Both of our kids went to this school. We couldn't have been HAPPIER with our experience. The…read moreteachers of the school truly care about the students - this is reflected in every detail of the day and curriculum. TCI built an amazing community that we still keep in touch with years later. We are so grateful to have found this school when we did!!

Two months since my last child graduated from TCI and they still talk so positively about their…read moreexperience there! They still get emotional when we reflect on how much they miss TCI as TCI has been such an integral part of our lives for so long! They fingerknit (something they learned at the school) as they reflect and reminisce. I've had both of my daughters attend TCI - my oldest started at age 4 and went until she went to Kindergarten and came back for all the breaks and the summer. My youngest started at 20 months and just graduated this past summer at 5.5 years old. I frequently travel for work and my kids have been to over 10 child care/day care facilities (Creme, other montessoris, Goddard, Kindercare, ISM private academy, immersion academies etc.) and my oldest will be in 2nd grade at XinXing Academy in Hopkins....so I can confidently say that TCI is, by far, the best school for children for SO many reasons. They are 1000% child focused. - They always do what is best for the children from how the environment is carefully prepared and the word choices the guides use in each language they speak. - The environment is set up for a child's lifetime success and it is absolutely beautiful with high quality materials and crazy attention to detail. - The children learn independence and responsibility - they get their own water and snack, they sweep up their own messes, materials are put away when completed. Plus they learn how to plant and pick their own food in the garden. - The guides are HIGHLY qualified in both the toddler and children house communities (think graduate level credentials) in addition to the AMI certification. This is a huge difference compared the frequently underpaid 'teachers' in 'day cares' that just watch the kids. - The lead teacher and staff are amazing partners in parenting - they help think through challenges a child might be having and provide a lot of insight into their development - it's like having a developmental coach for the child! Some things to be aware of is that you need to make lunch each day - I know other places will provide lunch, TCI does not. There are a lot fewer pictures that you receive in comparison to other pictures - as Lishi said, the focus is on child development, not taking pictures. I would be happy to talk to any parent who is interested in TCI - I know that sometimes it is daunting if you aren't familiar with the Montessori approach. I've added in a few pictures to this review - these are my children only (which is why I blocked out the other child's face). Masks are not required, the one picture that had a mask on was because my daughter was coughing and I didn't want her to get others sick :)

If you love 7 a.m. meetings, rigid staff, and be assigned homework to talk to your three-year-old…read moreabout being a three-year old, this is your place. (e.g., "We really need you to discuss the importance of naps with your child.") Ed, the head of the place, has caused high staff turnover and is unreasonable. He also subjected our kid to pseudo-interrogations. This is the place where the Valley of the Dolls Stepford children go to not learn anything. No thanks. It's less work to watch your child at home than to deal with these folks.

Have a back up plan for this Montessori school. I was so shocked by our experience that I had to…read morewait a week to calm down and write this review. When I was pregnant a year and a half ago, we toured all the Montessori schools near our home and work. We decided to enroll our son in the fall of 2015, once he was over his stranger danger/sensitive period. We hired a wonderful nanny in the meantime. She and her husband planned the birth of their own firstborn around our son's 2015 fall enrollment. Mayflower was our top pick and their toddler teacher came highly recommended by an old friend, another Montessori teacher and Children's House owner in the community. We signed up when our son was a newborn, 14 months ago, and waited. We were excited for visiting day this past month, but shocked to learn we were not actually enrolled. I'm a first time mom, but based on my own research and tours of other toddler programs, this was highly irregular, so I reached out for confirmation. The response from their director Nanci was very canned and left me stunned, "Thanks for coming to Visiting Day. Our application process is continuing and we will be making final decisions for enrollment in the next few weeks. There are many factors we take into account to make our decisions and we balance the classrooms by age and gender. You will hear from us by Friday, March 27. Thanks, Nanci Olesen Director Mayflower Early Childhood Center" Rumor has it there were only 4-7 openings for fall 2015. The visiting day we attended last week was an absolute carnival with 40 families and toddlers! I feel the number of attendees was very misleading for so few openings. I hope that this was an isolated incident. We may have fallen through the cracks since we signed up on recommendation from a Montessori teacher before the toddler program even began at Mayflower. We are still really disappointed and terribly inconvenienced by our experience. We are now scrambling to find an acceptable daycare for our happy, healthy 15 month-old boy. Every place has a year wait. Any insights or advice are most welcome! Our amazing nanny will be on maternity leave and we are really stuck!

I have been so impressed with Blossomtime, and so sad I am moving 45 min away, otherwise my baby…read morewould be at Blossomtime until kindergarten! I have a lot of friends whose babies started daycare around the same time, and all of them had something negative, or that made them feel uncomfortable. I have never had a single concern with my infant in their care. Every time I show up to pick my son up, he is always being held, played with, or being tended to. They let me tour the school 3 times before our first day, making me very comfortable with them, and what to expect the first day!

