I cannot say enough great things about Lakewood Montessori! My 5 year old daughter has attended…read morethe school for 2 years and we plan on enrolling our 3 year son in there as well. The environment the kids are in is a warm, caring one where the teachers know the children (and the parents and grandparents) well and build the children's confidence. They are so loving and have a diverse group of kids. My daughter loves ALL of the teachers and staff! They truly care so much for the kids. The education (very important to us) is outstanding..I am so amazed how well they teach the kids..they do a great job of preparing the students for the transition to elementary school..I feel like my 5 year old is ready for 2nd grade! The director is a beautiful person, inside and out..Lakewood Montessori is ran incredibly well; this is not true for every Montessori school.

From the owner: Visit us today! Carefully overseen by a trained teachers, your child will engage with both the…read moreteacher, the environment, and his or her peers in a way that will teach harmony and positive engagement with the world, values that will last throughout their lifetime.

We had our two children at Raintree 6 and 8 years, respectively, and while we very excited in the…read morebeginning, I strongly recommend against families using this school now. Raintree seemed wonderful in the beginning, clean facilities, great staff, wonderful food that you could even order to bring home. Our children appeared to be receiving an excellent education, and despite no standardized testing, we were told they were doing wonderfully and we believed it -- eagerly paying tuition to give our girls the best we could, like many other patents. Then, in 2022, the teacher's aid for our youngest daughter's class was accused, and now convicted, of molesting several children in her preschool class. This is a horrible event that can occur anywhere, but it was the school's response that was the damning part. Raintree did not respond as they should have. Imagine if the principal at your child's school found out that an employee was molesting a 3 year old, and when the employee began confessing... the principal advised the molester to stop talking to the police -- because, the owner of Raintree did exactly that. Further, the owners essentially ignored the parents of the victims, and they didn't want to talk with any parents about these events. They did eventually implement changes to policies that should have never existed -- no longer were very young children left alone in dark, curtained rooms for nap time, with a single teacher/aid, and fortunately no longer were aids/assistants allowed to work under the direct supervision of a family member. We asked for further changes, such as cameras and for our children to not be undressed publicly for swimming, and as parents we started a PTO to suggest further improvements for our children's safety, but the administration resisted all of our efforts at changes. The original core group of parents who founded the PTO left active involvement out of frustration, or left Raintree entirely, and the organization quickly became little more than a coordinating unit for volunteer opportunities. (citations to articles confirming details above: https://www2.ljworld.com/.../special-prosecutor.../, https://www2.ljworld.com/.../mothers-testify-about.../, https://www2.ljworld.com/.../recent-filings-shed-more.../) The second reason I would not recommend Raintree to anyone is the academic quality. Several years ago, two of our close friends removed their children (one in 1st, the other in 3rd grade) from Raintree, moving them to the public schools. The public entry testing indicated both children (from different families in different classrooms) were very behind for their grade levels, scoring in the 20 to 30 percentiles in reading and math. At first we still thought our own children were fine, but then we noticed our kids didn't know the math we would have known at that age, they couldn't read a clock, and they were very poor readers when we checked out library books appropriate for their ages. When we had our girls tested, one tested under the 40 percentile in reading, 30s in math, and the other was in the 30 and 20 percentiles, respectively. This was finally what pushed us over the edge, and we left two years ago. Leaving Raintree has been one of the best decisions we have made for our children. We feel our children are far safer in the public schools, the administration at the public schools are far more communicative with us as parents, and the education is much better. After nearly 2 years of hard work by their teachers, and countless hours of at-home tutoring, they are both in 80+ percentiles in every subject. Finally, we don't feel cheated anymore by Raintree. I resent Raintree for making me think we were doing the best thing for our children, and I regret ignoring the many warning signs and "drinking the Koolaide" that this was a good environment for our children. Our children are certainly far happier than they ever were at Raintree -- even they understand that the education in the USD479 schools are superior, and they greatly enjoy the far broader range of afterschool and inschool activities. I am far more impressed with the steps the public schools take to keep our children safe. The staff and administration are fantastic. The one time one of my children was bullied on a Friday, the principal called us Saturday morning, talked over an hour, talked with the families of the "bullying" kids over the weekend, and by Monday everything had been resolved. I advise any family to carefully consider their decision to send a child to Raintree. I strongly suggest you take advantage of the wonderful schools we have available for free (or really supported by our rather high property taxes) and say that $12-15k/year tuition for their future college or trade school education.

