We've been going to Summer Spark the past three summers, and my two 8 year olds are so excited to…read morego back this summer. This is such a special camp. The owner picks very high quality staff (teachers, I'm pretty sure) and trains them very well. It's not just a camp, it's a giant leap forward in your child's social, emotional development and problem solving skills. But the kids would not tell you that, they just love that they are having fun! I love that they get out and explore nature and create stuff out of recycled materials to solve fun challenges. They also learn the vocabulary of growth mindset and team work. The only drawback has been the location - but they've already fixed that by expanding to additional locations. Oh, and yes, it is one of the most expensive camps, but it's worth it!

My daughter absolutely loved this camp and Skylar Bossen is such an amazing camp coordinator. We…read morewill definitely be returning.

I took an online class through Zoom to learn how to make fresh baguettes and loquat jelly. It was…read morean adult class and I had my 17 year old son engaged as well, mostly because he wanted to impress his girlfriend. My son and I worked side by side on our own batches, watching and listening to chef Pascal as she walked us through the process. Bake Austin provided a way for my son and I to spend special time together during quarantine. Not only that, we learned a great deal and have become better cooks because of it. Since the class I purchased an oven thermometer and a scale. I leaned that my oven takes much more time than I thought to come up to temp! My younger son watched a recording of a brownie class from Bake Austin and made a batch of brownies. The next day he flipped through my cook book and made a 2nd batch of brownies. He's baked at least once per week since watching his first Bake Austin video. I think the video made him realize he could bake, and bake he has! During our strange quarantine period Bake Austin and Chef Pascal have been a bright spot in our lives. I'm incredibly grateful for their time and effort and I hope they receive enough paying customers to make it.

Chef Pascal offered donation based quarantine camps for the kids. They were an absolute blessing…read more My daughter is hyperactive she and doesn't entertain herself well. We have a house with five kids so that led to many fights. Chef Pascal's classes kept her focused on something she has been interested in since she was little. They kept her busy, planning, buying, organizing, and led to nice treats for the family. While not everything she made was easy or worked out, she learned to work through it and learned from the mistakes for next time. She has grown much more confident in her abilities and excited to try new things in the kitchen. We look forward to Bake Austin's summer camps and other future opportunities.

The environment and the camp counselors are the best! My son enjoys every chance to spend time on…read morethe KHS campus.

We have heard about Kirby Hall from a friend whose son goes there for school. This summer, I found…read moreout I had a week of gap in my 8 years old daughter summer camp schedule. Like a skillful project manager swiftly scheduling a resource to fill in a gap in his/her Gantt chart, I quickly went on Kirby Hall's website and signed her up for her first Art & Craft camp at Kirby Hall. My daughter had a blast. Her art camp had only 5 kids in it, so the kids get plenty of one-on-one with the teacher. She learned to knit and was and is still hooked. I knew zilch about knitting and I had to turn to internet and her teacher so I could help her during her first few days of knitting at home. Her teacher was so supportive and corresponded with me throughout the week to keep me informed of the progress. The kids learned paper mache, weaving a basket from used T-shirts, creating paper arts from cut up magazines and paint samples. Such a creative program!

My kid did a week of this camp at the beginning of summer, and we liked it so much that we signed…read morehim up for two more weeks at the end. Kids are given a good mixture of guided "we're all working on this type of project" as well as free construction time to make side figures and add personal touches. He is hooked. I love that he is getting to explore a new creative outlet with practical applications. A+

This camp is truly awesome! We have done it for a couple of years now and my kids always look…read moreforward to it! Kami and her team are amazing! The kids come home exhausted, dirty and with a huge smile on their face! Highly recommend this awesome Austin organization! Looking forward to next year!!

I paid $160 for a program that did not provide any feedback to my child to date and I cannot get my…read moredaughter signed up for her correct modules. No one will get back to me on a refund. My daughter was looking forward to this but now we are just do disappointed and I want my money back. Don't sign your kid up for this program! They just take your money and ignore you and your child. Here's a thought: don't boast of a service you simply are I'll equipped to deliver. It's called false advertising.

