This school is not good I would not recommend your child to go:( especially the middle school Mill…read moreCreek the science teachers made my child cry but the only good thing is the English teacher Mrs. Fyke, the technology education teacher Mr. Simple, the life skills teacher Mr. Anderson and the art teacher Ms. Karapas.

I pulled my child from the center after the administration ignored and neglected my child's health…read moreconcerns please be weary that this day care while there are many great things about it is only out to make money. I can tell you some of the staff are great and there are several that are not.

This is our first year and we are quite happy with our experience with Morningstar. The teachers…read moreare well-qualified, have amazing patience, and are excellent about working as a team to address any concerns or needs. I love that my children get lots of outdoor time and the playground is a fantastic array of different structures and play areas that encourage imaginative play. We appreciate the family atmosphere and think this is a well-run, clean, and happy environment for children. The owner and managers know the children's names, are familiar with all the classrooms, and participate in many of the fun activities with them. We do supplement the school readiness at home, but much less than if our pre-schooler was in standard daycare or at home. There is very low staff turnover and we have not noticed much family turnover either.

Daycroft is a school unlike any other…read more The Montessori philosophy is the foundation of what makes Daycroft so amazing. The kids that attend Daycroft are genuinely some of the nicest kids I've ever met. There is a huge emphasis placed on the "culture of kindness" and it shows every day. Children are treated with respect, and therefore respect one another. When behavior issues arise, children are counseled through it by their teachers, not simply punished. There is an emphasis on understanding and empathy rather than control. A HUGE reason this is possible is the faculty to student ratio. Every grade-level classroom has two full-time, certified teachers. The class sizes are nearly always 20 kids or less, so that's a 10-to-1 ratio max most of the time. When they go to specials (music, art, gym, Spanish, library, and technology), each class is split in half (half go to music and half to art, for example, then they switch) to preserve that ratio- unless the class makes more sense to have more kids (such as gym or orchestra). Daycroft is a school where everyone knows everyone by name- students know and are friends with other students at other grade levels, teachers know students' names in grades other than just the ones they teach, and specials teachers get to teach the same kids for up to nine years. The bond that is created with such a close-knit community is special. Daycroft is a family.

Our family has been at Daycroft Montessori for four years and are starting our fifth year. We…read morehighly recommend the school. We annually renew our decision to enroll at Daycroft due to the following: 1. The Montessori philosophy: mixed-age classrooms, children work uninterrupted on learning activities that they freely choose from a teacher-created set of options, children primarily learn by working hands-on with a myriad of subject-appropriate materials rather than verbal instructions from an instructor, and work plans designed for each individual child to the point that, depending upon the needs of the child, work plans can range from daily to weekly in duration. 2. Two teachers in each Daycroft classroom. This translates into a ratio of approximately one teacher for every 10 students. 3. The extraordinary religious, racial, and ethnic diversity of the children enrolled at Daycroft. For those of you reading this review who are new to the Montessori philosophy, let me explain that Montessori means disciplined choice. There is zero chaos in a Daycroft Montessori classroom. There may be a quiet hum, or happy chatter, but no chaos. From their workplan, children choose which item to address when. They are taught how to effectively focus and not interrupt other children's work. Because workplans are individualized to best fit their learning style, the children become deeply engaged. Before they move on to a new activity, the children must clean up their current activity. So, classrooms are tidy, calm, and, at the end of the day, everything is back in its place. We particularly love the diversity of the Daycroft families. Because it's so diverse, children learn experientially about the many skin tones, religions, & ethnicities. The teachers invite families in to share their rituals, foods, and experiences. Parents have the opportunity to become as involved as desired. I've volunteered in the classroom and my husband has volunteered in after-school. (There are quite a number of after-school activities for the children.) Daycroft has two locations. The Zeeb campus is K-6. Our family's experience has been at the Zeeb campus, which is where I will focus my review. The building is in excellent condition; bright, clean, and well-designed. It includes the K-6 classrooms, a robust library, media center, well-appointed art room, music room with risers and instruments, multi-purpose room (used for lunch, spanish, and after-care), kitchen, gym/auditorium, science room, sickroom, and administrative offices. All classrooms have smartboards and other types of technology (computers, etc). All children at Daycroft have Spanish twice a week and upper grades learn additional languages, and the etymology of language. Musical instruments are introduced at an early age, and increasingly sophisticated instruments are added as the children progress through the grades. There is an orchestra, choir, and band, and the children perform a concert semi-annually. Annually, in the spring, there is an all-school musical that is amazing. Every child is involved - creating the sets, singing in the chorus, and/or being on-stage. At Daycroft, children have choices appropriate to their age and abilities. All subjects are taught extensively and deeply throughout the children's time at Daycroft. For example, geometry and algebra are introduced in pre-school; each year, a child's learning of such subjects advances in sophistication. Because the children have individual workplans and uninterrupted worktime, they progress at their pace (with the teacher's encouragement and guidance, of course). What the children learn at Daycroft is far advanced from what my husband and I were taught at the same ages in our own school experiences. The administrative and teaching staff are always available to the parents. Two years ago, our daughter hit a personal "bump in the road". We spent time with her teachers and the head of school to work through this and found the experience to be very gratifying. All of us worked collaboratively to help our daughter traverse the situation successfully. From a distance, I've noted this scenario repeated successfully with other children at Daycroft. All children, at some point, will need some extra attention and the Daycroft staff has the time and commitment to provide it. From a physical perspective, children have gym three or four times per week. Plus, of course, recess. At the Zeeb campus, there are two playgrounds with age-appropriate equipment - one for lower elementary and a second for upper elementary. Zeeb has a garden, pond, and wetlands for the children to use in their curriculum. Some classrooms also include yoga daily for the children which has been a wonderful thing. Check out Daycroft Montessori - you'll be glad you did.

