Hey are you or your kids looking for music lessons over the summer or into the fall? If you like…read moresupporting local businesses and know how important music can be, I suggest this local business as it is Madison Valley's hidden gem. Here is a little bit about me. I have been a student of The Music Factory for 5 years. Here are three things that set them apart from the rest. One, they are super flexible. Lessons can be taken from The Music Factory, online, or even at your own house. Two, the staff are super kind and friendly. Every interaction I have had with them has been wonderful and supportive. Three, The Music Factory is located in a house. It feels like you are at home and the environment is really calming and warm. Click the link below to learn more! https://musicfactory.online/studentsignupgreen

I started at the music factory after seeing some of their flyers, and was taking lessons there for…read morearound a year. I really enjoyed my time with the music factory, and I was connected with some awesome people/great musicians and mentors. I was able to explore many new concepts and even a new instrument, and every step of the way was guided by first class musicians. I highly recommend TMF to anyone, but especially adult students who want expert, in-person lessons! I worked specifically on guitar with Blake and drums with Tim, and both of them were really great at gauging where I was at coming in and helping me figure out where I could grow.

PSP is a dedicated team of therapists and professionals that are committed to bringing the best…read morecare and support to the Seattle community. I've always had outstanding experiences with the staff at PSP, and it's one of the things I miss most about living in Seattle. I went through separate stretches of time seeing Brien and then later Evonne. They were both periods of my life where having a sounding board for my thoughts, struggles, etc. helped me through difficult times. I've seen other therapists that kinda sucked and felt like money down the drain, but Brien and Evonne were both articulate in their feedback and guidance. Felt more like a conversation with a friend who was there to help (and who I knew I could trust 100%).

This place is a nightmare. Their technology sucks. Dr. Fong and others DO NOT respond to portal…read moremessages within 48 hours. My pharmacy has problems with them as well. Dr. Fong, Specifically, lacks professional experience. He mad me taking a heavy SSRI dose when I actually needed an anti psychotic. I would say this is normal but this took him over a decade to figure out. He is not qualified to be doing medical care in my community. Please do no see Dr. Fong and do not use this office for your healthcare.

ATAC has been a fabulous resource for our high school age youngster. Alison Staplin, Ph.D. is an…read moreexcellent tutor who developed a program for my youngster that instilled confidence, improved study skills and gave him/her a "tool box" of skills and approaches to use now and in the future. The quality of writing and the fluency of reading continues to excel. ATAC comes with my highest recommendation.

We met with "Allison," who stated she was the "director." Our child is in high school and has…read morememory deficits. We needed help with organization and keeping track of assignments. Allison said she would meet with us and choose from available tutors the one she thought would best meet our needs. We met with her two weeks before school started so that our child could have this coordinated before the beginning of the semester. Alison told us that on-site tutoring was not available at our school, since it was public. We made a plan and paid this company in advance to communicate with our child's school and help with organization and homework three times per week. We were told that we should not communicate with the school directly, but let ATAC handle all tracking of academic work for our teen. Three weeks into the semester they had not attempted any contact with any of six teachers or the counselor. It turned out Alison had never placed our child, she had been doing the tutoring herself, then wanted to switch, three weeks in. Part of her rationale was that this tutor was available to meet at school. She then asked us to contact the school for her to make the arrangements and reserve a place to meet. (?!) This new tutor had many mannerisms and a style our child was not comfortable with. In addition, she didn't possess the subject knowledge in advanced algebra we needed. There was still no contact from ATAC to our school, despite our discussing concerns that this was almost a month and specifically requesting they do it that week. We requested another tutor, but was told this wasn't an option. All this was with Allison. She merely told us the tutor's perspective on the meeting and failed to address any of our concerns. She said she thought the problem was all about "difficulty with change." She blamed the fact that we had discussed our concern re: the fact that they hadn't contacted the school yet just prior to the tutoring session, saying we had upset our teen and that this influenced their emotional state and willingness to accept the new tutor. She also said our child was not cooperating with their requests. We had a list off 5-10 very specific things that had occurred during the session with the tutor. Not one was acknowledged as valid. If we didn't have all the other issues with Allison and her credibility I'd be more inclined to trust her assessment. as it is, though, she comes off as unprofessional, unable to handle criticism, disrespectful and dishonest. She seems unable to organize her work load, but also unable to acknowledge mistakes. Worst of all, we're left with a very tough academic situation. We had been told to not contact the teachers and school and leave it to ATAC. We paid them over $1000.00. We're left scrambling to find a trustworthy professional service a month into the semester, and our child is missing work and grades due to lack of support. This organization has had a great reputation in years past. Allison is a new addition this year. At this time I can't recommend ATAC to anyone. Your child's education is too important to entrust to people who won't handle it with care or be honest about their mistakes

