My child has attended Clon Lara for four years. This has been a very good experience. My son came…read moreto Clon Lara as a 9th grader. At the time he was experiencing a lack of motivation due to the death of a his father. He came into the school with a bit of an attitude about school. Initially, He was not motivated to apply himself. I did not understand the concept of Clon lara when I enrolled him, but after trusting my son and trusting Clon Lara, I am happy to say that he is graduating and has achieved more than I could have dreamed from his public school experience. Clon Lara is a blessing. It took more than the first year for me to truly understand the concept. Seeing the results of a balanced, motivated, confident young man who is working and ready to attend college, is what came out of this student led learning environment.

As a parent, I would not recommend this school…read more My special needs child attended for elementary school and they promised me a specialized program. In fact, they used it as a selling point. I did not get a special program, nor did other parents who were also promised the same. Some of those parents, were even asked for more tuition money once the school year started to "accommodate" their child. They nickle and dime you for every little thing and, unfortunately, you don't see the return on the money you are paying. Many updates/upkeep to the school have been through donations of time and money by parental volunteers. It appears, with low class sizes this school struggles to pay staff and maintain the building leaving no additional funds for necessary supplies and the professionals services which many of these children obviously need. The authoritarian way the school is ran ensures things are kept quiet. If you do speak up, prepare to have your child pay the price. It happens.

I can't speak to the quality of this center now, but I was someone that used to go to gretchen's…read morehouse after school as a child. Granted its been more than 20 years since then, but I am still dealing with the trauma of being at this daycare. Even back then this place was very expensive, and my immigrant parents worked hard to be able to send me here. Despite the fact that it was the "best" it was one of the most racially intolerant places I have ever experienced. The staff treated me like I was untouchable. They constantly isolated me from all the white kids, blamed me for things I didn't do, refused to feed me, and allowed other kids to discriminate against me. If this kind of treatment were going on today this place would be cancelled so fast. Will my parents ever get the money back from this place, no. And I continue to have to deal with the racial trauma I received as a little brown girl. Hope things have changed at this place and other people of color haven't had to experience this.

Gretchen's House is a fantastic day care. We had our first son there for two years. They do…read morestimulating play beginning even with very young infants (including finger painting with feet, playing with sand, and, when older, playing with edible art materials. Also, the individualized care is striking. Each day, your infant or toddler comes home with a personalized note about his or her strengths, funny things he or she did or said, and an emphasis on his or her individual personality, not just about what the group did. The drawback to Gretchen's House is that it is very expensive. Unfortunately, too, the next step down in daycare in Ann Arbor is severe. Now that we have two children, we've had to enroll them elsewhere and the quality is impressively worse. If Gretchen's House weren't so completely unaffordable for us, we'd be back in a heartbeat.

Summers-Knoll is an amazing school focused on progressive education. The small teacher and faculty…read moreto student ratio (around 8:1 I think) enables SK to provide both my children with highly individualized learning experiences which the love. My daughter is entering 3rd grade and has been there since kindergarten and my son will be starting kindergarten this fall. My daughter has been counting down the days for summer to be over and school to "finally" start up again. I really like that during the school year, the kids are not bogged down with unnecessary piles of meaningless homework. Kids are encouraged to be kids. It's exactly the learning environment every child should have.

Summers-Knoll is a really outstanding independent school for gifted kids. It's presently K-5, which…read moreis why the old middle school location pops up in Yelp as closed. SK emphasizes small class sizes and learning through service, with lots of activities out in the community. A substantial fraction of the children receive scholarship support and the student population is very diverse. If you think your child would benefit from the sort of individualized attention offered here, you really should give them a call, regardless of your income. Their URL is missing from the profile. It's http://summers-knoll.org/ (an update: SK is re-establishing its middle school starting with the fall 2011 semester and plans to be moving into a new larger building nearby in the winter term - both signs of health and growth for this outstanding Ann Arbor institution!)

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.

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.

ELC is Ann Arbor's best kept preschool secret. The teachers have hearts of gold and really love…read morethe kids. They create such a great environment for socializing and learning for the kids and do a great job caring for safety as well. I was nervous about taking my kids to preschool at first, but this program has become dearly loved by my children and I. We have also had a number of different teachers there and all have been incredible, speaking to an excellent leadership and administrative culture in the school.

We are in love with this place!! The teachers are amazing and do a great job with the kids. They…read moreare endlessly patient. I love picking my child up and hearing a little bit about what has happened during the day. They are dedicated to spending time outside. Something really important to me, that ELC does really well, is the way they model language in the class. My daughter wears hearing aids and her speech has improved while there due to them, speech therapy, etc. Every week they send out the theme of their activities and songs they're singing, which is also very helpful.

Wonderful learning environment, students work well together, staff is very accommodating & enjoy…read moretheir positions.