Amazing place in the middle of Jacksonville. The original nature and conservation school. I would recommend this to anyone interested in getting their kids away from the blue screen. read more

Saying Thank you to the staff and Manager Lia at Happy Acres Ranch wouldn't suffice! I really wanted the most authentic country setting for my reception the team at Happy Acres Ranch took my dream and made it a REALITY! From the beautifully decorated outdoor venue to the beautiful horse entrance HAR made my husband's and I reception a magical event starring us. read more

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Love this daycare! My kids have a blast and are so exhausted when I pick them up. (Win win in mommy's eyes!) They are excited to go back the next day. They love all of their teachers/camp councilors which as a mother, you always worry about. While we are about to move and I start looking for a new daycare, I'm most sad that my kids will miss out on everything HAR has to offer. Wilderness walks, swimming, all of the animal interactions (horses, pigs, goats, chickens, rabbits, and of course the kitties) as well as all of the other fun activities the kids get to participate in. We will miss HAR! read more

Happy Acres Ranch - Dress up - Child Care & Day Care Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

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A hidden gem in the middle of Jacksonville.. This place has a great facility and a convenient location for what it offers. It has a barn with very friendly Goats, Rabbits, Horses and Turkeys that will put a smile on your face. If you're looking to give your kid a true outdoor experience, I highly recommend one of there seasonal camps. They're immersive way of connecting to your kids can't be found anywhere else. read more

Happy Acres Ranch - Kayaking in Lake Fredith At Happy Acres Ranch - Child Care & Day Care Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

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I enrolled 2 kids in their summer camp program for week #3 and week #8 for $200 per child per week. After the first week we did not want to go back for multiple reasons; safety, communication, false advertising and customer service. During the first week both of my children sustained injuries and neither parent was notified in any way by staff. 1 was scratched on the face by a cat and the other was hit in the head (thankfully a minor injury) with a heavy plastic bocce-style ball. Both said they were crying and were attended to by employees and the counselors stopped allowing children to interact with the cats and whatever game involving the ball was deemed too unsafe to be played anymore. When staff were emailed to ask what activities the children were doing during their time there, they could not tell me and said "good question." They later told me all kids swim, and then admitted 1 of my kids did not swim because the counselor took them to the playground instead. My other child swam on some days. Neither of the children swam in the advertised lake. The website advertises a child care facility, which I cannot find an active license for child care on DCF licensing site, which is the state agency for licensing child care providers. I can, however, find the licenses for other child care facilities. It also advertises organized activities, swimming in a pool and lake, and animal interactions, all which are supposed to occur daily. For 5 days, 1 of my children did not see any animals, with the exception of the free roaming cats that were then no longer allowed to interact with. My other child saw some small animals (not all that are at the facility) after I asked 2 days in a row, but did not interact with all of the ones that were seen. The website also states parents/guardians will be notified of all injuries via email. After this experience a refund was requested for the second scheduled week, which was more than a month in the future. Their response was to say no refunds because it says so in the handbook. It is required to pay in full before a child's place will be secured, according to the business this is because the spots fill to capacity and there is a waitlist. After I complained I received a phone call from the owner, who after discussing the issues agreed to send me a refund. I waited 2 weeks and received nothing. I again reached out to the business and received a second phone call from the owner. I discussed the entire experience and complaint with him again. This time he said he would not be sending me a refund after spending money on a business expense he no longer had the money. When I asked him if he was ever going to send me the agreed refund, he said he couldn't. Needless to say I was disappointed and shocked it was a business practice to take customers' money in-full, promise a refund after failing to provide the service/experience advertised, failing to keep children safe during their time there, and then to decide to spend the money on something else. The fact I was never notified in any way that there would be a delay or problem with issuing the refund tells me there was never an intent to give a refund. Based on all of this, I sent a formal complaint to the Better Business Bureau, Attorney General's Office and DCF. The BBB sent a request for response to Happy Acres Ranch regarding my complaint and did not receive a response after 3 weeks. None of those agencies provide, or offer to, assist with obtaining a refund or other assistance with getting kind of legal restitution. It is listed on their sites that they will only review the information provided for ethics/illegal practices. I am aware my refund is not coming and do not have any legal cases against this business. However, I do believe others should be aware of the kind of facility they are enrolling their kids in and kind of business practices at the facility. If I could I'd give 0 stars because that was my experience with them. Needless to say I'm not using our real names. read more

We love Happy Acres! My kids go to summer camp all summer long and have the best time. They are outside all day and come home happy and exhausted! They get to fish, zip line, archery and swim! It's a wonderful place! This is our third summer over there and looking forward to many more ! read more

Great place! Great daycare and camp. Has horses, and other animals fun time for the entire family!

