I went here when it was still K-6 and overall I had a good experience. Of course there were the…read moretypical bullies and childhood drama, but I have good memories of making a few close friends, going to the cafeteria and the library, and selling ice cream after school to fundraise for different things. I played on the playground and fields A, B, and C, learned how to play the viola and ukulele, and made some student films. I learned how to type and use the old style Mac computers, and took after school Japanese classes. Times were simpler then, and now that I look back I really appreciate the teachers who really cared about us crazy kids.

My daughter just started kindergarten with Mrs Okamoto. She's a fantastic teacher and fantastic…read moreschool. The principal is very hands on and involved. The school property is clean, the pickup and drop off service is also very organized.

Love this gem of a school!…read more My child is now finishing our second year of school at Honolulu Waldorf School, and will be starting 2nd grade next year. It was very important for our family to attend a progressive school, and in this case "developmentally progressive" in terms of educating the whole child. Our child is very active and talkative, and we didn't want to go the traditional route of public school - especially when on our first tour of a public school they pointed out a "wiggle chair" in a corner that kids would go sit in if they couldn't sit still for long periods of time, and that particular teacher indicating our child might not do well there. For kindergarten, and where our child was developmentally - this was not going to work and we could visualize a year of phone calls about inability to sit still. In Waldorf education (and many other countries) children don't start classroom lessons at desks until they are in 1st grade and 6-7 rather than 5-6. And for us, that felt like the right fit. The teacher we had in kindergarten in the early childhood program (EC) was phenomenal, and I loved that the kindergarteners are in a mixed age class ranging from age 3-6 with various stages of development acknowledged (star children age 3-4, moon children age 4-5, and sun children aka kindergarteners age 5-6). When my child was a "sun child" they were the oldest in the class and became leaders in many opportunities. They have a very structured day which leads to a lot of centeredness and calmness as they move through play time, reading circle, snack time (provided by school and quite nutritious!), arts, more play time, nap time, music - lots of singing - and each activity meeting the child where they are and building on that. My child was very resistant to arts at the start of kindergarten, and by the end was weaving, sewing (!), painting, and drawing. Being restless was not an issue throughout the year, and going without a nap during nap time was also something that could be worked around. After finishing kindergarten, the children move into 1st grade with a beautiful crossing of a symbolic bridge leaving the grounds of the early childhood area and entering the grounds of the grades area / classrooms. In 1st grade, a the class size was 16 children which was a great size for us, and subjects of reading/writing, math, Spanish, Japanese, Hawaiian studies, handwork, movement, music are covered throughout the week. If a child needs more attention in an area, they are quick to spot it and suggest additional support of needed. Our teacher was incredible at holding the class, and attentive to all of each child's progress and needs. What's also amazing is that the same teacher continues into 2nd, 3rd and beyond as is part of the Waldorf pedagogy. Sometimes life changes happen (pregnancy / moving etc), but at this school the same teacher can be expected to continue on for many grades, building a beautiful bond between teacher and student. Also for the community; the school fosters a great sense of community with a strong Parent Hui group (parent volunteers) that work to make each of the many Waldorf traditions come alive. The school participates in Waldorf events of Michaelmas, Saint Nicholas Day, the Winter Spiral, Lantern Walk, and also brings in via its Spanish program a celebration of Dia del los Muertos, Salsa Night, and through its Japanese program Girls Day, Children's Day, Hawaiian - La Mei (May Day) and more. When thinking about all of the events throughout the year it's a magical, welcoming and educational experience for the children and families alike. Not knowing a lot about Waldorf education at the start of our attendance, I have gained a whole new perspective on childhood development as this school also educates parents on how children learn. The reading and literacy is on a different timeline than public school for valid developmental reasons and by 3/4th grade many students are avid readers reading and comprehending books well above their public school peers. Overall, I believe the children become excellent learners through and can tackle any topic with the curiosity and enthusiasm for learning. Last, the school is screen free up to a grade (6th?) This is a huge incentive for our family, as we do not want our child to be exposed to screens more than necessary - as we learn how it is negatively affecting brain development in young children. Eventually, the concept of appropriate screen use is introduced in Cyber Civics classes in middle school - as it is unrealistic for screens to be completely avoided in life, and an awesome opportunity to teach children about how to have an online presence, be responsible and respectful online, and to have personal boundaries around its use with social media, and length of time. Big fan of the school, the caring teachers and admin, and the awesome and strong parent community that goes above and beyond to be involved in their children's learning and environment.