Not a real Montessori school, demonstrates blatant disregard for student well-being. Your money…read morewon't go towards your child's education here. We withdrew after 7 weeks. Where to start... When my older son was so riddled with anxiety one day he refused to get out of the car at drop-off I knew I had to spend some time in the classrooms to see first-hand what was going on. Up until this point we had heard stories from the kids, were suspicious of the lack of work being done, and had already had a meeting with the headmaster over a separate safety issue that was going on at school. What I found when I visited the classrooms was virtually no academic work being done, the core components of a Montessori program not being delivered, and a hazardously frigid cold building. HAZARDOUS SCHOOL BUILDING. At $17k+ tuition, you'd think a school would have basic necessities like heat. I've attached a photo of the thermostat from inside my 2nd graders classroom on the day we pulled him out of this place. 52 degrees in the 3rd week of October. I was told it was "too early" to turn on the heat. See attached violation from the City of Pontiac building department for no heat and not maintaining a temperature of 68 degrees. This citation was a week after we left. Let that sink in that another week went by before they corrected the issue of freezing cold classrooms. FALSE CLAIMS TO BE A MONTESSORI PROGRAM. This school claims to be "fully accredited" and we were told (in writing) that they were a member of AMS (The American Montessori Society), yet when I verified their membership status (see attached letter from AMS) I found out they haven't even been members since 2020. NO INDIVIDUALIZED OR CHILD LED LEARNING (i.e. not Montessori). Kids had same lessons assigned. The Upper Elementary and Middle School are grouped together under the same lead teacher (we were not told this when we signed up). Montessori should have a 3 year age range, not 5. I observed my 4th grader and my 7th grader working on the same materials, and that work was way below even the 4th grade level. The teacher (Ms. Carey) admitted to giving my 7th grader the wrong math and science work for the previous 7 weeks. Ms. Carey admitted that our kids at 7 weeks into the program did not have the materials or the adult support to work on anything beyond what was setup for the classroom for the start of the school year. CHAOTIC STRESSFUL ENVIRONMENT. A Montessori learning environment is supposed to provide a peaceful and quiet environment where students can work uninterrupted for long periods of time. This environment was so chaotic and full of constant interruptions (including flying sharp objects being thrown across the room and other safety issues) that my kids were nervous wrecks. My older son's friend was hit in the face with a pair of scissors that someone threw. DOCUMENTED LEARNING LOSS. In the 7 weeks we attended this school, my kids went from having great grades and high scores on their academic testing from the end of the previous school year in Math, to failing the math placement tests for the school they attended last year. We now are paying for weekly private tutoring to get caught up. This is all well documented.

No academic for earlier years , treated as a daycare , huge waste of time and money!!!! every…read moretime I asked my son what he learnt that day , he would say nothing I was just allowed to play with dolls!!!!!!!!

I helped our PTA schedule 4 school enrichment assemblies this Fall, and ended up scheduling two of…read morethose programs from Midwest School Shows. I was very impressed with their professionalism and fast response to my frequent questions (thanks Brandi), as well as the big selection of different programs they had to choose from. This was good company for a newbie PTA planner, like myself, to work with. I will be using them as a resource for Spring programs as well. The two programs from Midwest School Shows we scheduled were very well received everyone at our school. The students enjoyed the 'Super U Challenge' assembly the most out of all our four assemblies. The 'Hartbeat of America' harp player was also fun, but I think appealed more towards the K-3 grades. Both presentations were very professionally put together and the entertainers skilled at capturing the attention of the 350-something students. I had several teachers comment that they were very impressed with the presentations. I felt the fees were reasonable, but as a PTA you always wish you could spend less. We debated between having the programs present two performances on the same day to make the audiences smaller. I think I wish we had, as it would have allowed for more of the audience to be close to the "action". But, you have to do what you can to stretch those PTA funds.

I've now worked with this company twice this school year. I am pleased by the consistent quality of…read morethe entertainment for our students, as well as the customer service. I have recommended Midwest programs to other schools.

My son is a new student at Emerson this year. After several lackluster years in one of the top…read moreAAPS elementary schools, we knew we had to try something different, before he became completely disengaged from learning and school altogether. We have had an amazing experience at Emerson. My son's teacher is creative and funny -- she keeps the material engaging and challenging while presenting it from many different angles to meet different learning styles. The class sizes are small - limited to 20 kids. Students learn a foreign language, have lots of time in computer lab working with an IT instructor, a great hands-on science program where the kids are doing experiments in the lab, a phenomenal music program, and many other kinds of enrichment that you just don't get in public schools. You pay for it, of course, but so far, we have not regretted a single penny. The real payback for us is that our son is happy to go to school again for the first time in two years. That has probably less to do with all the bells and whistles and more to do with making my son and every kid feel that they are understood, recognized, and appreciated as a unique individual, which Emerson seems especially good at.