My child was assaulted twice in 6months at this school. The administration was negligent in both…read moresituations. I stood up to them about it and they dismissed my child from the school as a result.

Why we choose American Heritage…read more To be completely honest it was for the all day Kindergarten. For a working mom, having all day Kindergarten was a lifesaver. My youngest started school, and a week later my 4th grader asked if she could go to AHSJ as well. A little background on D'Layne (4th grade when she started AHSJ), she had a heart condition. She had always gone to public school, but was falling in the cracks and falling behind. D'layne excelled at AHSJ in ways that I cannot explain. She loved math, science and history, but always struggled in spelling and reading. After her 4th grade year, she was excelling in ways that made me proud to watch her grow. It was the same with 5th grade, but towards the end of 5th grade her health started to change. The summer between her 5th and 6th grade years, D'layne had a major stroke. She spent the summer relearning to read, write, and to find her words. We also knew at that time that her heart was failing her, and she would have to be placed on the transplant list immediately. She spent the summer back and forth getting testing done and was placed on the transplant list on August 27th, 2018. 6 days after starting her 6th grade year... The day we got the call that D'Layne was getting her new heart, she was at school. That was the best place for her to be, the administration gave her hugs and kisses, the school stopped and prayed for my daughter. This is a family, not just a school. 6 days after her transplant, I had to make a call to her school, that she was not going to make it. Where her heart was perfect, her body had been shutting down. Our family, AHSJ, cried with us, cherished us, and supported us. It has not stopped. My angel was granted her Angel wings on September 26, 2018. On May 2, 2019 (7 months later) they performed the most amazing tribute to her at their dance performance and included my sweet 7 year old to honor her sister. So, all day Kindergarten brought us to AHSJ, but the family bond of every student, teacher, administrator is the reason we stay!!

They do not handle bullying at all besides a whole class lecture yearly about how "Bullying is bad…read morefor the water inside of you," (We did actually get that lecture.) except for thee few times they do by suspending the kids and doing nothing else about it unless it's a rare case. They managed to make pop-tarts rock hard. They have very few things going for them (Mr. Morris, Ms. Bolman, Ms. Cody, Crime Lab, Ms. Rugino, Mr. J, Ms. Cardon, Ms. Lund, and the fifth grade teachers), but the goods are only worth one star. Otherwise, it would be a zero star review. Beware Mr. Ellsworth's assignments. I would not wish attending ascent on my worst enemy. My brother has many friends, most of whom left the school, and those who left ascent say their new school is better. I am incredibly excited for ninth grade, because then I can leave. This school nearly made me do something I cannot say in this review. I would literally rather eat rotten for ten years than attend this school. Granted, that is because rotten food is pretty much something that I already get from Ascent (Visibly rotten apple, anyone?). And they have run out of food and made me lose recess (Yes, they have recess in Jr. High) on three seperate occasions this semester. Also, Mr. Ellsworth states conspiracies daily. And the Jr High PE teacher has incredibly sexist grading standards: about 100 laps on the pacer for guys and like 20 for girls, as well as about 20 pull ups for guys and seven seconds of holding onto the bar for girls. I could keep going all day, but I don't remember all of it. (Edit: I was sent to the principal's office today because of this. So, this school cares more about its precious little ego than it does bullying to the point where its students consider something that is often a byproduct of depression.)

My two children have been going to Challenger for almost a year, and I thought it would improve…read more First, my children have ADHD, and it seems no one in this facility is trained to teach or handle children with learning disabilities. Not only are they not trained, they are not tolerant. If you have a child with ADD or ADHD, you should go somewhere else. I have been called into the office many times for the same issues when they could easily make the situations better by learning more about how children with ADHD function. When contacting me when my child is physically hurt or having an emotionally challenging day, I do not get any phone calls. The headmistress has even made me, as a parent, feel shame and guilt. My daughter repeatedly is reprimanded for not tucking in her shirt and other silly things for a 6-year-old to comply with. She cries almost daily because of these comments, and I have asked the school to talk to ME about them and not her. I understand the standards at Challenger are higher than most, but we also have to remember that they are still children at the end of the day.

Absolutely amazing school. It has the perfect balance of cleaniness and exploration. Our son…read morethrived academically and the teachers/ staff were all truly such a blessing.

My children attended and continue to attend Dancing Moose during their preschool and kindergarten…read moreyears, and they have truly thrived there. They enjoy the experience so much that they still ask about the school on a daily basis. The staff is exceptional--consistently attentive, supportive, and engaged. The teachers regularly follow up on my child's progress and well-being, which makes us feel confident and genuinely cared for as a family. We highly recommend Dancing Moose to anyone seeking a nurturing, high-quality early education environment.

Very very weak in STEM education. The computer teacher let students read books on their own and…read moreprovided minimal instructions in class. Mathematics classes use very old textbook. The Mathematics teacher is not good at mathematics at all and confused students most of the time. Students Wasted a lot of time learning cursive writing While they could have learned something far more important.

My son did 2 years of preschool and kindergarten at the Traverse Mtn location. He loved loved loved…read morethe school. It's advanced, he was reading everything and phonics also before K. And it was all fun for him. We never went to Summer school there so from the experience I had, my son was totally able to catch up without the Summer program. Maybe I started him early...... anyways I don't regret my decision and he misses his first school! Now he's enrolled in public school (which honestly is not great since he's learning things that he has learned two years ago) but he's learning Portuguese for free (my native language) and for my family this is our priority. We love Challenger School

Challenger has probably been one of the worst schools I've ever gone to. Not only are the teachers…read moretrained poorly, but the blatant favoritism. Firstly, many of the teachers are unqualified for their position. For instance, one of the extended teachers will purposely select students to move seats for no given reason. When someone asks why the student is getting moved, the teacher will just laugh and then tell them to move. She's also highly impatient and has been arrested, which, in my opinion, seems like a valid reason to not hire someone. Next, Mrs, Gourgeon is very fake to parents and puts on a facade to everyone. When someone gets sent to the office, she doesn't let the person explain their side of the story and will get mad at people if they don't answer exactly what she asked. A few teachers very noticeably favor some students over others, asking some students questions more questions than others or only listening to students they like. Overall, Challenger has a lot of discrimination towards to different students - whether it's between actual teaching or after school, there's a lot of prejudice.

We have both our girls attending one of the Challenger schools…read more Great teachers. Academics, study habits, confidence builders in speech and memorization. Parents need to take an active role with their child till 4th grade -- helping to instill habits and then your kiddos is off and achieving. If as a parent, you aren't able to do so, it may be more Challenging if your child isn't a 'self starter' out of the gate :)