The MonkeyPod Mākeke at Honolulu Waldorf School is a cozy shop open for 45 minutes after school on…read moreFridays. Created and run by parents, it has beautiful Waldorf art supplies: beeswax molding clay, watercolors, colored pencils, and coloring blocks - alongside small treasures children love to choose for themselves or friends: journals, necklaces, and other thoughtful trinkets under $3. You'll also find handcrafted gifts like felt leis made with care by parents and teachers. I purchased one for Mother's Day! It is a warm, intentional space that brings joy to the children and community alike.

This review is for their summer school only…read more I LOVE this summer school for my kids, especially at the early elementary school age. They are smaller so it's easier for children who don't go here normally to adapt (and not get lost). The school is very organized and the children get name tags with their classes listed so the adults can help them get to their classes in the beginning of the year. They offer a variety of classes that are a nice blend of academics and fun and really have the kids engaged. My son just enjoyed his summer here and raved about it daily! He even wanted to be dropped off early! They have a very nice open house towards the end of summer school to be able to see what your child has been doing. The teachers do a great job of showing what the children have been learning and it's amazing how much they do over the course of the weeks. There are 2 morning classes, a midday care (lunch optional and separate) and 1 afternoon class ending at 2pm. Alternatively they have a care that lasts through midday through all afternoon (I think till 5:30ish?). So there are good alternatives depending on what your needs are. Summer classes run roughly $500 each with midday care a separate price. I believe the afternoon care is a different price as well. Ample information on their website and what I love is that you can register at the same time as the children who attend the school. FANTASTIC!

I have fond memories of visiting this school as a parent and parent of alum. The school's culture…read moreemphasizes exactly what "hanahauoli" means...Happy Work. They encourage students to love learning and doing. They encourage teamwork. They foster community by all of their school traditions. They encourage parents to accept their children's individual uniqueness and strengths. Each student I have met has such strong self esteem and a happy demeanor. I thought the former Headmaster who has since retired was amazing. He knew and greeted each child every day. What a blessing to attend this school or their annual Children's Fair.

Student body comprised of those residing in Mānoa Valley, Makiki, Makiki Heights, Tantalus,…read morePapakōlea, Kalāwahine, Punchbowl, Pauoa, Pauoa Valley, Pacific Heights, and some from Nuʻuanu Valley too. Many students that lived outside of the district and had a GE were from Kāneohe, Kailua, Waimānalo to Wai'anae. There were also students who attended Iolani, Kamehameha and St. Louis, then transferred to Roosevelt. There are some staff and many students with different last names that are related to each other, have attended and still attend RHS. One day one of my grandma's cousins approached me. I later found out she was a cafeteria monitor during the day and custodian after school. Coming to think of it, I have relatives that graduated in the late 1970's till mid 2000's on my maternal side of the family. During Hawaiian studies class, a substitute teacher asked me, "Where do you live? What's your family name?" I responded. Then she said, "I graduated same year with your relative's name." I was quite surprised. There are currently many entrepreneurs, including those married to entrepreneurs so they help with other aspects of thriving businesses, alumni with successful careers in the public and private sector. Let's not forget about notable celebrities listed in Wikipedia. Hawaiian language classes offered and counted as foreign language credits toward college, along with Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish, and French. I vividly recall signing up first choice: Hawaiian, second choice: Spanish, third choice: Japanese. I remember getting my last choice while my other friends got Hawaiian and Spanish classes. My favorite instructors who definitely made an impact in my life were Mrs. Wells, English teacher who immersed us in reading, writing, grammar, spelling, and working together in class ranging from The Hobbit, Beowulf, Shakespeare, Hamlet, too many to name, and our last individual project and typed essay for the year, Les Miserables. School is known for their language arts. Fine Arts and Cooking teacher, Mrs. Fong. She was the one who encouraged me to consider applying for colleges to arts schools on the mainland. I've also enjoyed learning baked recipes. One of those recipes taught in class was how to make pumpkin pie. We had access to ovens, sinks, and clean counter tops. Fun, practical, and life learning skills. Japanese language sensei, Mrs. Fujinaka for teaching us one of the first things is, "Otearai e itte mo ii desu ka?" Translation in English, "May I please go to the restroom?" Reserved for when really got to go and having a brain fart. Hiragana, katakana, and some of the kanji ingrained in memory. Economics teacher, Mrs. Leung taught us how to write checks which I thought was cool as it applies to signing legal documents till this day. Sports was and still is an integral part of the student body. I remembered running between two to four old football field laps daily after school, where dirt would kick up and if wearing white shoes, would get dirty fast. I vividly recalled running snakes weekly on red and gold bleachers, north, south, east, and west, in no particular order. Legs would get jiggly or charley horse if out of shape. Yet, great cardio, conditioning for the body. Sports practices ended at 6 PM. Games on Saturdays either on or off campus. Loved the swimming pool especially during P.E. Earned school credits while working on a life skill. They're also known for their band. Many clubs offered on campus too. Enjoyed underground cafeteria, choice to eat indoor or outdoors. Cafeteria staff offered a choice of school lunch or chef salad. Limited parking. First come, first get in the morning at 7 AM. Some lessons I don't recall learning and wish instructors taught at that time were study skills, time management, and financial literacy. There were cliques here and there. Now, we're all grown peeps and if we run into each other in public, it's "Hey! How's it going?" followed with a hug and honi on the cheek.