We sent our children to Raintree from pre-k through 6th grade. My family is so grateful to have a…read moreschool like Raintree Montessori in our community. We moved to Little Rock, Arkansas for two years when the oldest was in lower elementary. No Montessori school in that city came close in comparison to Raintree Montessori. We are more than satisfied with the education our children received in this caring, inclusive, nurturing, and positive learning environment. Both have graduated from college with honors. Our investment in their early education paid off with both students receiving academic scholarships. There can always be issues no matter the school. We simply work together to solve them, keeping the child's best interest in mind. We liked Raintree so much that I chose to work here. Now I help other families discover this amazing place to educate children.

Our son first went to the Lawrence Montessori School (LMS) as an eleven month old. Although our…read morefamily is no longer residing in Lawrence, LMS is one of many things that we miss the most. All of the teachers and staff members of LMS had been always so pleasant and upbeat. They created a really positive, enriched learning environment for the kids. They took such wonderful care of our son and truly had a passion for what they do. The curriculum was very carefully considered and varied week-to-week. I also have to give a shout-out to Ms. Amanda and Ms. Sophie in the Hummingbird room. They helped me through some of his more difficult times with toilet training and drop-off anxiety, as well as the 'terrible two' stages. Our son had been learning by leaps and bounds thanks to his awesome teachers! Furthermore, the managerial staff of LMS, Ms. Purviz and Ms. Sonja, helped ease my mind and were always there to give advice when I needed it. I always felt very comfortable talking to them about anything that comes to mind, and they are attentive to our feedback as well. I highly recommend LMS!

It's a state-of-the-art school. It's a new building with a huge yard and playground for the kids. I…read morewas impressed when I visited. There's a close ratio of children to teachers, with a great deal of enrichment for the children in each classroom.

Wildflower Montessori has been so much more than a school for our family, it has truly been a home…read moreaway from home. They helped raise not one, but two of our children, and I cannot say enough good things about the care, love, and dedication of this place. Our son, Silas, attended Wildflower for two years before our youngest ever started. When our daughter, Sloane, joined later, it felt like coming home all over again. When Silas needed additional support that his elementary school couldn't provide, Wildflower welcomed him back with open arms without hesitation. That level of compassion and commitment is rare. We have absolutely loved every teacher we've had throughout the years. These are the only people I would ever trust with my children, to the point that we have even used Wildflower teachers as babysitters when needed. That alone speaks volumes about the trust and confidence we have in this team. Almost a year later, our youngest still asks if we can stop by just so she can give her teachers a hug, and I think that says everything about the kind of place Wildflower is. If you're looking for more than just a daycare, if you want a family to help raise your child while they're away from home. I highly recommend Wildflower Montessori. Our children are stronger, more confident, and more successful because of the foundation they received here, and we will forever be grateful.

Hi parents! We just…read moremoved to Parkville and prior to purchasing our home, we were on the hunt for a new provider for our 4 year old. Our kiddo is the youngest of two, so we have been through many daycares and providers in our time. To put a fine point on it, Wildflower is far and away the best provider we have found in our roughly 9 years of using multiple providers (and touring many more!) we were looking for something that takes the best of Montessori, but isn't so stuck in the Montessori world that kids aren't being taught to excel later in a more traditional education environment. Our son had attended a strict Montessori school prior and he tells us almost every day how much he *loves* school. They provide so many fun experiences to mix things up, aerial yoga, the KC zoo, the KC chiefs, and field trips to the bank and grocery stores--and all of that in just the last couple of months. Our son *adores* his teacher, and the environment does feel very much like a family. One that we're happy to be a part of. (I will note that I was not prompted to do a review, nor was I compensated in any way).

We Love Phoenix Montessori!! My oldest son attended for his pre-K and kindergarten year. He is now…read moregoing in to 3rd grade. I can't keep enough books in the house for him to read. I believe his love of reading started early because of Phoenix Montessori and their way for building confidence in young readers! His math skills are also strong because of the early foundation of skills he learned there. This year my middle child will be returning for her second year (kindergarten year) and my youngest will start his pre-year ! I can't wait to see what this year will bring! Besides the educational benefits, we have made life long friends with parents and students. We drive 20 min to get to school because it is so worth it!

