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.

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.

The director and assistant director of this business go above and beyond for their young learners…read moreand their families. Our son attended this school for four years and had so many fun field trip, and educational experiences. He was able to take swim lessons and karate, and always had to best portraits. They think of everything! I would definitely recommend OOAK.

I love taking my kids to one of a kind. the workers do such a great job dealing with my 4 year old…read more And trust me it is hard to take care of him. They are very hard working and caring. He loves going there, he always tells me he wants to go back, sometimes he even cries because he can't go back until the morning.

My daughter loved attending preschool at Kids First. The teachers were amazing with the children.read more

Today the Stepping Stones van hit a vehicle while picking up kids after school. The driver was…read morespeeding in a school zone and after hitting the parked truck, they left the scene, and the director came a few blocks away and loaded eight children into another, personal vehicle. They were not all in seatbelts or appropriate car seats. It seems your children are not safe at Stepping Stones!

My husband and I moved to Lawrence, KS from El Paso, TX with our baby a few years ago. When I was…read moreready to return to work we looked at several places for daycare, but chose Stepping Stones since they cook all the kids healthy meals and snacks in house with quality fresh foods, do a lot of music and art with them, dance, play outside, science, and much much more. It truly is a Learning Center, but it also felt like visiting family whenever we'd pick up or drop off our son. It isn't like the super rigid more expensive day cares that don't allow the kids to be kids. The kids were so happy here! They are so well cared for and our son was always excited to go to school. He learned so many new words and good behaviors and they always communicated any milestones or things we could work on, and gave us the advice we needed. They are also a very clean and safe facility, and they went above and beyond using the Brightwheel app to give us updates about the day, diaper and clothing re-ups, and always called if they had any concerns they thought we should know. I completely trusted them and my family is so thankful they were there when we needed them. We needed to move out of Lawrence for new work and it is the only reason we no longer use their services. We highly recommend Stepping Stones for anyone who needs daycare and will always suggest it to our Lawrence friends.

I sent my daughter here after returning to work when she turned 3. She had only been taken care of…read moreby me up until then, so it was a huge adjustment and the staff at Googols did an exemplary job of helping her and I adjust (it was tough for me, too! ). Now she loves going to school! And we've seen amazing leaps in her development, specifically in toilet training, adventurous eating, and the ability to entertain herself instead of relying on mom and dad to provide entertainment. She's so interested in everything around her now and she's always singing new songs she learns at school. Everyone in our family has experienced an enormous mood boost now that we all have work/school during the day! We love the care that the teachers here provide. They even fix her hair when it becomes unruly. Can't recommend Googols enough.

Our family loves Googols!! I have 3 boys that all currently attend Googols and we are so happy with…read morethe care each of them receives. The boys love going to school and are always excited to see their friends and teachers. My twins will be starting in Kindergarten in the fall, and I feel very confident they are ready and prepared for this next step because of Googols. The staff is always friendly and responsive and I really appreciate the structured curriculum combined with free time and play. I can't say enough good things about their services and would highly recommend them!

We went to the information night. Only then did we find out that if you have a child in the T/R…read moreclass they will have theater only and miss out on music, art and CHAPEL! what? The teacher had absolutely no answers except when I asked how would the child be in the Christmas program if they don't have music she said," um, maybe he won't. I'm not sure. Maybe you could ask the director." The director said the music teacher would come around and teach them some songs they already know and send everything home for us to teach them." It seemed as if changes in the schedule and or teachers had been made that morning, the teachers on the website/playground are not the teachers you actually get. It felt very last minute and not at all what we were told. We pulled him that night. I hope they get it together.

FPC First 5 Years Preschool is an amazing place! My three boys have all attended FPC and our whole…read morefamily has loved being apart of the school family! The teachers and staff at are warm, welcoming and creative. Chapel, art, music and drama enrich traditional classroom learning. The curriculum has the right amount of structure and fun for ages 1 to pre-K. My two older boys are in elementary school now and were both well-prepared for the social and academic requirements to enter school ready to learn and do well. I know a big part of that was due to their time at FPC! My youngest is there now and I am already sad for the day he finishes preschool!!

Mr. Jim is amazing with the kids. My grandaughter (5yrs old) has been going to Immel Academy for…read morealmost 2 years and has progressed so much because of the structure, instruction and love Jim and his group of helpers have provided. I Highly recommend Immel Academy if you are looking for a safe, educational and loving place to take your kids while you go to work. 100% peace of mind included.

From the owner: Immel Early Education Academy Inc is state licensed. With over 22 years experience and a Kansas…read morecertified teacher on hand, your child is in the best place possible for a safe and welcoming educational experience. We focus on getting children ready for kindergarten with our full time and part time student curriculum.

What a lovely place! I recently took a bead making class here and it was thoroughly enjoyable from…read morestart to finish. It was difficult picking just one class because there were so many of them I wanted to take. Lawrence Arts Center has so much to offer all age groups. My class was a human hodge podge of ages and experience. The building is stunning. You are immediately taken in by the color collections and the great use of space and light of this building. Everywhere you look there is alluring and interesting artwork. Even the elevator interior is adorned with colorful sunflower art. This is a happy place, a very happy place. The classrooms are spacious and light. They have all sorts of cool equipment for the students to create their artwork. The instructors are all very knowledgeable and experienced in their craft. I was very impressed with the accommodations provided. There is ample parking and a parking garage is located across the street. There is no issue with access. All in all this is a terrific asset to the city. If you have some time on your hands and find yourself downtown, this is the place to be!

I'm not a particularly artistic person, but we stopped in here on our trip to Lawrence. I was very…read moreimpressed with the building, sleek and clean. I was also impressed by the sheer number of programs they boast here from theater and singing, metal working, pressing, painting, sculpture, etc. Many of these can be seen on display in the galleries about the building. They also have early school and learning centers attached. It makes for a very cool place for the arts crowd to gather.