I had a very negative experience with APEX's AP econ course last school year (2018-2019) and I…read morewould not recommend it unless significant changes are made. Luckily, my high school's AP econ teacher helped me with the course and was able to override APEX's grading system, which helped me complete the course. Had it not been for him though things would be a lot worse for me. This teacher also was the one who suggested I write a review in the first place. At the time I was the only one in my high school taking this course online. I am now a freshmen in college and have been a 4.0 student all throughout high school and my time in college. To this day, online AP econ was the most difficult class I've ever had. Below are my complaints: 1) With every other online platform I have used (schoology, wiley plus, moodle, etc.) you were able to go back to questions that you weren't sure about. However, on APEX, you HAD to answer a question before moving on to the next one, and you could go back/forward. This was extremely unhelpful when I was taking a test and would put me far behind in my course progress if I needed to wait the entire weekend to ask my teacher about a certain question. 2) Questions on tests and quizzes were often inaccurate (the wrong answer was marked as correct), poorly worded, or went far beyond what was taught in the video lessons. There were also no explanations given as to why answers were wrong on tests, and sometimes they even stumped my AP econ teacher. 3) APEX customer support was minimal and I had no access to anyone who had designed or overseen the curriculum, which made figuring out what I needed to know extremely difficult. There was no one to contact if there were issues (like I mentioned above) with tests and quizzes. 4) All of the lessons that were given to me seemed extremely dated. All of the economic data that was given was from the late 80s and early 90s. I don't have anything against watching econ documentaries from 1992, but it gave the impression that the course itself hadn't been updated since then. 5) This course did not sufficiently prepare me for the AP test and I decided not to take it because my econ teacher said that there was material in the APEX curriculum that he hadn't seen since college. I figured that I didn't want to waste my time and money taking the AP test if I was not properly prepared. So, there you have it. Overall, this course brought me a lot of undue stress my second semester senior year and really brought me very little in return. With some changes, I think APEX could be a good way to learn outside of the classroom, and I liked the concept of watching video lectures, practicing, and taking tests on my own time with one software. However, these glitches made it really difficult. Hope this will be helpful!

I genuinely would NEVER recommend Apex Geometry Honors to anyone. This has easily been one of the…read moreworst and most frustrating online course experiences I've ever had. I paid around $800 for this course, which makes the lack of communication, organization, and timely grading even more ridiculous. Assignments can sit ungraded for what feels like FOREVER. I have waited days and even weeks for things to be graded, which is completely unacceptable when students have deadlines and need grades back in order to move forward. The teachers do not seem to treat the urgency of the course seriously at all, yet students are still expected to meet every deadline on their end. For $800, I expected actual support, reasonable grading times, and a program that felt organized. Instead, I spent an insane amount of time waiting, stressing, contacting people, and trying to get basic things handled that should never have been this difficult in the first place. Paying that much money just to feel like you are constantly chasing people down for help or grades is absurd. If you are considering taking Geometry Honors through Apex, DO NOT DO IT. Seriously, find another option if you possibly can. I would never willingly take another course through this program after this experience. The amount of frustration and stress this caused was absolutely not worth anywhere close to $800. Save your money and save yourself the headache.

When we moved to Seattle, I was in search of a preschool where my family and I could become part of…read morea special community. I found that and so much more at Illuminate Preschool. Our 2 daughters have spent 4 years there enjoying the Montessori inspired learning activities, reading program, dance sessions, field trips, and playground time. The kind and caring teachers have been so important and instrumental in the development of our children in preparing them for elementary school. It truly feels like you are part of a family, and we've formed what are sure to be lifelong friendships with many of the other families we met there. Our daughters love to reminisce about all of the fond memories they made there. It really is a special place!

Amazing school! My daughter has absolutely blossomed at this preschool, and I'm amazed at the…read morethings she is learning each and every day. I also send my 3 year old son to the Pipers Creek location, and Miss Lucy is the best! My son loves going to school every single day, and already knows his ABC's and 123's. He loves dinosaurs and Miss Lucy is very good about catering to him, she brings little things especially for him, dinosaur stickers etc.. and has taught him all about volcanoes. Miss Lucy is such a passionate teacher and the absolute best teacher/person you could imagine your 3 year old spending their day with. I have nothing but gratitude to all the great teachers who work here. Thank you Miss Molly and Mr Mike.