I'm still a big fan! My youngest stayed for Kindergarten. Luckily Phoenix has decided to expand…read moretheir elementary program and now offer up through 3rd grade! We have enrolled my youngest in 1st grade for next year. In addition, when my older daughter started having issues with the her public school 2nd grade teacher we were able to move her over for the rest of the year. She is thriving and has already started working on division. We are keeping her enrolled for 3rd at Phoenix also. Mrs. Fernandez runs the elementary program and is an amazing, caring teacher and I feel so luckly that my girls can have such a superior experience.

Monarch is an authentic and well-run Montessori school. Our son is five and in his third year at…read moreMonarch, where he has steadily gained confidence and a love of learning. Ms Casey and the other teachers are outstanding. They are loving with the children and devoted to the Montessori way of teaching. The classroom spaces and materials form a beautiful learning environment. Thanks to our experience at Monarch we have moved our older daughter to a Montessori elementary school.

From the owner: Monarch Montessori School is an authentic Montessori preschool in a beautifully prepared classroom,…read morewith highly-trained teachers who are passionate about the education of your individual child.

I held off writing a review for this daycare for a while, because I wanted to get some distance…read morefrom the situation. Also, my child recently started at a new daycare, so I'm able to compare services and I now realize there were a lot of issues with this place. My child was 3 months old when he started. Terri was very reassuring and I felt like she would be a great child care provider. Unfortunately, she seems overwhelmed by the work of owning and operating. If I were trusting just her and the assistant director to watch my child, it would have been fine. But the staff they hired and allowed to watch children were not up to the same standard. After just a few weeks there, my child was injured by another child. It's daycare, kids can be wild - I expected an issue like this. But the communication was poor. First, I was not called despite the incident occurring hours before pick up. Next, I was told that my child 'got into a fight.' I'm sorry - he's three months old. An older child (20 months) was allowed near him and hit my child in the face. That is not a fight. Next, I was not given any documentation about the incident. When I asked for something, I was given the discipline sheet for the other child (containing all of his private information and nothing about my own child). I returned my child to the center and just two days later, at pick up, I was told again that my child was injured by the same child. They had done nothing to protect my child. My child had a massive bruise on his head, a welt on his cheek and a bloody lip. At this point, I pulled my child from the center. I also called a hotline to Children's Division. During their investigation of the center, I was informed that many of the staff members did not have background checks and were not certified in the training required of care givers. There were many other issues found at the school, all of which can be found on the MO Dept of Health and Human Services website. I suggest that you read all of these reports for yourself prior to enrolling your child here. It has been almost a year since my child was enrolled here, and I am just now becoming comfortable allowing my child back to a care facility. Now that I've started at a new school, I'm realizing how poor the communication was at Montessori Day School of BS. His daily sheet was often left blank, or with information missing. The staff that I left my child with seemed to change every day, and there were constantly new faces. Finally, I would especially caution anyone who breast feeds against this facility. My milk was often left in the fridge and he was given the backup formula I provided instead. One of the employees even told me to not leave any extra, as she believed other staff members were throwing them away. I was also told often that they felt my child had GI issues because his poops looked different than the formula fed babies. My child was the only one receiving breast milk and it seemed the staff had no protocol with how to handle the receiving, storage and giving of the milk. One day, I dropped off a full fridge safe bag of milk and when I picked him up, that milk had been sitting in the bag all day and was never moved to the fridge or given to my child. It had to be thrown out. I believe that this location has a much better preschool and older toddler program, but the infant room is not up to the same standard. Edit: after posting this, Terri reached out under the pretense of working things out. Instead, Terri repeatedly claimed the review had inaccuracies but could only point out that the school does not have cameras. I have edited this portion out of my original review. But I will say, an employee did state cameras existed. I believe this further proves employees are uneducated and have poor communication. No other inaccuracies could be identified by Terri. She had complaints about my 'tone.' I will repeat that I believe Terri would be a wonderful caregiver. But her employees do not meet the same standard. I expect she will reply to this review attempting to discredit my experiences. Everything above is true and accurate, as verified by Terri herself.

