My son attended public school from Kindergarten through 6th grade. He had a few wonderful…read moreteachers, but for the most part, his educational experience was far from inspiring. What pushed me to look into the Waldorf School was my issue with young male video game culture that seems pervasive in main stream culture thus a part of public school. I felt as if I was swimming upstream for years while I resisted letting it take up residence in our household, and then I finally conceded when my son was in 5th grade. A neighbor gave him a secondhand x-box that was her grandson's. As a gesture of graciousness and with an attitude of experimentation, I opened myself to the experience for a year, before I couldn't stand watching the effects anymore. I had enough of watching my formerly contented son turn into a restless, ill-contented drone. I had enough of watching and listening to the violence as my son obliterated the "Russians" and "North Koreans"; I wanted something more for him. I wanted him to feel alive in school and out of school, meanwhile I so sadly was beginning to watch him lose every ounce of enthusiasm for both his public school life and for his interests outside of playing video games. I was determined to find an environment for my son to go through puberty that was grounded, kind and nurturing. I found exactly what I was looking for at the Ashwood Waldorf School. My son leaves school literally beaming, smiling from ear to ear and full of stories of his day. He is finally in an environment that engages not just his mind but nourishes his spirit. Here are three reasons why I believe my son has come alive in this environment. The Ashwood Waldorf School honors traditional academics (such as memorization and recitation, which was non-existent in my son's public school experience). Integrated sensory learning activities are incorporated with each main lesson block: e.g. they have to do research and write a report, copy it with a fountain pen onto "main lesson" paper, create an art project, and do an oral report for each topic studied. Secondly, he is in an environment that also values physical beauty from the landscaped school grounds, hand work, carpentry, music and art classes, to the beautiful chalk board art in each classroom. This element and value placed on beauty seems to really nurture kindness and curiosity in the students and faculty. This value was something I would not have thought of to look for as a perspective parent but has been a wonderful surprise to me. And lastly, the class teachers, as a part of Waldorf education, insist on the daily fundamental exercise of practicing respect between each student and their teacher. They do this by implementing something so simple: a greeting that consists of a handshake between the teacher and each student, mutually looking into one another's eyes and saying one another's names as they say good morning as the student enters the classroom first thing and say good bye as the student departs at the end of their day. Wow, what a difference, just these three educational experiences have made in my son's growth into a young man. I feel as if the Ashwood Waldorf School offers an opportunity and an environment for both young men and women in middle school and junior high to mature in an environment that allows them to be themselves. My son is in eighth grade; the kids are just, not, pre-occupied with name brands, tech gadgets, or peer pressure to be anything they are not. It is so promising and cool to see healthy middle school kids. I have a happy 13 year old son that is engaged and enjoys going to school and enjoys the adults in his life! You just can't ask for anything more at this age. I also have to note that I would not have been able to afford a Waldorf education in many other parts of the country. Ashwood's tuition is roughly half of what most Waldorf urban schools cost. I thought I moved here for family and work, but what I'm getting is so much more than that. Perhaps we actually moved here so I could get my son back, and so he could come home to himself again through the gifts found at Ashwood.

We are thrilled with Ashwood Waldorf School. Our daughter is thriving there--academically,…read moresocially, and creatively. The kids are respectful and intelligent, and the staff is second to none. And most importantly, our daughter loves it. She looks forward to going to school every day.

I've been here twice with my brother and his friends, as he is a member. So you gotta he someone…read moreor know someone who is a member here. The two times I've been it wasn't too busy so it was nice. They have some pool tables here and a touch tunes for music. They have a big event hall upstairs. Had a dance for high school here and a friends wedding reception too.

I attended Hyde in the 1990s. I was not a troubled teen, just a kid with self-esteem issues and…read morechildhood trauma. We were told it was a therapeutic program that would help build confidence. That turned out to be a bait and switch. After a summer challenge, I entered the school year expecting support. Instead, I found a brutal, one-size-fits-all system where questioning authority meant punishment. There was nothing personalized or healing about it. You either got in line or were labeled broken. The kids who conformed quickly were rewarded and are still, decades later, defending the place like it's a cult. The school's marketing included slogans about "character," "truth," and "brother's keeper," but it's all surface. The truth is that Hyde used emotional control and public shaming to keep students in line. And they called it growth. I've connected with others from my class through the recent lawsuit. We were all told we were the problem. Turns out the problem was Hyde. If you're a parent, look past the marketing. Ask why so many former students are speaking out. Notice that there are (at the time I've writing this) in addition to all the negative reviews Yelp is showing you, there are also 36 one-star reviews that are hidden because they're "not recommended," and something like 40 more one-star reviews removed because someone flagged them as being 'in violation of Yelp policy'. Long story medium, the overwhelming majority of reviewers here are warning you: do not send your kids to Hyde.