I'm sure this is a great school, however, there has been a very loud siren or alarm coming from the…read morehigh school a few blocks away from where I live. It starts around 11 PM and continues until about 6 AM, making it difficult to sleep. I live over 30 floors up and can still hear it clearly, so I imagine it's affecting many people in the neighborhood. I'm not sure if others have reported it yet, but I hope this issue can be addressed and fixed soon.

I went to this school....I thought it was pretty good…read more.. Now that I'm older...I work/help out here...and I enjoy going back! BTW, Ms. Ikehara rocks! LoL.

Located right across from Kahala Mall, Kahala Elementary is a great option if you're planning on…read moresending your kids to public school. Kahala Elementary has a good amount of money coming into it, as the surrounding area is affluent and a strong pool of families which support it. A school is as only as good as the community behind it and this one is definitely well supported. My son went here and his Kindergarten teacher did a great job getting his test scores up to par. He's a very smart boy but is easily distracted. What can I say? He's a boy! I really like the administrative staff as I felt as though they really cared about my son and they have a great library staff. My son enjoyed the after school programs that are at the school which include golf, lego building and karate. If you don't live in the area it's tough to get in on a Geographic Exemption but it's worthwhile to at least attempt to get in.

I am a Kauluwela Tiger Cub alumnus from 1987 to 1994…read more I attended Kauluwela Elementary for Kindergarten in 1987 and 1988. I transfered to Liholiho Elementary for first grade in 1988 and 1989. After I watched the Moonwalker film at Liholiho and at family gatherings, my older sibling recorded me beatboxing one of the songs from the film. I flunked first grade at Liholiho, and then I transferred back to Kauluwela in 1989 to 1990 for first grade. Though I was born and raised in Honolulu, English is my second language. I attended Kauluwela Elementary from first grade through fifth grade from 1989 to 1994. For our class of 1994, my classmates and I practiced break dancing and we called our bboy or bgirl "six step" the "skittles." We collected and traded baseball cards, Marvel cards, and comic books. Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, and Mister Rogers Neighborhood was played during class. Recess, we played kick ball. The boys and I, we played as though we were the Super Mario Brothers, Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kongs, and the rest of the Nintendo characters on the open field. We also played, collected, traded POGs. My Kauluwela Elementary classmate Ruben nicknamed me "Superman" during our P.E. class. From the years that went on through high school and beyond, Ruben continued to call out to me, "hey Superman!" It was at Kauluwela Elementary that I honed how to read my letters, numbers, write, spell, journal, draw, and I self-published my comic books. Mrs. Honda was my first grade teacher. I recalled when we sang a song from The Land Before Time for our goodbye song when Mrs. Honda retired when I was a second grader. Our principal was Mrs. Lee. My second grade teacher was Mrs. Zane. I stitched together a crown for a stitching activity. I think in second or third grade, I went into a program where I learned English as a second language called SLEP. Mrs. Lee, another Mrs. Lee, not the principal, was my SLEP teacher at Building A, the building behind the stage. Building A is no longer in existence, I think due to many years of termite damage. I used to walk up those stairs of building A and they creaked. I used to stand on that stage a lot. During SLEP I was into publishing and creating scripts and I then made them into comic books with illustrations and talking word bubbles. Even the SLEP program ran out of scratch paper for me to continue publishing scripts and comic books. It was also through that time, I created my own comic book character I named Gecko Man. I think I attended the SLEP from 1990 to 1993. I think it was midway through SLEP program in the fourth grade that I transitioned out of that program. At third grade, I discovered that I liked mathematics and that I was pretty good with it. My teacher was Mrs. Oura (Asami). I do recall that my teachers praised me during math lessons. Fourth grade teacher was Mrs. Morikawa, I