The staff was really nice and the birthday party that was going on was handled well. The kids had…read morefun with all the activities. Kind of like organized chaos. Good way to spend an hour or so and burn off all that energy

What a horrible new manager! Rude and absolutely refused to honor our passes because they were…read moreoriginally purchased as a gift to me, and were put in MY name! I've never had an issue there before and the owner lady has been super nice and helpful when I met her last year. Will not be back until that manager is gone.

We are beyond thankful and equally impressed with this school. From the start, the Director gave…read moreme much confidence that we were making the right choice for our then 3.5 year old son. We felt at home from the beginning when we showed up to observe on a tour last fall. I sat in on both 3-6 yr old classes (one of the classes was set up in the back of the main house while the other class took up the front space). During my 10 min observation of each class, I noticed the following montessorian traits: -focus that each child or group of children exhibited in respective work/socialization -what appeared to me as a very calm and controlled environment from the children themselves -a sense of enjoyment by all At the time, I was extremely cautious mainly around how my son would behave knowing his impulse control behaviors and most importantly his delay in speech had been issues at a prior school. I laid my concerns out for the TMC and they only reassured me that our son was the typical 3 yr old. Within a weeks time, we transferred our son to TMC with a gradual transition based on his needs. That was over 6 months ago and our son couldn't be thriving more. We attribute this to an entire staff of loving, caring and very patient super-star individuals at TMC. While our son still is difficult to understand with his speech and still has outbursts, luckily they're short-lived; but furthermore, our son's vocabulary has exploded since his time at TMC. And even more importantly is that our son really does enjoy going to school and when we pick him up rarely does he want to leave. When your child begins to talk about his friends and the teachers he says he loves, unsolicited --- you know you made the right decision with TMC!! I wish all of our friends' kids could experience The Montessori Center!

We moved to Austin recently and were in search of a summer program for our three year old. I felt…read morean instant connect with Jessica - the director of the school, she is warm and very accommodating. Our son was here for two months and we loved it. They teachers are wonderful - Bekah, Barbara, CJ and Augusta.It was easy to slip into conversation with them during pick up and they were generous with mindful observations about how my son was doing at school. The school is located in a charming street with plenty of green tress and has been a place of learning since 1970. The bricks have inscriptions on them and the tiles have pictures that peek and tell stories of children who were here. The classrooms have plenty of material for children to choose from and they are very aesthetically done. Every time I drop off the little one the atmosphere has been so lively with music and sprinklers - I wish I could stay a little longer. My wish was granted when Jessica allowed me to stay for an hour and shadow the class. The rest of my review is details of the a few hours I spent in the classroom with Barbara and Bekah. It was the last day of summer so the excitement and restlessness was palpable. Children were being dropped off and they were helping themselves to a snack of whole wheat toast and delicious cream. They started to settle down and pick activities. Some worked on alphabet activities, some with books, some with puzzles, some picked numeric activities and some art and sensory activities. Children either worked alone or in small groups. The teacher helped the children who worked with letters to understand phonetics. Two little girls settled down with books - the younger a little distracted and the older focussed, learning from each other. Another little girl got a bunch of pocket books and flipped through them alone - immersed. The teachers did a fine job of balancing - offering help when needed and letting the children be as needed. The little ones seemed to prefer sensory work - coloring, playing with cotton swabs, watering plants and painting. Each activity is set up on a quaint tray and children are encouraged to clean up after they are done. The class is soon settled and bustling with an air of calm, busy, enthusiasm. Everyone finding their zone, their space, taking time to choose an activity, work and wind up. Some stick with an activity for 10 mins, some 20 and others longer. Little girls are busy drawing a unicorn, a boy in learning to sew with thread and paper. Two little girls sit together and play with colored tiles, learning to match and compare. A little boy who has been playing with shimmer - used a dust pan to clean up and does a throughout job. Older kids tend to persist more and interaction with adults definitely encourages them. Overall a great environment to learn to pick what you like, stick and find meaning in what you do, learn to wind down and clean up when you are done and derive joy through the process.