Worst summer camp on the planet. DO NOT take your kids here for the summer. You will most definitely regret it. My son had the worst experience at this camp. read more

Happy Acres is being run in a corrupt manner. On Friday 7/29/22 we were warned that there may not be any staff available for the preschool side of HAR. Naturally, this concerned us. We inquired as to why, and listened to claims of unfair, rude, and outright despicable treatment of their teachers and staff in the preschool AND the camp. We attempted to get a balanced view on things by asking HAR to explain themselves but they refused to give any answers, even going so far as to delete comments by my wife and others. We asked those questions because we were concerned about HAR's ability to continue providing childcare for our son. Instead, we were met with silence. I went in Monday 8/1 at 7:30am to try to get the answers we were looking for. I found the entire property to be eerily quiet. Two kids in the preschool area were seen playing. Normally it had been 20+ kids. The camp side? Completely quiet. I got answers finally and went home to speak to my wife about it. We decided to continue sending our son for the remaining two weeks before he transitions to the elementary school our other kids attend. However, when I returned at 8:30am with my son to drop him off, I was met by a computer that wouldn't let me log him in due to "no email on file to process payments", and then met by Kanye and a police officer who stated she felt like they weren't safe to watch our son due to my wife's comments on Facebook (remember, just trying to find out what the hell happened and if we should be concerned about continued childcare) and as a result, they were immediately unenrolling my son from their program. Their lack of professionalism to even so much as give me a call and inform me of that decision before I drove all the way there is atrocious. Furthermore, HAR's attempts to whitewash their entire business page on Facebook to make it look like they're not doing anything wrong is despicable. CLEARLY, if you have a mass exodus all at once of multiple staff members and teachers, something is very, very wrong. Parents, be warned, this place is not what it seems. I can only hope HAR straightens their crap out, because the only people they're hurting are the kids who enjoyed attending, and the parents who were forced to make sudden alternative arrangements because of HAR's shady practices. I don't like leaving reviews like this, but this is one of those rare times when it's absolutely necessary to hold people accountable for their actions. read more

I sent my child here for summer camp for two summers due to the reputation that had been built by the original owner. The first year I was less than impressed with communication from the center when issues arose. I was hesitant this year to send my child back, but my they love horses and horseback riding, so I decided to try them out over spring break. Spring break was fine and there were no issues, so I decided to give summer camp another go. HUGE MISTAKE. The summer camp enrollment paperwork has add-ons for various lessons and you choose the days you want your child to participate and pay extra for them. My child was signed up for two of these add-ons each week. The first week of camp they didn't get either lesson and the counselors couldn't answer my child's questions as to why. Getting anyone at the center to reply to emails is futile. I left phone messages for Kanye who eventually called me back. She made things right for that instance, but things continued to go wrong through the summer. The archery lessons only happened maybe three times out of ten. They didn't even have the arrows (according to my child) at the beginning of camp to conduct the lessons. A few weeks before camp was to end, my child once again stopped getting her lessons and was told they don't have enough counselors anymore. I knew that most of the counselors were from overseas through a program with Camp America, so I was a bit taken aback that they no longer had them. When I sent a text to the person in charge of camp, I was told that the lessons would pick back up and that my child should never have been told that. When I asked about the counselor shortage, I was told that they were let go because they had attitudes. Fast forward two weeks later....that's when all of the preschool teachers and staff walked out. That evening the rumors were flying and HAR's reply was that everything the employees who left had to say was essentially "fake news." The Camp America counselors shared stories and photos of the living conditions that they were subjected to at camp. It was unbelievable. Their shower was made of plywood and obviously moldy, amongst other things. HAR never offered any explanation and only said to some parents that they were hiring employees through a temp agency to cover for the next week. I again sent a text to the lady in charge of camp and expressed my concerns. She OFFERED me a refund for the remainder of camp. When I pursued my refund the following week, my emails were ignored until the certified letters I sent to the camp with screenshots of the text conversation arrived. Then I received an email from their accountant saying that they will refund me, but I will be permanently banned from enrolling my child there, even though their employee OFFERED me the refund. Needless to say, I accepted the refund. The lack of communication with parents and the living conditions they provide to the counselors who live on site is absolutely bottom of the barrel. It's truly sad because this could be a wonderful place for children and the third generation of the family has just let it slip into squalor. For preschool families looking at HAR, do not trust their about us website page. They claim to be a Gold Star facility as rated by DCF and that rating is no longer on their profile on the DCF inspections page. I saw that on their site and trusted it and didn't investigate further. You can take a look at their inspections for yourself at the DCF daycare inspections website. Wish I had. read more

nice and clean! very good service. We were taken to our site and everything was great

