The teachers and staff are outstanding. They go out of their way to make everyone feel included and…read moreI appreciate their kindness and patience.

We as a family had a wonderful time last semester at Burlington Little School. Our son has acquired…read morea great set of friends, sprouted quite a vocabulary, maintained a great relationship with his teachers, and most importantly had a wonderful time. In being new to the area, my wife and I really appreciate the openness of the school, the innovation in the working garden, natural surroundings/playground, and classroom activities. For us as parents, we've met quite a lot of really interesting people with similar interests. For us as a family, we feel that Burlington Little School is a great fit for us.

Montessori Preschool Program at Josephine Sunset Home:…read more I was really impressed by what the director of the program told me and I had previously had my child in Montessori so I put him in the program after only a quick tour and meeting with the instructor. My initial impression was a little weird, the kids did not seem really happy or friendly. I shrugged off my initial gut feeling because kids are kids and they are not always "on". After the first day of Class my child said, "I don't want to go back there mom, ever!" I tried to ask questions and got nothing from my child or any feedback from the teacher when we went back for school the next time. The teacher said he was a little slow but he will warm up and that is all I got in terms of a report from her. The morning of the next school day my child refused to get ready, dumped toys on the floor of living room so we would be late and even DELIBERATELY MADE HIMSELF SICK SO HE WOULD NOT HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL! When I picked my child up the second day, as soon as I got my child in the car he started crying! (not typical behavior). After trying everything to get an answer from him on what was going on I again was getting no where. I am not the type of person that will give up when something goes bad but I wanted to know if a kid was bullying my child or what the situation was. I decided to record my child at school by putting a digital recorder in his pocket to see if he was being bullied. Turns out the kids are really nice, but the teacher is verbally humiliating some of the kids and making them feel stupid. The teaching method is DEFINITELY NOT MONTESSORI. the teacher is writing and instructing on board and children are meant to remember and recall what was taught on board over 20min ago. (keep in mind this is 3-6 year olds) When my son struggled and asked for help the teacher in a sarcastic tone asked why don't you know this? I just went over this on the board. That's when he started crying and it did not end for over an hour! He would ask her for help several time but no help was offered by teacher. He would say, "Ms. Thomas." and she would reply "Ms. Thomas has left the building" . She even humiliated a little girl from the class in front of the other kids because she had an accident in her pants before they were to go to the playground..... I can go on and on with the examples from my recording. But after listening to it I just wanted to cry because my son trusted me and I put him in that environment. He is now in a different preschool but still talks about how that teacher treated him. I want school to be a positive experience for my kids so they will have a fulfilling learning experience later. the kids are definitely not getting this with the Montessori program at Josephine Sunset Home.

I have a 8 year old who also has Autism that attends the school-age childcare program at…read moreJosephine's, before/after as well as non-school days and summer camp. I am impressed with their staff as to their professionalism and honest display of affection and patience for all the children there, and believe me it tends to get loud in the different classrooms because they take children as young as 4 weeks old, they have a Montessori Preschool program and ECEAP along with infant, preschool and school-age care. We were concern with how will our son would do at Josephine as he has always had one-one-one care, but he has really improved on his social skills and has bonded with all the teachers and childcare providers and they are trained to deal with special needs children - not to mention that there is a medical staff on duty 24/7 because of the senior programs they have. The best part of Josephine is how the kids interact with the residents, "Grandparents" there. They do sing-a-longs help with activities...the whole inter-generational exposure has been great for our son as he doesn't have any living grandparents. Highly recommend Josephine's childcare program.

I am a mother of two boys, and I have been in search for a good preschool in Skagit County. I have…read morebeen taking tours at different schools assessing what would be best for my children. I believe preschool should be an amazing experience, it is when our little ones are first introduced to a learning environment. To me a well-rounded school offers learning through classroom experience, art, music, computers, and physical activities. So far I have only found one school in the area that offers this to our preschoolers. Skagit Adventist Academy has overall surpassed all the other preschools in the area for teaching our children to be successful and introducing to them many different aspects of learning. I want my children to love going to school, and to learn as much as possible in a fun, loving environment.

