We are very pleasantly surprised and happy with country Day school…read more The school has been around for a long long time and the building and grounds are in excellent shape The classroom is a traditional older style center pod classroom style building very well supplied in Stockton for the students and kids

There are many considerations and factors to weigh when selecting a pre-school for your child…read more Gainesville Country Day School hits every mark. The teachers challenge each child at their personal academic level, while providing a rigorous yet holistic approach to education. In addition to a sound academic curriculum, the children are exposed to both visual and performing arts, public speaking, a foreign language, physical education, with an emphasis on collaborative and interactive work and play. I actively educated both my children and grandchildren and that leaves me rarely impressed with traditional schools. Having visited and interviewed several schools in the Gainesville as well as the South Florida areas, I find this school genuinely impressive. From the beautiful grounds, the passionate teachers, the insightful administrators to and including the overall culture, you will assuredly provide your child with an exceptional learning experience at Gainesville Country Day School.

I wish I could give Abucus 0 stars. I think it's important to share that I have 4 year degree from…read moreUNC in Early Childhood Development. The owner and 2 year old teacher Miss Pam are not qualified to be watching young children. Also, Miss Pam is elderly and might need to be updated on new teaching strategies for young children. My daughter was in Miss Pam's room for less than 2 weeks and they banned her for not napping during nap time. No warning, no discussion with me, no nothing, just banned her. They lied to me on a daily basis telling me how well my daughter was adapting to her classroom. The teacher in my daughter's classroom & the owner told me multiple times that my daughter was improving daily and getting along well with her "friends" then out of nowhere on a Monday afternoon they banned her! The owner said she doesn't know how to refund my money that I had already prepaid! This place is a joke, it's a scam. They will kick your child out for no reason because there teachers are lazy, have no communication with the parent, and don't even try to come up with other arrangements during nap time. Childcare and parents should have a transparent communication, you just don't kick a child out with no warning, a professional daycare would have at least a meeting on how to fix the problem. Every child's different and deserves at least a chance to adapt to their environment, 2 weeks is not enough time to adapt. They gave up on my child and never gave her a chance to bloom. Also, just out of curiosity, why does the owner Stephanie not reply to any of the negative reviews?

In 2021, I was referred to Abacus by several of my friends who are K-6 teachers and doctors who had…read moresent their children to Abacus. We went on a tour with Ms. Erin, who is a certified teacher and who taught at Abacus for years before becoming the Assistant Director. She presented herself as caring, communicative, involved, and present-- this initial assessment has proven to be true in the years we have known her. When our whole family came down with Covid and RSV three weeks after we enrolled, she checked on us daily which certainly is not a requirement of that job. We also interact with Ms. Stephanie, the Director--note not the owner as stated in a previous review-- frequently. Stephanie has gone the extra mile on several occasions for our family whether it be personally searching for my lost cell phone or checking-in our family after one of our parents died unexpectedly or providing us updates when our daughter was having ear issues. When our oldest was in the 2's, she had Miss Pam. Miss Pam was everything you could ask for and more. She was caring, attentive, and gave me or my spouse a verbal update every day when we picked-up our child in addition to the updates we get in the on-line system throughout the day. Our child was very shy as a pandemic baby who hadn't interacted much. Miss Pam saw this and adjusted her approach to help pull our child out of her shell; she invested time in knowing what was going on outside the classroom (e.g. asking our child how dance was going, how the dogs were, how grandparents were doing). More importantly, our child's experience was so positive there is not only a love to go to "school", but also a love to learn and tell us what new thing the class learned each day. Miss Pam's approach was so good I made the request that our youngest child was also placed in her class. One thing that impresses me about Abacus, is the innovative experiences they generate for the kids and how they include our families. There is a trick-or-treating event where everyone goes with their children to trick-or-treat throughout Haile. Holiday parties. The holiday gifts, mother's and Father's Day gifts that they work tirelessly with children to create are both thoughtful, useful, and you can see how excited the children are to give back to their families. They bring in fire fighters, police officers, dentists, physical fitness leaders, and more to interact with the children. Abacus also has partnerships with Soccer Shots and Independance which allows children to do dance and soccer, so children can do those activities on site rather than having to pick them up and take them after their day ends. In this past year, when my children lost their grandparent- the first death in our family, Abacus teachers and administrators went above and beyond to comfort her when she needed it, update me, and help my 3 year old move through the awful experience of realizing death is part of life. I hadn't intended for this post to be this long, but I will end with I understand that experiences are different. I started my career working-in K-12 and as any parent, like every parent, I take my child's education and day care very seriously. I have referred multiple families with a wide variety of family backgrounds, nationalities, and with both boys and girls. As I've followed-up with them on their experiences, they have also had very positive experience with Abacus.

My grandkids have been going to small world since diaper stages and they are now ages 11 and 16…read more It's bitter sweet that this family that we have grown to know and love, we have out grown. Russell, Mrs Alfreda and Todd are amazing care givers whom care beyond their titles. Even though my grandkids are no longer there, I will absolutely recommend small world as Gainesville Rated #1 Best childcare facilities!