really liked our computer class with the huge Apple Mac computers with floppy disks that no longer are made today. I used to digitally draw on the Apple Mac computers for fun with the mouse. At this time, I did not even own an actual computer and I did not have home Internet as that was not as accessible in that era that I recall. I do recall trying to play an ukulele and ipu at this grade too. My drawing of a dragon for the Hawaii Youth Theatre Play "Everyone Knows What A Dragon Looks Like" was published in my fourth grade, 1992 to 1993 Kauluwela Elementary School Yearbook. Fifth grade Mrs. Yoza, I stayed in class during recess and lunch recess to catch up on school work. Reading and comprehending what I read was a challenge for me. I did not give up. I think it was around this time that my art of Mario and Luigi of the Super Mario Brothers, Link of the Legend of Zelda was selected to be showcased at the Honolulu Museum of Art, back then known as the Academy of Arts. I think it was fifth grade that my clay sculpture of a brown bear was also on display at the Honolulu Museum of Art. Today, I love to read, and I read daily for enjoyment. I also love to write. I also help students throughout the state of Hawaii with mathematics. I also go around schools, speak at conferences, and the world beatboxing. I have not forgotten where I came from, I am a Kauluwela Elementary Tiger Cub alumnus! Many of my good and fond memories come from Kauluwela Elementary. In recent years I've been invited to revisit Kauluwela Elementary to perform for their back to school assemblies as an alumni guest. From my Kauluwela Elementary years from 1989 to 1994, I do recall Kauluwela alumni make periodic visits and what kind of impact that was for me. It's great to reunite with Mrs. Oura, Mrs. Zane, and Mrs. Kaneshiro! It's also great to meet principal Mr. Uemae and vice principal Mrs. Kim! -Jason Tom

Well this school brings back so much joy to every child or grownup cause they went to this school…read moreand there children went to this school , and now there grandkids are going to this school now and , it's so much different now then back then. Well my two kids went to this school and they graduated from this school . And they went on to Middle school , then they went to high school and one of my child graduated from high school, and my last child is in high school now he is a junior in high school .!! Oh ya I want to say thank you to mrs Lee G . Cause she was the best princable when my child was going to this school and the teachers that my kids had and so fourth. So be it . It's a nice school and to have your kids go there .

Hahaione is a great public school and our kids love their time here. The teachers they've had have…read morealways been caring and helpful as well as the rest of the staff we've interacted with. If you live in this area or just want to support Hahaione you can make them your supported school on smile.amazon.com

Love this school, they genuinely care about making sure your child is where they should be.read more

My 2 children currently attend this kula (school) and I wouldn't choose any other school to send my…read morekeikis. It is a great Hawaiian immersion school. They have island wide school bus systems. They have awesome school meals and a snack shop. They have a decent amount of parking (better than some other schools I've seen). They also have Keiki O Ka Aina on campus (day care facility). The school has their own lo'i which students and family are welcome to upkeep once a month. The school is located near a river. If you stand on the top of hill, it's a beautiful site of Diamond Head. The campus is small which is good for me and for my keikis as everything is in short distance and takes a few seconds to get to the main office, hale Aina (cafeteria), library, and lua (bathrooms). The staff and Kumu (teachers) are all awesome! However, I do hope that some day the school offers more educational huaka'i (field trips) and educational courses on ancient hawaiian activities/lifestyle like lua, fishing, net throwing, Hokulei'a (learning how to make canoes), la'au lapa'au (traditional medicine), pa'i Ai (poi pounding), rock wall building, growing your own vegetables, ancient site visits, offerings, etc. the school offers summer school and tutoring courses throughout the year. Overall, it is an awesome school. I hope that one day the Hawaiian language is as fluent as English across Hawaii nei.