My parents sent me here over 15 years ago, and while I've gone on to build a successful career in…read morethe IT field within the government sector, I can say with complete honesty that none of that success came from this school. To me, this place felt more like a cult than an educational institution. In my experience, it was an abusive program. I still remember being harshly punished simply because I didn't report another student--someone I didn't even know--for having cigarettes. Even as a teenager, I knew it wasn't my place to police other students, but I was still placed on what they called "2-4." That meant being woken up at dawn and forced to run and work out until I threw up. At one point, they even made me use a sickle to cut grass that nobody would ever use--completely senseless. To top it off, they had us perform staged "presentations" for parents to make it look like the school was helping us. It was manipulative and deeply unsettling. If you truly care about your children, do not send them here.

If I could give zero stars I would, I have been to this school for three years and it was…read moreabsolutely miserable. Prepare yourselves for a very unorganized list of my grievances. First of all, the schools staff does NOTHING if you report being physically, verbally, or sexually harassed or assaulted. I had reported all three and the biggest result I saw was the kids getting told to "stop because it is not nice", you heard it here folks, threatening to rape someone isn't nice. The staff at this school are all for the most part racist, homophobic, or in general very judgmental and make assumptions before even interacting with you. The staff also fully ignore your 504 or IEP accommodations, or despite being in a roll where they were supposed to be made aware of the said accommodations are not told. I have had a teacher tell my class(along the lines of) "You all don't put in effort, none of you will be able to get into college like this", which I find pretty cruel to say to a bunch of kids??? I've had a staff member make me clean up broken glass on the ground that I wasn't involved in breaking, I had happened to be in the room(across from the class when it broke) and was left in during motor break trying to clean it up with no supplies, so of course I got cut, and then I got in trouble for not going out to motor break when I was told to clean up glass. My last problem with the staff is, the social worker, Ms. Wood, is AWFUL(respectfully), she tries to blame your parents and won't do what she says she will do, she caused more harm to me then any good. Moving away from the staff, the school itself is in awful condition, we have little to no AC, the sinks and toilets regularly just stop working and will be left inoperable for months on end, not to mention the bathrooms are totally unmonitored, I can't count the amount of times fights have broken out or things have been purposely broken and the staff are unaware, which to me seems like a major safety risk but what do I know. Some classrooms in this school are sinking into the ground, one of which drops a foot suddenly(It is not built to do that for the record). I can count on both hands the amount of times I've heard of rats or mice running into classrooms, which is a health hazard for the record. Finally for the school itself, false fire alarms regularly go off, I have been subjected to the school evacuating around 15 times in the last three years. Moving away from this, the student body of this school are all very rude and caused my mental health to plumet multiple times, and the school is VERY aware and doesn't care, picking to project the popular kids and allowing unpopular or "weird" kids to be harassed daily. Also the school hardly takes the vaping problem seriously, I see kids walking around openly carrying vapes which I find absurd. Overall this school is horrible, do NOT send your child here if you want them to have a good school experience and mental health. I beg of you to homeschool your kids, send them to a different district, anything besides this absolute shitshow of a school. I cannot think of any positives to give this school. The only teacher I liked is Mr. Ellis, give him a raise or something he's chill and doesn't judge you. Ps. This year we had a sub regularly say the N word, old white woman by the way(she got fired because a kid got a recording luckily)

Not a really good school. There's too many scrict rules and plus the review got token down from the…read moreschool so yea now I'm remaking this because I hope ur child doesn't go here even if u are interviewing. Don't work here, anything, etc. If ur kid has an interview here I would wait until he or she is in 9th grade and then have them go to the high school here in brunswick. The high school is 1000 times better then this school thats for sure!

its great. the roof may leak a little but only if it rains but doesn't rain that much in maine. The…read morefood is great, you might get food poisoning but its not that bad afterwards. least the food tasted good, unless its rice the rice is really bad. please get better rice. sports are alright they are little underfunded especially the track being the worst in the state cough cough, at least we have a track I guess. no idea where the money for the school goes not even the clubs are funded. think there might be embezzlement but overall really great school. 10/10 would recommend :)

The staff doesn't handle incidents and most of the time make it worse. I barely learn anything in…read moremy classes and let's not forget how badly the roof leaks every time it rains.

Cheverus is, in my opinion, the best high school in the state. Maybe MSSM has better math and…read morescience. Maybe public school doesn't have religion class. But Cheverus is a great mix of good arts, good math & science, and good sports. The teachers really enjoy teaching at Cheverus. Most of them take pay cuts to do so. The religion teachers also never forced Catholicism (or protestantism) on students. it was all very academic, and the religion teachers were actually open minded - they taught what the church says and then their opinions or alternative opinions.