Children of America is a great place for your kids! The teachers love what they do and will do…read moreeverything in their power to accommodate your child/children. Highly recommend them!

Can not say enough good things about this location. My son has been coming here since he was 8…read moreweeks old and is about to start Kindergarten this fall. They have truly shaped and helped him grow and prepare for Kindergarten. My girls both started at 12 weeks and have blossomed as well. All of the teachers have been amazing. Miss Pam in the infant room is so loving toward the babies, Ms.Julie is so involved in the toddler room, Miss Laney is the twos room is so good with all the kids. Miss Jennifer and Miss Dani have prepared my son he is writing his name and comes home with something new learned everyday.

Although this is a small YMCA, it is clean, equipment is well maintained, and so is the swimming…read morepool. They do a great job of serving all ages of the community.

If it was cheaper it would be worth it. I'll start with the best. The swimming pool and sauna are…read moreDef the best things about this place.. and its clean. If your a true weight lifter/ athlete this is not the gym for you... limited equipment...though new. They charge 45$ a month with limited guest passes.. Esporta is 25$ a month and you can bring 3 guests as many times a month you want which has 3xs the equipment. Other then the price and size of this facility this place is great.

First Steps is a wonderful school. My son doesn't want to go home because they have so much fun…read more They have great summer activities and care greatly for the kids. I couldn't recommend this school more! Thank you all for what you do!

We love First Steps and have been there for 3 years. It is like a family. All the teachers know all…read morethe kids. They are very flexible and accommodating. We would recommend First Steps to anyone looking for childcare or before/after school care!

Unfortunately, we didn't have a good experience here. The teachers were not friendly or warm or…read morenurturing at all in my daughter's 3 year old class. My daughter complained that the teachers were mean but I kind of just brushed it off. But then I would pick her up from school early and observed what she was talking about. The teachers were sassy and rude to the children - it wasn't behavior that I wanted exemplified for my child. On top of this, the activity log that they shared with the parents was just wrong. They would include activities on it that they didn't do and my husband and I would see the kids doing activities in the classroom that weren't listed on the log. They also mixed our child's profile up with someone else's and we would get reports saying things like "she napped for 45 minutes" or "she ate all of her lunch" when in reality we had picked her up from school before lunch and nap time. We brought this to the attention of the teachers and staff and they temporarily corrected it, but it always went back to being inaccurate. The final straw for me was that there was no sense of community. I joined the parent group hoping that my perspective would change but it turned out that the main focus of the parent group was to fundraise because the Goddard school had no budget for the family/community activities. I found this to be pretty disappointing considering how expensive the school was. We switched to a different preschool and have had a much better experience. I'm only sharing this because choosing a school for our kids can be such a hard decision. I wish all parents and kiddos the best and hope that the Goddard school will take this review into consideration to make some important improvements.

I wanted to post an update for parents who wonder about how children that go here progress... My…read moreoldest daughter has been at Goddard since she was 18 months old - she is now 5 1/2 years old, and my youngest also joined at 18 months and is now 3 1/2 years old. At 3-1/2, the youngest daughter can READ sight words, knows colors, numbers, and weather in English and Spanish (Spanish is not a language we speak at home, so this is all the school). While some reading is due to us working with her, and some in part because of her sister's advancement, a big part (and thank you) is owed to the school for working so diligently with her. At 5-1/2, the oldest daughter has blossomed into an amazing and bright little girl. She is reading at a 4th Grade level, doing math at a 2nd grade level, and the teachers are making sure to encourage her and help her grow, even though it requires them to take "special" time out for her to do so, since she's above the average lesson plans. They have worked very closely with me to make sure she stays engaged and challenged, and as a result she's a happy, healthy, very bright kid who LOVES her school. I read the previous review from someone in April, and while I feel horribly for the situation in theory, I can't imagine it being accurate. There is no mention, for example, of the specific room the child was in, and I can tell you from years of personal experience there's NO WAY the Dave I know at our school would refuse to help a parent who was uncomfortable, or force a child backward and not forward. While I won' t say it outright isn't true (I wasn't there), I can say that the parents who have children here know everything, see everything, and an event like what was described would have been talked about heavily, yet I never heard a peep.... Bottom line, if you are looking for child care, there is hands down no where better in the area - they've won the "Best Childcare in Lake County" award for like 7 years running. If you are unsure, call them and ask to take a tour to see for yourself... you'll be so glad you did.

I sent my sons to this school 15 years ago and they loved it so when my daughter was ready for…read morepreschool I couldn't wait to enroll her here. My daughter attended the 3yr and 4yr old preschool program and was so ready for kindergarten I was able to have her tested and she was enrolled early. Now she attends the summer day cam program when she is out of school. She loves the teachers and the activities. Me, I love that the program focuses not only on school readiness but also on the core values of a Christian upbringing. Reading and writing are taught hand in hand with being kind and helpful to each other. I would definately recommend this preschool!

From the owner: Child Care, Day Care, Preschool, Before & After School Care, Summer Campread more

We chose this daycare because of its convenient location directly across from our workplace. During…read moreour tour, we were told they accept YWCA childcare assistance. We provided copies of our recent pay stubs as part of the process. Based on our income, we anticipated qualifying for assistance. However, we were informed that they do not accept back pay and that families must cover full tuition out-of-pocket until subsidy approval is finalized. In our case, the approval process took eight weeks. That would have required paying two months of tuition upfront while waiting for assistance. If a center works with YWCA-funded families regularly, it was unclear why no flexibility could be offered given the documented income information we provided. For many working families, paying full tuition for weeks -- or months -- while waiting on approval defeats the purpose of childcare assistance. Families relying on subsidy support should make sure they fully understand this policy before enrolling. To make a long story short if you can't afford the daycare tuition on your own, don't even apply.

Do not recommend. The teachers need more training and coaching on how to interact with children…read morewho may have more emotional learning challenges.

We were one of the first families at Kiddie Academy of Grayslake when they opened in 2021. We…read moreeventually enrolled both of our young children and for a decent amount of time were happy with the care and enriching educational environment provided by Kiddie Academy. However, all of that changed after a DCFS incident which involved our youngest son and one of the teachers. The entire situation was incredibly upsetting, but we felt as though Kiddie Academy at the time took appropriate action. The teacher was fired immediately and Academy wide training took place. We hoped that it was simply a "bad apple." We made the decision to pull our kids from the care of Kiddie Academy about a year and a half after that first incident when our older son also had a DCFS incident with another teacher. The directors response to that incident after reviewing the footage was so passive that we no longer felt that the safety and care of our children was a top priority. It felt more as though there was a protection of the teacher and the institution happening. Additionally, with this now being the second incident that our family was involved in there seem to be a more widespread problem. It has taken six months for our son to recover from the emotional damage that incident caused. We feel as though Kiddie Academy of Grayslake failed our children in not providing the most basic care and safety to them and we were extremely sad to be leaving under these circumstances.  I have really wrestled with whether or not to post this review, but upon hearing that a coworker of mine had considered this care provider without knowledge of our experience, I am finally making the decision to put our story out there.

Putting your children in someone else's hands takes a lot of trust and I truly couldn't think of a…read morebetter place than Kiddie Academy Grayslake. My daughter went there for about a year before we got relocated for work. Everyone there is absolutely so so kind. They LOVE each and every kid. They were such sweet people and I wish we could've have kept her there. Love them! Don't look anywhere else because you're not going to find a better daycare center.