We've had a wonderful experience with Cradlerock Children's Center (CCC)! Both of my children have…read moreattended CCC, and our youngest is currently enrolled. From the start, it has been clear that this is a special place where children are nurtured, supported, and encouraged to thrive. This center is non-profit (the only non-profit early childcare center in the county), so you know that they are not just after your money, they really care about your children and their education. Tuition increases, when they happen have been extremely low. I was on the waitlist for almost 2 years (due to extremely low family turnover) for one of my children which speaks to the fact that they are offering a unique, well sought after program. One of my favorite things about CCC is the delicious and nutritious meals that are served every day and included in the price of tuition. And the best part is that its FARM to Table. No other preschool is offering that in the area. My kids are extremely picky eaters, but they eat all of the food served and this has helped me expand their palette and incorporate more nutritious meals at home. As a busy mom, having these meals takes one more thing off my plate for the week. The staff at Cradlerock is great and the center has really low turnover. There are teachers that have been there over 10+ years. My children have loved their teachers, and the staff consistency has made a huge difference in their comfort and development. The teachers are warm, welcoming, and really care about each child's growth academically, socially and emotionally. Ms. Amanda, the center's director does a fantastic job of balancing cost and budget but making sure there is delivery on effective high value programming and events. The admin and staff do a great job with communicating with brightwheel messages and newsletters to keep parents informed. She has also been leading the expansion efforts of Cradlerock Children's center's move to a new building which will happen in Summer of 2026 and CCC will be able to spread their goodness to even more families as they will be able to accommodate more families in a larger facility! The emphasis on social-emotional learning is one of the things I appreciate most. My kids learned how to manage emotions, interact kindly with peers, and problem-solve in real situations. Because of this thoughtful approach, both of my boys have made great friends and looked forward to school every single day. Another huge advantage for working parents is that Cradlerock is open on most calendar days, unlike many other schools that follow school system calendars, or have an insane amount of days off, the calendar at CCC is really great for working parents that need to go into the office everyday. Most importantly, the tuition cost is lower than many comparable programs, yet the quality of care, education, and overall experience is outstanding. We've always felt like we're getting great value for a top-tier early childhood program. I can't recommend Cradlerock Children's Center enough. If you are thinking of coming here, do it! It will be the best decision you've ever made!

Cradlerock has been an amazing experience for my children. We are going on our 3rd year and second…read morechild and my only regret is I didn't discover them sooner. My oldest thrived in both academics and social emotional learning. The teachers and administrators are incredibly knowledgeable and approach early learning in exciting ways! Don't get me started on the food and enrichment! The quality of the meals is unparalleled and my son loved growing food in their garden that he would then eat for lunch or breakfast. They have powerful enrichment classes such as STEAM and Fitness unlike anything I have ever seen in a preschool. Cradlerock Children's Center exceeds every expectations I have for preschool education (and I have very high ones ).

I seriously can't say enough good things about this center. We are heartbroken to leave, and it's…read moreonly because our family has moved to a new home this center is too far for our commutes. Our son went here from 9mos to 2 yrs and he has grown so much! He can count to 10 in English and Spanish, identifies so many colors and shapes, and can hold a crayon with confidence. Beyond education, the teachers here truly care about the children and show love, compassion, and attention to all students. They have wonderful seasonal events, theme weeks in the summer, and lots of opportunities for fun. My very small feedback is that sometimes it was hard to communicate about supplies needed like diapers or changes of clothes, and sometimes we had to wait a while at pick up. 10/10 recommend this place to anyone. Your kid will be safe and happy here.

We are excited for our daughter as she is blossoming in her 3 year old class. Her writing and…read morecreative playing have gotten so fun! Her teachers are so engaging and have helped us guide her through tantrums and growing pains! She loves painting, story time, Zumba and the cool (and safe) playground. Our son was totally ready for Kindergarten this past fall and I know that the Kiddie Academy Family was a big part of that.