Family Owned since 1953. Under new director this gorgeous 10 acre oasis has flourished! Swimming, fishing, horses, gardening. A paradise!

my son absolutely loves the summer camp! he never even complained about these horrible hot days - he had too much fun to worry about the heat! love getting him away from screens and devices !! this place is awesome! hidden gem ! read more

BEWARE - I cannot get ahold of anyone to refund the overpaid money for services not rendered when the staff walked out leaving us parents no time to get our kids into other daycares. It have been over a month now and I spoke to the former director that advised teachers have not been paid for their wages either. They also have overcharged other parents and made the news as these fraud allegations are not to be taken lightly. read more

This place kicked my child out of daycare in October during COVID, knowing that it was an extremely difficult times for everyone and especially frontline healthcare employees like myself. Only giving us 3 days to find another place. They claimed that my 4 years old son was too rambunctious for them to watch. They said he ran off too often, but I believe they kicked him out due to discrimination because he's half Asian. They would let him go home all filthy and dirty most days without any effort or attempt to clean him. On top of all else, they refused to refund us our money for the month after because we paid in advance. Your child may be happy here if he/she is not Asian. read more

I don't like to post negativity but from what happened over the last two weeks has not been okay. My child has been sent home twice and as of yesterday kicked out. He constantly is coming home with bruises and I ask him what happened or why he gets into little fights and he tells me kids are making fun of him and teachers are yanking on him. He also told me he didn't want to go there anymore and he loves school so I find that very strange and I also told staff I was working on getting him some help and they said they would help and less then a week they kick him out and didn't give me a chance. And I was told the owner comes down from her office about once a month to check on everyone and from what my child says is she yanked on his arm multiple times so he hit her no it's not right that he hit her but also why was she yanking on him when the staff knows I'm working on getting him help for the things he doesn't like. Also when I went to get him yesterday the owner this happened with wasn't even there to speak to me she made her office staff be the bad guys then they say they will call me later in the day and I have heard nothing. I'm just not understanding why they said they would help me get him help and less then a week give up on him that's unfair in many way. read more

Best daycare I have been able to find for my son. We tried four different ones before finding HAR, and this is a hidden gem! Everyone is so amazing with our child. read more

First off, before you can even enroll your child into the program, you have to take a tour of the facility. The tour only runs Tuesdays and Thursdays during work hours. The bigger issue is the inadequate privacy for the children to change into swimsuits. There are only a few stalls with locking doors, so the majority of the girls must get naked in front of each other to change. As you can imagine, there are a lot of anxieties, insecurities, and body shaming going on. I asked about the privacy of the changing area during the tour and was lied to. Don't be like me and take their word for it. Actually check it out yourself while you're there. Then there is the absolute disorganized mess in the office. Many parents, including myself, have had nothing but issues checking in/out our kids. The system is always saying entry denied and the office says it is because of the system acting up or files needing to be updated. They can't even find my child in the system because they haven't updated it with my daughter's paperwork. Today is the middle of week 5 and they STILL haven't fixed anything or input all the information. I submitted everything required in emails and had the tour guide double check everything was recieved by them during my tour, to which she said it was. But yet, every single day since, I have had issues and I'm told they don't have some form. To the point I have now resubmitted paperwork for a second time. IF you're able to sign out your child, the office still has to call for your kid. They will literally sit there and ignore you and not call for them. You have to speak up. The director is never there and never answers the phone. You cannot leave a voice mail because there is no mailbox, and no one ever calls back. There never seems to be anyone in charge there at all. Its mainly a bunch of high school/early 20s kids running the place. There is disorganization, lack of communication, and dishonesty going on at Happy Acres Ranch. read more

The management is absolutely awful they do nothing to support their staff. They are constantly gone on vacation and leave the staff to fend for themselves. They have an extensive list of dcf violations and then when it's time for the reassessment they fail for the same reason or another. They have undertrained staff with the kids without proper certifications and then throw them under the bus when dcf shows up. It's managements job to properly train the staff and guide them. The whole building is out of code when it comes to electric and plumbing. They just cover it all up because they don't want to shut down long enough to do proper repairs. The ac constantly goes out, so the kids and staff suffer same with only have small space heaters that trip the breakers, so they freeze. But the owner/management doesn't care as long as they are fine upstairs. Kids don't get proper water outdoors because there is mold in the water fountains. If your kid misbehaves, they will lock them in the girl's bathroom off the lunchroom in the small dark wooden dressing area. Preschool side they will lock little kids outside on the back hallway, so they don't have to deal with them. Please if you have special needs babies DO NOT SEND THEM THERE!!!! They will be mistreated. There was a young girl with down syndrome that they used to lock outside because they could not tolerate and did not understand how to take care of her. They are not trained and do not try to do so. The management encourages and themselves are very much bullies to these beautiful kids who their parents have trusted their lives with us. The number of times that dcf has been called by parents and even staff and nothing has been done it's sickening. read more