Genuinely is my childhood I LOVE KIDSACTING Ï have been in so many of these plays used to be in the…read moregoogle maps picture, absolutely built my confidence. Is the reason why Ím in theatre. Love Kel Sanders, Anthony, Mary, and Henry! (Srry if I spelt any names wrong) AND DON'T FORGET EVERY CHILD IS BORN TO BE A STAR!!!

Stumbled into the production of "Cabaret." Surely this would be some very creative adaptation…read moreappropriate for the cast members. NOPE! I was astonished to see high school girls....14,15,16,17,18,19 year old girls in lingerie! Really! Fish nets, thigh highs, garter belts, corsets, laughing up shaking their barely covered bums and bosoms in clear sexual intent towards an audience of adults. Imagine your 15 year old daughter saying they found a job, making good money, scantily clothed and provocatively dancing for adults. Sign me up, right?!? But hey, for the "arts," let's encourage it. *Parents beware.* There is a serious lack of judgement by this organization and some of the performance had to be bordering on criminal. I don't have photos to add to the review...I would end up on some watch list if I did.

My son enjoyed the camp this summer. He came home exhausted but looked forward to the next day. He…read moreshared many stories and was comfortable with the staff. Mr. Yo Han greeted them with so much energy each morning during drop off and had the same amount of energy at afternoon pick up. Thanks for the wonderful experience!

This is the second year my son has joined Camp Fire summer camp and has had an amazing time each…read moretime - hiking, learning archery, swimming, building forts, making new friends. The counsellors are so kind and enthusiastic about learning about nature and having fun. Its a special place!

I've hired a few other tutors before hiring Planting Seeds with Chris. My son has always been…read morechallenging in wanting to study and complete his homework. His English grades have mostly been close to failing. However, Chris has found a way to motivate him and got him on track to put some effort in. Chris is the most organized, encouraging, and well rounded tutor I've hired for my son. Because of this, my son's study habits and grades have significantly improved. Currently he is making an A in English and I'm grateful to have hired Chris to help.

Prior to Planting Seeds Tutoring & Test Prep, my younger brother struggled with reading. Despite…read moretrying out several methods, nothing seemed to work for him as his teacher informed me that he would only answer 2 out of 38 questions correctly during his mock STAAR reading tests. During that time, he would take up the whole day whereas everyone else completed their assessments within 4 hours. Fortunately, my mother and I found Planting Seeds Tutoring & Test Prep on Thumbstack. Chris was very quick at responding back to my emails. Within a few days, he introduced us to India. She served as my younger brother's tutor for a month up until the day before the actual STAAR reading test. Within the first meeting, she assessed my brother and determined how many hours per week he required to gain maximum help. During the tutoring sessions, she tried her very best to make it fun and interactive for my brother to learn new reading and writing skills. She also communicated with the teacher in order to accommodate her lessons with his reading performance in school. Within the third week, he successfully answered 27 out of 38 questions correctly during another mock STAAR reading test. While going over his exam, I noticed all the analytical notes my brother took alongside each reading passage. He then proceeded to tell me how they greatly helped him answer the more difficult questions. Overall, there were several aspects that I greatly liked about Planting Seeds Tutoring & Test Prep: 1. Chris informed my mother and I about the financial matters behind their services prior to the first session with India 2. India always informed me whenever she was running late and always made up by staying in a few minutes extra 3. Compared to the more expensive tutoring services in Houston, their prices made it easier for my mother to afford additional tutoring sessions with India 4. My mother and I found it very convenient that they offer at-home tutoring sessions. India provided consistent tutoring sessions that worked well around our schedules 5. India usually supplied additional homework that further helped my brother gain reading tactics necessary to pass the STAAR test 6. Everyone from Planting Seeds Tutoring & Test Prep are very professional and courteous. Even though we are not currently utilizing their services, they are more than willing to help out my brother during the remainder of the school year and beyond! We are currently anticipating my brother's actual STAAR reading results from TEA. We're truly hoping their services aided my brother in attaining a passing grade!