Horrible place to work and bring your kids! I was a teachers…read moreaid here for a month before I found a better offer and quit. Please take my words to heart! If you have kids here take them to another day school. It's a very unorganized unprofessional and unpleasant place to be. No official training and they take on anybody looking for a job. Also if you're looking for work they don't tell you about how you won't get paid for a whole month! They will wait until you come in for your check and tell you. They failed health inspection and will probably close down by next year. The playground was deemed unsafe for kids and they still use it. If you need to look at the violations yourself here's a link: https://healthapps.dhss.mo.gov/ChildCareSearch/ViewInspection.aspx?Inspection_ID=2362389288&LID=002038511

My child was having behavioral struggles prior to Clay-Platte (CP). We thought sensory was a…read morecomponent & I had her tested for cognitive ability due to complaints that school was boring. She tested high & I thought perhaps she wasn't being challenged combined with overwhelming sensory inputs. She lacked behavioral struggles at home which told me the school environment was the trigger. I'd been looking into CP since she was a baby so I decided to take the leap. I enrolled her in the 6-9 year class. Before term I got a call that the school's 9-12 class teacher had left & they'd be combining classes so that 6-12 year olds were in the same class. I trusted the school wouldn't make that decision without consideration so I was still onboard to give it a shot despite reservations. Behavioral struggles began immediately and I took my child back for more extensive testing. Before completing testing, my child was asked not to return to CPs aftercare program. W/o aftercare I could not keep my child at CP. I moved her to a different school & got the results of her testing. She has inattentive ADHD. She began medication for ADHD & is doing so much better now. Having the dx explains a lot. My child is smart yet struggles to focus on a subject. She knows she can learn something yet cannot direct her attention to learn it. This caused significant frustration. Also, in times where she is receiving undesirable sensory inputs she seeks sensory outlets. The combo of these also led to her eloping the environment causing her stress. I'm writing this review to share some insights for parents who also have neurodivergent (ND) children. I had hoped that I would be met at CP with empathetic minds given the nature of Montessori education & I don't feel that was the case. I felt judgement here & that my child was seen as a problem rather than a child struggling. I didn't get this sense from all the staff, but I shouldn't have gotten this sense from any of the staff. I don't feel like the school was equipped for my child, even as she is now with a dx & medication. It's one thing to have a child led school with child led curriculum, but another thing to effectively lead a child & it starts with how you interact with them, not what you try to teach them. Once when I went to pick up my child she'd found a ladybug. When I got there the lead teacher said, "Here at CP, we don't keep the bugs. You must leave it here." & began the campaign to tell her to put the bug down. I stepped in & said something like cool ladybug, let's go find him a great home. We did & she left without issue. It seems super small, but instead of leading my child, the teacher put herself in a position of authoritative conflict. For ADHD kids who have higher rates of ODD this is not ideal. When I had my child tested, the psychologist sent questionnaires to her lead teacher. Each of the questionnaires is given a bias score. The responses received from the CP lead teacher were flagged for negative bias, indicating that they could be excessively critical or judgmental. Specific to aftercare, a lot of the staff was just kids in the high school class. Once at pickup I was met by the director because my child was refusing to go back into the building & the conversation I had with her wasn't encouraging. She kind of ranted about how this was a business & she was going to have to raise aftercare prices. The conversation lacked the professionalism I would expect & instead of being centered on helping my child it felt more like, "take a look at your child not listening to an adult & hear about how it affects my business." Less important than the educational stewardship of my ND child, I paid Aug & Sep tuition, Aug & Sep aftercare, & a material fee. My child attended the school 8/15-9/23 & aftercare 8/15-9/8. When I asked about a prorated refund I was blown off. I paid for 2 full months of aftercare for 19 days. & I paid for 2 full months of tuition for 30 days. I doubt my child utilized $500 worth of the material fee I paid.

We've had a truly wonderful experience at Clay-Platte Montessori School over the past two years…read more From our very first tour with Lishchkaya (who became Head of School shortly after we started), we felt welcomed and seen. We were drawn to Montessori principles, but what really impressed us was seeing how beautifully those ideas are lived out in the classrooms. Our son was in a Primary classroom with Mark as the lead guide, and we watched him grow so much in his independence, confidence, and curiosity. The teachers and staff are top-notch: patient, caring, and incredibly intentional in how they observe and support each child's development. The access to nature has also been a huge highlight. Whether it's exploring the creek or building outside, our child came home full of stories and wonder from his outdoor experiences. And beyond just academics, he learned real, practical life skills (things like how to care for his space, solve problems, and take initiative), which we know will serve him well long after he's left the classroom. One of the things we appreciated most was how well they got to know our child and us. It's a place where relationships matter, where each child is respected as an individual, and where learning is joyful and meaningful. We couldn't have asked for a better foundation for our son's early education, and we're so grateful to have been part of the CPMS community.