The staff here are garbage. They overcharge and over bill for summer camps when your child is not even attending. They go for weeks without allowing any communication or contact. Would never recommend this place to anybody read more

I was searching for care for the upcoming school year for my 2 year old son and Happy Acres was recommended to me many times so I decided to check it out. Kanye gave us a wonderful tour and showed us all the animals, awesome playgrounds and outdoor activities. We thought it was the perfect fit for a 2 year old boy so we enrolled him right away. We fell in love with my son's first teacher, Miss Cassie. She was sweet and firm and although Grayson cried at drop off (typical of kids this age in a new place) when I picked him up he was happy and calm. Flash forward to two weeks later when they start to transition him into the 2 year old room. That's really when everything changed for us. My son would cling to me at drop off, absolutely terrified and when I picked him up in the afternoons, he would literally push me out of the gate to leave. He has an older sister and she would try to play on the playground equipment and he would become absolutely hysterical and was adamant that we get out of there. Obviously this concerned me so I asked the teacher about it. She would explain to me that two of the boys were "special" and didn't listen and would run around the room misbehaving all day. I would ask about my son's specific behavior and but she would go on and on about these boys. As a special education teacher, this really disturbed me. She would tell me constantly that they needed help and one was being evaluated. I know she was probably frustrated but you just don't talk about things like that with someone else's parent! A few times she would tell me that my son was a bad boy or wasn't listening and whenever I asked for ideas of what we could work on at home she would revert back to conversation about the other boys in her room and say, "oh he's just following everything they do! They need help." I talked to my husband about my concerns and he thought that we needed to stick it out because he felt like my son was still adjusting having only been at Happy Acres for 5 weeks. So, we attempted to let him adjust. My son started saying things like "no happy acres" and "no (teacher's name)...scary!" I would ask him why she was scary and he would say, "she loud, she scream." He continued to cry everyday at drop off and at pick up if I lingered to talk with his teacher. I almost always lingered because I wanted him to be comfortable with her too. At about 7 weeks we decided to start looking for other centers and we disenrolled him exactly 9 weeks. Flash forward to 5 weeks later and my son is completely thriving at his new center. He never cries at drop off and at pick up he is playing with his friends or engaged in age appropriate activities...happily. He allows his sister and I to stay and play/talk with his teachers and he talks about them constantly! He absolutely adores his teachers and reminds me everyday that I need to buy them a Christmas present. So in summary, I wanted to point out a few additional details that parents of younger kids may not know. 1) Almost all of the recommendations for happy acres were from parents of older children utilizing the summer camp...which I think is probably fantastic for the older kids given a the activities they have access to... 2) In the morning, you drop your little one off on the massive playground and they run free with no structure. To a big kid...this is awesome...to a little guy, this is terrifying. Almost like mommy is leaving you at a park. 3) The front office staff is young and rude. Constantly rolling their eyes and gossiping about other employees. Often times they wouldn't even acknowledge you when you walked in to get your child. 4) There is no consistency. My son's teacher was constantly absent and he was with different teachers. This is hard on a kid who is trying to adjust to a new place. One morning a woman in flip flops took my son and literally told me, "I have no clue what I'm doing!" I must have looked at her funny because she said, "oh no! I work here, I've just never been in here." I stood there until another teacher I recognized walked in to assist her. 5) There is no communication. They promise daily pictures on their Facebook page but the girl in charge of posting (also the girl that works the front desk) mostly only posted pictures of her mothers class. There is no daily sheet to summarize nap times, lunch, activities, etc. When asked about these things his teacher would somehow always say, "I don't know I wasn't in there at that time". 6) Activities mostly consist of unstructured activities... In not surprised the teacher was having issues with behavior in her class because what do you expect from kids who have no consistency and structure?? I really wanted to love Happy Acres, I really did. The concept is great and I loved all the outdoor centers but my son never got to use any of that stuff...I would not recommend this school for preschool aged children. Your kids would get a better "school" experience elsewhere. read more

Happy Acres have been the most amazing place that I could ever pick for my daughters to attend for Preschool they love it!! Specially they love horseback riding and the barn. They have come such a long way in the learning aspect their teachers are always updating me and my wife with pictures and always telling us what they are learning everyday in their app . Every time i drop them off or pick up the staff is super polite It feels great to know that my kids are is great hands. Ms.Deja and Ms. Frances are great! read more

