After touring almost all of the preschools in Port Townsend and surrounding areas, I chose this…read moreschool for my two kids. The staff won me over with their love and dedication to this small non-profit tucked away in Port Hadlock. With minimal funding this school runs on a lot of love and help from the families who entrust this place for their childcare needs. The school has about 60 students total from toddler through 8th grade. The preschool is priced right and boasts being a part of the UW Early Achievers program. The school is founded on basic Christian principles, but is not overtly religious. At one point, the school was overseen by the Seventh Day Adventist church, but isn't any longer. As a hold over from that time, however, this is a vegetarian school. One of the only vegetarian school in WA! My kids have definitely grown to love vegetables while attending here. I've found the staff approachable and engaged and extremely loving and accommodating to families. I'm so grateful for this school!

Our daughter is in the Nursery/PreK class. We have never felt more welcome or supported as a family…read moreas we do here. There is an incredible level of focus on each individual, and the teachers and philosophy do an amazing job meeting each child's needs. What drew us to Waldorf education was it's strong focus on building the whole child, and a huge component of this is character and world citizenship. The teachers at WIWS are absolutely incredible; far and away it's best asset. We are also impressed with the ongoing education opportunities available to parents and the community. The community is warm and vibrant. The setting is stunning. We love our little school in the woods!

I am so thankful to have found this gem of a school in these beautiful woods on Whidbey Island…read more The teachers are incredible; their love for the children is so evident in many areas of their work and care. The community built here is strong, warm and welcoming. This school offers a great balance of learning, movement, being outdoors, care and respect for our world and other people. I couldn't imagine being in any other school!

I have been taking CEU classes at PTSM since 2015. I enjoy…read morethe variety of classes for CEUs offered, the new location they have is spacious and beautiful.

I graduated from Port Townsend School of Massage in 2016. Many of the instructors are excellent…read more The manager of the school is personable, intelligent, and knows how to interact with many different personality types. She went to great lengths to accommodate my individual needs due to my health condition, helped to personalize and tailor my educational experience, and overall treated me (and pretty much everyone else, from what I saw and heard) with respect, caring, and consideration. I had some mixed feelings and some negative experiences throughout my time at this school, which is why I waited so long to post a public review, but in all fairness, many of those experiences are due to my own "stuff" and are not the fault of the school. I was enrolled in the week-end program. 2 10-hour days of classes back-to-back on Friday and Saturday, then a 6-hour day of classes on Sunday, often with homework or study or giving massage post-classes, felt like a lot to do within a short, compressed period of time. By Sunday afternoon my brain and body were often both fried and unable to absorb much of the content. I'm not sure how the school could've structured it much differently, though, and without the week-end program option, I (and many others) could not have gone through the program at all. The school has 3 separate floors and no elevator, which sometimes felt frustrating when I was dealing with a months-long ankle injury that I sustained during the process of receiving a massage at home from an LMT who is unaffiliated with this school, in order to complete a school assignment. I put a lot of effort, time, thought, work, and money into my massage school education at this school, and in hindsight it is one of the few times in my life that I feel that I may have invested these resources poorly. However, it was my own (frequently questioned!) choice to stay in the program until the end. My self-care during this program was much worse than it usually is, in a large part due to the program demands. The compromised self-care definitely took a toll on my physical and emotional well-being. I graduated with a 4.0 gpa, but my passion for and enjoyment of practicing massage was dampened by the end of the program to the point that it never recovered. I never practiced massage professionally. I tried to force myself to want to, and stayed optimistic for a long time post-graduation that I would bounce back eventually, but finally realized that my enthusiasm for practicing massage therapy has been permanently extinguished. Some of my favorite moments during the program involved working with some of my stellar classmates, learning from and connecting with a couple of the instructors and also with the school's manager, giving massage to paying community members in student clinic, giving massage to many of my own practice clients, engaging with some of the anatomy and kinesiology course material, and creating my own board game to help in learning the muscle attachments (happily, creative learning is appreciated and encouraged at this school). Attending this school is one of only 3 regrets that I have in my life. However, once again, a good portion of the reasons behind that are not the fault or responsibility of this school or its faculty or staff. Understand that this may not be an easy educational journey, even if you are smart, resilient, and start out passionate and enthusiastic about massage therapy, healing, and helping people. Recommended for an excellent massage therapy school education, with reservations.

I just completed Woodworking for Women at Port Townsend School of Woodworking. The class was…read moreFABULOUS. I have done a few things at home, worked with a few tools, mostly self-taught or instruction by husband/uncles. This class reinforced the skills I already had and I learned several new power tools, hand tools, and multiple techniques for completing a step. The instructors were wonderful. Martha Collins has 40+ years experience so has vast knowledge, skill and use of power tools. Her assistant was younger so had less experience but newer and different techniques and also was more inclined to use hand tools. So the balance of the two of them was perfect, you get different ideas and techniques and they were always available and helpful. The only bad thing is this class is only offered once a year I believe. It is well worth traveling to Port Townsend for this class and I imagine any other class also. I will be taking the wood finishing class in November and looking forward to that.