I worked in afterschool at SWDC for nearly 3 years while going to nursing school about 18 years ago…read moreand it was an excellent place to work. I always felt like I was respected (even though I was young), supported, and given the supplies needed to teach the kids. The parents were awesome and til this day, I have a relationship with the now adult kids and their parents because of the environment and bond built within Small World Daycare. My daughter has been a child at the daycare since she was 6 weeks old! If I had to do it over again, I WOULDN'T CHANGE A THING! My daughter was ready from day 1 to start kindergarten. Ms. Heather teaches the kids Spanish, which still today she comes home trying to quiz me‍ and I love how the other teachers get involved in science (collecting bugs, frogs, growing beans), and helping the children with easy to do cooking activities! Speaking firsthand, it's been great for me and my child. No place is perfect, but if there is a problem, the front office staff is always willing to talk to ensure you have an understanding and get to a resolution.

Me and a group of my friends went there last weekend to play paintball to get together, and they…read morewere very helpful. The prices on paint were very good, and they were very helpful. My group needed up staying there until around 1:00 pm, and we went through all of the paint we bought there. The rental equipment they sanitize bc of COVID, and then lay out in the sun all week long. If you are renting on Sunday, they do not use guns rented on Saturday again on Sunday. The only reason my review is not a five star review is because the owner and the workers there were not wearing any sort of face covering, which for me is very important. However despite all of that, I believe that it is a very good place to go paint balling over the other paintball places near Gainesville. You get your money's worth and the refs are extremely nice. Other than the fact that they do not wear face coverings, it is a 10/10 would definitely recommend and would go back there.

What a great time we had! Mom and I had been planning a trip to Do Art for years. Finally we made…read moreit and we had a great time. This is a great place for artists at any level. My mom is a whiz at drawing and painting and I'm below a novice. Two year olds draw better than I do. There was a lot of pre-made ceramics to choose from; which was a lot of fun to browse through before settling on the right piece. The staff were really helpful. They explained different techniques - 3 coats of paint will give you a more solid color, don't paint light over dark - to help us get started. Our table was well grounded, not wobbly. This is important when you are painting delicate fine lines on your piece. The paint brushes were well used which could make it hard to paint the more delicate things. Lots of paint colors and ceramic pieces to choose from. The pricewas $9 lab fee that includes the cost of paint, firing, brushes, pencils and other goodies. Then you purchase ceramic you are painting. Prices for ceramic pieces cover a wide range. My small candy dish with lid cost $11.50 and mom's vase/paint brush holder was $10. But we had unlimited use of the studio and paints. We had our own table. 5 stars for the studio, very clean and people friendly. 5 stars for variety and price. 4 stars for staff. The more mature staff were always available and walking the floor to make sure everybody was helped and having a good time. At the staff change a younger group of staff came in. While friendly it was a bit harder to figure out who was staff and who wasn't when we checked out. I ended up approaching a nice college aged woman to ask her if she worked there. Her purse was on one of the tables and she was totally engrossed in painting a piece. She did work there and we were able to check out. Our pieces will be ready in a week. 3 stars for not having a better system for tracking ready to pick up items, items that have been fired and ready to go home. No labeling system. Just walk in and say I'm picking up a tea cup and the staff says is this it and you say yea or nay. They might have a pefrect system but I did worry about not getting my mom's vase returned. We will see on Friday. Overall it was a wonderful experience and I had a great time hanging out with my mom and watching her work her amazing artistic magic on that vase.

I love Do Art. I have been coming here since I was a little girl in elementary school (I am now in…read moremy third year of college). The old place was really cool because in the summer they had camps where you could make all your pieces and work on the potters wheels. It was a really good outlet for all of my creative energy, and it still is. I came here tonight with one of my girlfriends, and we had a really nice time just being mellow and painting. The ceramics to choose from was a bit lacking-they did not have what I was looking for, but I settled for a medium size box and a large square serving platter. Unlike their old place, they have a ton of paints and I didn't have to fight with people to get the color I wanted (this actually used to be a huge pain because you'd have to go around to every table to see who had the bottle of paint you were looking for), but now they have three bottles of every color available which is great. The studio is clean and I definitely give them props for their music choice- all the songs reminded me of my middle school days listening to Simple Plan and Bowling for Soup; it was almost nostalgic. The only complaint I really have is that the staff is not very friendly. When I first walked in, an older lady sitting at a table peered at me over her glasses and asked what I needed. My friend walked in after me and had a similar experience. That old lady needs to go or change her attitude. The other woman who came in later was super nice, however. All in all, it was a fun experience and I will be back. I hope next time that there will be more choices of ceramics to pick from!

We headed up to Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo this past Saturday. They were having a Party for the…read morePlanet Day. They threw a party for the animals and celebrated Earth Day. There's a lot to see at this little zoo. We saw lemurs, a tree kangaroo, Visayan Pig, squirrel monkeys, gibbons, Caracals, owls, a beautiful bald eagle, Herons, Cranes, Emus, Kookaburras, Gila Monster, tortoises, a Wood Stork and more! Hard to get photos through some of the fences. What a fun time!

Well worth visiting if up in Gainesville for a medical appointment as we were…read more Cleo the caracal was our favorite. Many exhibits with much vacant land awaiting "The Master Plan". Numerous helpful staff who I think are students at the college. Paths are unpaved and leafy, not wheelchair friendly, but fine for walking. Gift shop had minimal adult sized shirts and none featuring caracals. Yellow parrots nice eye candy.