We love Happy Acres. They understand that kids need to be allowed to be kids. They spend as much time out on their huge property playing and exploring. Where else can your child swim and ride horses? We've done daycare, we are loving VPK now, and we will do after school and Summer camp when the time comes. This place is a gem and they really care about the children. Can't say enough nice things! read more

My only regret is that we didn't start our kids at Happy Acres sooner. They fish, play in the barn, help with the horses, play games, in the summer they swim; all the things a kid should be doing. read more

I would love my 3 year old to start here. Got aplroved with the ELC at a rate of $4 a day. Happy Acres charges 19 a day, the state is picking up $15 of that amount daily to help with my low income. I went to enroll her and get the $50 fee paid so it can be assured her starting in August... Its important for her to be in an early learning. They went on to inform me my weekly rate would be $105 with the descounts. Really!!?? I was approved by state to pay $20 a week. Thatss all I can afford. Its like they turned me down due to the state funding.... And felt very rascist towards. Hope I can get it sorted out because I know what my official papers play. Turn down a childs learning for what!?!?!?? Wish I knew what normal people got charged weekly?? read more

Both of my daughters attended the summer camp this summer (ages 9 & 5). They have really enjoyed their time there. They tell me they get to do archery and ride the horses, explore the woods, go swimming in the lake and pool, and they play lots of games everyday. Every Friday they have an award ceremony, and my kids have gotten an award almost each time. My kids can't keep secrets, so anything bad happening or something they don't feel comfortable with, they tell me and it's been nothing but good things everyday. I make a point to ask them what they've done all day and what they've eaten. They get a healthy breakfast and lunch, plus you can get a sweet snack from the 'store' they have, that parents pay for each week ($5 a week per child, 0.50 for each item, they can get store twice a day). It's hot here in FL, so they urge parents to pack the kids a water bottle that they can refill as many times as needed and to pack them sunblock and bug spray. In my opinion, as long as you pack your child what they need, they shouldn't be suffering. I haven't had any issues with the counselors. My ONLY concern is that when I went to pick up my 5 year old, she was in the pre-school area at that time, they had just gotten back from swimming, and other 5 year old boys were changing back into their clothes in the same room as the girls. read more

I could not be more happy with a summer camp. My 7 yr old son absolutely loved the camp and all of the activities they had to offer. I asked him what his favorite activity was and he named almost all of them. He came home dirty and tired each day. I would have a drink and snack waiting for him in the car because he would fall asleep on our 25 min ride home. I love that he was tired from being outside in nature and having fun. He doesn't spend enough time outside during the school year. The staff was knowledgeable. Anytime I had a question they had an answer right away and accommodated me on anything I needed. I have told so many of my friends about this place and the ones that have signed up loves it as much as we do. I am so happy that there is an outdoor camp like this one that my sons loves to be at. read more

A few years ago, my son stayed at their weekly summer camp for about 3 summers, he was coming home each day unhappy. Heat was unbearable at times. When there was a bad lightning storm, the only cover was a open wooden canopy that offered little to no protection from the storm. There is a pool and a "lake". The "Lake" is merely a runoff of rain from the property. The staff almost never took the kids to the pool. When it rains heavy, the kids have to wade through water runoff on the property that is approximately ankle deep. My daughter who worked there witnessed one of the horse trainers bringing the horses down to the lake on the weekend or after hours to cool off and the horse poops right where the kids swim and does not clean it up. The staff rarely brings the kids to the pool, my son refused to get in the so-called "lake" so he sat out in the heat. My daughter stopped working there and called the place disgusting. The staff uses cutesy nicknames so the kids would easily remember. The problem was when I asked the staffer what her name was, she replied "Red". I did not want or care about a nickname, as a paying parent, I wanted a real name. The staff also has a policy that they can search any child's book bag for banned items but my son had a book in there from when he was in school and he forgot about. Instead of confronting the adult, they chose to display his property in a bin where it was free for the taking. This place has gotten lost in their own senseless rules that any normal company would have the ability to uphold. I have recommended anyone not to sign up for this camp as it has been a horrible experience for my son and our family friend. I later found out that my son faked being sick the last couple of weeks he was with me just so he did not have to go back. We had a family friend that started the same time and that friend quickly withdrew his son from this nonsense. read more

This place is amazing. My niece loves it and her teachers are wonderful. She is 14 months old so she is in the Apple Blossoms class room. She is speaking more clearly and has added a few words to her vocabulary. I am at peace during the day because I know she is well cared for. Thank you Happy Acres. read more