Due to the fact that child care and preschools are hard to come by in this military town, we were…read morereferred to the SVC ECEAP preschool. It is a state-funded preschool that is free for families who qualify. Preschool is Tuesday-Friday and there is a morning class(8:30am-11:30am) and afternoon class(12:15pm-3:15pm). Although there are no classes on Mondays, the office is still open. Since this preschool is put on by Skagit Valley College, parents can actually earn elective credits every semester just by having their children attend the school! They do tours of the college so you can see what it's all about. Even though I am not currently taking other classes at SVC, I love the fact that I can still utilize their services being that I'm enrolled by having my son attend the preschool. There are a lot of great other resources for parents to help support their children whether it be educational, emotional, financial, etc. There is a parent council for those who want to get more involved and they have frequent luncheons so you can meet and socialize with other parents. Towards the end of the year, kids who will be going to Kindergarten will get to go on a school bus and get a sneak peak at a real grade school class room. This is an absolutely wonderful preschool with amazing teachers and staff! My sons teachers were Miss Patricia, Miss Jill, and Miss Sonni. They are all very attentive to each of the children and you can see how passionate they are as teachers. I really appreciate all that they do and we will miss them terribly!

Awesome place!! Our daughter just started going and loves it!! Thank you Debra!!Sherri!!Joy!! Cali…read moreis super excited to learn and read now

We Love Sylvan and the wonderful people who work and teach there!…read moreOur son was two years behind his classmates, for reasons that were not his fault. Trying to figure out how to get him caught up, so he could graduate on time, was easy once we discovered Sylvan Learning of Sylvan. We would recommend Sylvan to anyone who wants their student to either get caught up, or to go far ahead of the norm. They're great at both. Thank you, Sylvan Staff for everything that you've done for our son. We really appreciate your service.

Our family has participated in several Camp Fire programs around the Pacific Northwest, and we…read moreattended the Camp Kirby day camp in July 2025. While my daughter seemed to enjoy herself and spoke positively about the experience, the overall setup left me uneasy as a parent. Camp Kirby is located on a small island about 35 minutes from Bellingham. The setting is rustic and remote, and you have to drive very slowly down a long road to reach it. It's an unusual place, quiet and tucked away, but also far removed from anything else. The biggest issue for me was the lack of transparency and connection with the camp itself. Drop-off and pickup were tightly controlled: you wait in a long car line, staff approach your window, and then you're expected to drive off. There was no opportunity to meet the counselors, interact with other parents, or even glimpse the facilities. I asked nicely twice during the week if I could just see where my daughter was spending her day, and was told both times to email the director due to camper privacy. I understand wanting to protect kids, but other Camp Fire locations I've attended have found ways to balance privacy with openness. Here, I left every day with no idea what the camp looked like or what was going on inside. Communication was also minimal. Other camps send daily updates with photos and summaries. At Kirby we received one brief email and a photo album with a single blurry side photo of my daughter. I strongly recommend that Camp Kirby improve transparency by posting photos or videos of the grounds and facilities online. Even a virtual tour would go a long way toward helping parents understand where their kids will be all week. As it stands, I still have no idea what the space looks like. They offer one open house in the spring, but unless you live nearby, that's not realistic. The counselors seemed kind, though a little overwhelmed. And while my daughter's experience may have been positive, I genuinely don't know, because parents are kept completely at arm's length. I wouldn't recommend this camp unless you live nearby or already know someone with firsthand experience. They need to build more trust with parents and provide a clearer window into what's actually happening during the week.

Great,naturalistic camp for kids. One of the few remaining open-water / salt-water summer camps…read moreleft. Our kids love going there year after year. They have waterfront & camp craft programs, tee pees, tree houses and cabins for ages 5 - 14. Would recommend.

Oak Harbor Intermediate School has a lovely field open to the public during non-school hours. The…read morefield is grass and has a gravel walking/running path/track around it. The shape of the path is not exactly an oval, more curved rectangular in shape. There are also a few areas open for play/that contain different exercise equipment. I would guess these are used in physical education (P.E.) classes as part of the school's offerings and potentially are available for use in home-schooling physical education curriculums based in the area. In my experience coming here, I have yet to find the field and track in heavy usage on a given visit. Personally, I like less traffic when walking/running a path/track. So, in that sense this is a perfect place to come early in the morning and get some distance in.

This preschool is amazing! The teachers are kind, knowledgeable and truly care about their role in…read moresmall children's lives. Every time I pick my daughter up from school she is so happy and doesn't want to leave. Hands down the best childcare/school experience we have had yet with our 2 children.