We love Southwest Montessori! We've have a total of 3 years of schooling there between two…read morechildren so far. The staff is wonderful, helpful and accommodating. We feel that the Montessori method has help our children become curious, self learning individuals. it looks small from the outside but we feel it provides a wonderful learning environment. It is truly a hidden gem in SW Minneapolis. Would highly recommend.

I would highly recommend Bassett Creek Montessori Daycare. My 14 month old twins have been going…read morethere since they were 3 months old and we couldn't be happier with the care and love they provide our children. The daycare just moved to a new convenient location near the West End in St. Louis Park, right off of 394.

This is the best Montessori/Daycare in the Twin Cities! It's almost like a hidden gem because she…read moreused to be located in SLP and then when the space was no longer available they had to relocate to a new location in GV-but they had a waitlist of 30 plus kids for years! With both my children, I have tried several other places over the years and nothing compares to Bassett Creek, my 11 month is currently going to the school and it's been a game changer for her! She's a very particular little one-haha. She had been going to an in-home daycare prior and it was a nightmare, I even had hired a home nanny for temporary till we could find a place that was a great fit for my baby girl. Once we found this school and met Helen it was a perfect fit! Helen is the owner and treats every child from infant to toddler as her own! They genuinely care about each and every child like family. I am so thankful to have found this school as it has been such a blessing.

My daughter loves her school, sometimes so much that she does not want to leave (I swear hug her…read moresometimes!). The teachers are incredibly kind and they share the knowledge they have in a relaxed and natural way. Sunshine has been great for the whole family as we are newish to Minnesota. The community is surprisingly from all over for such a small group and welcoming. Two thumbs up, would recommend.

We have had two children at Sunshine and they have thrived. The administration and teachers are…read morededicated, professional, and thoughtful, with minimal turnover. The family community is warm and generous. Our oldest was exceptionally prepared for kindergarten. They have also handled the pandemic very well.

I would like to share my experience with EPM, which has been quite mixed. While the school has a…read moresolid reputation, I left disappointed.  Not only in the education my daughter received, but also the overall attitude of the staff and unprofessional communication.   Communication from the staff was often unclear and inconsistent. I found myself acting on their recommendations, only to have them recant those suggestions when it was convenient for them.  It felt like I was being gaslit.  At times, my daughter's provider recommendations were not followed.  They would state my daughter was the only child not napping as an example, but yet there was a room full of children not napping.  They stated my daughter didn't have friends not knowing that we played with kids from class on regular basis and still do to this day.    A particularly memorable incident that encapsulates my experience occurred on Halloween. My daughter was thrilled to wear her light-up princess dress, exuding pride and excitement as she arrived at school. However, the teacher checking in students remarked, "wow, that is distracting," in an annoyed voice, which was incredibly deflating for my daughter.  I think my daughter picked up on that she was not liked by the staff and that impacted her.  The overall lack of smiles or morale didn't seem good in my experience.   Changing a child's daycare/school setting can cause a lot of disruption.  That is the only reason why we stayed as long as we did and tried to make it work.   On a positive note, Soccer Shots, Wee-Move, and Piano teachers/coach were great.

We moved our kids to EP Montessori last summer from an early childhood center, and we and our kids…read morehave been so happy there! The teachers and staff are all very caring, and got to know our kids really well from the start. Our kids (2.5 year-old in Toddler and almost 5 year-old in Casa) had an easy time adjusting. We have a rule follower and an independent spirit, and the approach at EP Montessori has really helped both of them as they develop and learn. Both of our kids participate in activities that come to school (piano, dance, yoga, soccer) and enjoyed them, too!

My family and I have had such poor experiences at this school...My partner and I have had comments…read moremade to us that border on homophobic & racist by the school leadership, and our children have been excluded and neglected by teaching staff. We are a strict family and hold our kids to a high behavior standard, but when they get rambunctious in completely trivial ways the teachers and staff react excessively compared to how they handle the kids (who exhibit the exact same rambunctious behavior that manifests itself in the exact same ways) who, apparently, are more in line with their "vision" of how the school should look and the kinds of kids that "should" go there. We have had (mostly) wonderful, very positive experiences at other Minneapolis Schools, with (mostly) excellent academics and teachers...we wanted the montessori experience but this place makes a mockery of it's philosophy.

Armatage is really awesome and they have great teachers and a principle who takes good care of the…read moreschool. It is a great place to learn all subjects due to the Montessori aspect to it. They have great after school programs too, like the annual kids on broadway show where the third through fifth graders perform scenes of various musicals. Another program is the Armatage rope power, which is a program for kids third through fifth grade. Learning jump roping skills to perform them to the school. They have other after school programs that teach you things like ukulele and Spanish. We have thoroughly enjoyed the last 4 years there.