The Valley School is a truly amazing place. Our family relocated from the east coast to Seattle…read morelast year and our kids started Valley in PreK and 1st grade. The Valley School has been the MOST warm, loving and supportive environment for our whole family. Our kids both love school, absolutely adore their teachers and have made fabulous friends. They say every weekend, "I wish we had school today". Both of my kids are truly jazzed about learning and I love that they get deep into their work, especially when it means that they come home covered head to toe in dirt! I can't recommend Valley highly enough.

The faculty at The Valley School are highly skilled and very professional. On a daily basis, I am…read moreimpressed by the creativity and patience of the teachers. It is a nurturing community and a wonderful place for children to grow and learn.

I've been extremely impressed by how GRM has navigated the situation with coronavirus. We were…read moreoffered a full credit or the option to do virtual camp. These virtual camps are awesome! The staff have put so much detail into the camp kits which are headed to our home as we speak. This is a hard time for everyone right now, but especially for small businesses. I am so happy that GRM has been there to answer our questions and still provide us with a camp experience!

We signed up for Girls Rock Math at the beginning of the year before Corona Virus started. We…read morereceived an email noting that they were consider their option on how to proceed and said that people who had financial difficulties could talk to them before May 1. Well, May 1st rolled around and they noted, as expected that they were cancelling all camps and doing online only options. Like most people, we use camp not just as an educational experience, but as child support, so a zoom meeting at home was definitely not what we wanted and not what we payed for. Our assumption was that since they had cancelled the camp we had signed up for, we would get a refund. No such luck, we were told since we had not contacted them before May 1 (before the all digital change was formally announced), we could not get a refund and must pay for a camp we did not want, nor would we have ever spent money on. Who in their right mind would think a zoom meeting should cost the same amount as a normal camp and provide the same experience. Apparently the May 1 deadline, which was advertised as for people with financial difficulties, was the true deadline for cancellations (congratulations! You got us!). We were also given the option to move this as a credit for next year. Well, as you can guess, since we love having our money held hostage to either guarantee attendance in a future year or attend a camp that our children did not sign up for and have no desire to attend (they just spent the last two months on zoom education), we won't be attending this camp again. There are a lot of very angry parents out there because of this, and while we aren't currently in the group circulating emails about a class action lawsuit, we feel pretty betrayed by this. We have about a dozen other camps planned this summer and this is the only one that has taken the greedy gotcha approach to the Corona Virus. Stay classy Girls Rock Math!

Luke at Central Test Prep helped my daughter prepare for SAT, ACT and SAT subject tests. His…read morepersonalized service and broad knowledge of the tests and how to prepare for them helped her to improve her scores significantly. We highly recommend Central Test Prep.

A few months ago, I was applying for jobs and was felt like my cover letter writing skills were…read morerusty. Even though Heather's primary focus is working with high school students, I reached out for help with my resume, cover letter and LinkedIn profile. She had great advice regarding how to increase my attractiveness and visibility to recruiters including appropriate buzzwords on my LinkedIn profile. Once I was selected for interviews, Heather helped coach me through commonly asked questions. It was very useful to consult someone who has been on the other side of selecting and interviewing candidates. I ended up significantly revamping my resume and reaching out to recruiters on LinkedIn and I was successful in securing my desired position. Heather is approachable and professional. I appreciated her honesty and sincerity throughout the process and I found her feedback to be extremely valuable. I would highly recommend her if you are seeking assistance in presenting yourself to prospective employers or colleges.

From the owner: Parry College Counseling is a private and independent college admissions consulting company based…read morein Seattle. We help students and parents in the Seattle area and beyond navigate the college search and application process. Whether you're applying for the first time as a freshman or seeking transfer to another college, we're here to help. Some of the services we provide include: -Academic advising and course planning -Coaching on extracurricular activities and leadership development -Generating a comprehensive list of recommended colleges based on inventory of student's academic and personal interests -Support with research and evaluating college fit -Tips for getting the most out of college visits -Standardized test planning and advice -Interview coaching -Support with college application materials, including resumes and portfolios -Scholarship applications and financial aid advising -Transfer application advising