Port Townsend school of woodworking is a school that offers classes with both local and visiting…read moreteachers. There are some well-known teachers that offer instruction - some include project classes - as well as local staff you've probably never heard of. The one draw-back to the design of the school is that they close the doors at the end of the day's instruction, and since most of us travel to this town to take the class (as is the case with many schools of woodworking) there is no chance to further practice what is being taught at night. This is a major drawback and is not the case in most other schools where I've taken classes. The staff are very helpful and friendly (with one exception) and the facilities and town are quite nice. Port Townsend is a beautiful place with very temperate weather, especially in the summer, and offers a variety of great restaurants and stunning views of Puget Sound. The one exception I'd offer to the staff is one of the managers of the school, Tim Lawson. Tim is the person who arranged the classes, payments, and introductions to the visiting instructor. Several of the students, I learned during a meet-up for dinner one night, found him to be unavailable, curt, and rude. "Full of himself," as one person put it, and "condescending," said another. I realize it's unfair to quote actual names here but I'm only repeating what I found to be the case. Several mentioned that Tim also encouraged them to not bring their own stock to the class so that they'd be charged (they thought, as did I) for the exorbitant fees asked for the minimal material provided. Further, an additional fee was tacked on after taking the class. This fee, it was described, was reimbursement for the person who prepared the stock. Honestly, it appeared we used about $10 in material but were charged more than $75. This school offers, as its main draw, the area. The classes can be had in many places. The writer would encourage you to shop around; opinions and your mileage may vary. I've spoken with many who absolutely loved the school and some that would not go back.

School Year 2024/2025…read more Our journey with education has been a bit of a rollercoaster, but thankfully, we've found our perfect fit at The Bloom Academy! My son had an amazing preschool experience at a Montessori school, and was initially hopeful that kindergarten would continue on that trajectory. Unfortunately, after trying a private christian school for kindergarten, I realized it wasn't the right fit and had to pull him out after just 6 weeks. He then went into public school for kindergarten, which was a very disappointing experience. This fall, I started him in another private christian school for first grade, but after just 4 weeks, it was clear it wasn't working out either. I was feeling very lost until a friend recommended Bloom, and it truly felt like God was answering my prayers. From the moment we walked through the doors, we knew we'd found our school home. The smaller classroom sizes and strong sense of community at The Bloom Academy are exactly what my son needed. He thrives in a more intimate setting (hugs welcomed), where teachers can focus on his unique needs and guide his learning. The teaching style is exactly what we were looking for it's focused on fostering a love of learning, building character, and encouraging personal growth, not just pushing ahead academically. Unlike other private schools that seemed more concerned with being a year ahead academically, Bloom has helped me realize that the overall learning experience is what truly matters. What really stands out to me is the individualized education plan for each child. This is something I did not find in any other private school and has been such a relief for me as a parent. It's clear that the team at Bloom is dedicated to meeting my son where he is and supporting him in every way possible. My son and I are so grateful to have found Bloom Academy it's been a true blessing, and we couldn't be happier with the care, attention, and education my son is receiving. Thank you, Bloom Academy, for giving our family the school experience we've been longing for!

I honestly can't believe there are no reviews of Bloom. This school has been an absolute dream, and…read morehonestly something we feared didn't exist. Our son attends both indoor and outdoor preschool here and the changes in him in the 5 months he's been at Bloom have been nothing short of profound. Miriam and Karen (who I believe are the owners and managers) are both such amazing and inspiring women who genuinely love children and want to see them flourish. Our daughter goes to a great private school in the area that has a reputable preschool program and we chose Bloom over them for several reasons. There hasn't been a day that goes by that we regret our decision, as a matter of fact I wish they taught older students so we could move our daughter here too! (Wishful thinking, I know.) We are particularly fond of 3 out of 4 of his teachers who have been so patient and positive in his life. His teachers are warm, loving, creative and encouraging. He's never enjoyed teachers the way he does here. The teachers have a joy here that I haven't seen in any other preschool/daycare setting. And lastly, the community of kids and parents that surround our son have been so wonderful and warm. People from all different walks of life with the common goals of the best environment for their little ones. Our family feels safe here, we also feel very loved. We are so thankful we chose Bloom!

Coyote Camp is always a blast! Kids love the adventure, the hikes, archery, games, stories, wood…read morecarving, crafts, arts and so much more!