like Spanish, art, running club, and music. The staff and faculty have worked hard to make Seven Peaks a family and we are very happy to be a part of it.

What a wonderful educational opportunity in a community with a lot of excellent competition! Seven…read morePeaks is the only preschool-8th grade IB option in our region and the continuity of care, growth, and support provided there is incredible! The potential for academic growth, social-emotional support, and individual nurturing is incredible. There are so many things that make Seven Peaks special!

This is a great school. Godly people, outstanding curriculum awesome facilities. If you are…read morelooking for an school that will teach your kids about God and moral as well as providing a superior education Morning Star is for you.

Ashley is exactly the kind of person you want your child's mind to be around. She gets it! I am so…read moreexcited that she is a resource available to us as my family is now living in Bend after a move from Portland! Her kids camp agenda is full of incredible and thoughtful planning and I truly believe she is going to change the world by cultivating a love of learning and self in minds of our future. From meditation and mindfulness tips and tricks, tutoring sessions from a teacher herself, and starting a love affair with food and nutrition... I kind of wish that I was a kid again so I could take part in this stuff. ;)

Ashley's cooking classes for kids are absolutely wonderful- not only do the kids learn delicious,…read morehealthy recipes, they learn so much about making healthy food choices and how to recognize strong vs weak foods in their everyday lives. I took my best friend's 8-year-old to class all summer and he loved learning kitchen techniques and sharing his creations and knowledge with us when he got home. Ashley is a wonderful, inspiring teacher dedicated to equipping kids with practical skills for making good choices- we need more people like her in this world! I would highly recommend these classes to anyone whose child is interested in food and cooking. You can be assured everything they make is healthy, easy to do at home and the classes are also accommodating to kids with allergies to gluten/dairy etc which is a huge plus.

This school was a safe space for my daughter to move to after being at a school she felt unsafe in…read more We've been here for a year and a half, and she's never once complained about being unsafe or feeling scared, which was a huge problem at her previous school. Beyond the emotional support and safety, she is enjoying the freedom to choose her learning and is excelling in her knowledge and understanding of the world! I'm forever grateful for this safe space for my daughter.

Tracy, Carolyn, and the rest of the Lil Sunshine team took incredible care of our daughter. I was…read moreso nervous to go back to work after maternity leave and hand my infant over to a stranger... Very quickly though, Tracy was no longer a stranger, but family! Our daughter was loved on and genuinely adored and cherished. I can't imagine a better first childcare experience for her. I would highly recommend Tracy and her childcare expertise to anyone. She is one of the most wonderful people I know.