My family is so grateful to the teachers of Wilde Lake Children's Nursery. My child has learned so…read moremuch through his time at the school so far (mentally, socially, emotionally) and we are so excited to see how he continues to grow and learn there in the 3s and 4s classes. We absolutely intend to send our daughter to WLCN as well, as soon as she is old enough for the 2s class. My husband and I thoroughly researched all the co-op style schools in the area, visiting as many as possible and WLCN stood out to us from the rest right from the beginning. We were able to visit and stay through an entire day of school to really see how the school functioned and observe the teachers with the students, while most other schools either only allowed observation of class through a window or held open houses outside of class time. It was so helpful to get a real feel for what a day at school consisted of. Not only did we love the passion that the talented teachers all possessed, but we were highly impressed by the warm, welcoming atmosphere, the play-based curriculum, and the cleanliness of the school. All the teachers, parent volunteers, and other families involved at WLCN were so open and helpful once we joined the school - they immediately felt like a second family. Lots of things have changed since the Covid-19 pandemic began, but through it all, WLCN's teachers have continued to be there for us, providing as much virtual content as possible to help the children continue to learn despite the school closures at the end of the year. They never cease to amaze me! We love WLCN and look forward to our children continuing to learn, grow, and thrive there in the upcoming years!

This is exactly what we were looking for...A warm, welcoming, play based little school for our two…read moreyear old for a couple mornings a week. The lead teacher, Ms. Tammie, is connected, prepared and clearly takes great delight in supporting the growth of each student. The group is diverse and the kids are great.

My daughter attended this school for two years. It's an amazing school with great staffs.read more

We are very grateful to this school for accommodating our daughter after the year had already…read morestarted, we don't expect they can do this for everyone but it's one of the reasons we loved it so much. The director of this school is amazing, she pours her heart, time, work, and love into the school, kids, activities, events, and ceremonies. The teachers are excellent as is the quality of the education. The behavior expectations are strict, but their methods are objectively effective and the teachers use proper disciplinary techniques (our daughter never complained about teachers shouting, yelling, or being mean like at other schools she's been at). Our 5 year old finished pre-K and is able to read, do math, and also learned history and geography. We recently took a long road trip and she often talked to us in the car about things she learned in school about the different states we visited, or historical figures we mentioned (She learned a lot about MLK, for instance). The school is wonderfully diverse, there is no religious affiliation so our daughter was taught equally about all religious and cultural traditions during the different holidays. We loved all the events, and ceremonies we attended, in the year our daughter was here we went to a few seasonal concerts were the kids sang and danced, as well as a trunk or treat, Halloween parade, earth-day activity, and a surprisingly robust graduation ceremony! We absolutely recommend this school to anyone in the area, preschool is a very important developmental stage for children and this school did a fantastic job setting our daughter up for success in K-12!

We had a premature baby in the middle of our move to Maryland. We thought we had lots of time to…read moreget the house ready but it didn't work out that way. Needless to say having a half furnished house with a newborn was very challenging. We were nervous about the idea of putting our infant in daycare at such a young age. We researched and toured four local daycares and ultimately chose the young school. We are glad we did. Ms Susan and Ms Kimi have been great and the administration staff is super attentive and friendly. The school is clean and well run. Their communication has been excellent and they take great care of our son. We particularly like the SproutAbout app which provides regular activity updates on everything from bottle feeding to activities which makes us feel like we are involved even while away and provides a sense of security in understanding what transpires during the day. The hours are also convenient for us as is the location which never has morning traffic. We are so glad we found the young school and recommend them! - Darren

DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD HERE -- READ THIS BEFORE YOU MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID…read moreI'm writing this review because I wish someone had been this honest before I enrolled my daughter. I ignored my gut feeling after reading about children being thrown out of the cot to wake them up. I personally spoke to the director, who reassured me that the person responsible was no longer working there and that none of that was happening anymore. I believed her and enrolled my daughter. That was the worst decision I could've made. From the beginning, I picked my daughter up multiple times soaking wet clothes, underwear, everything. Not once did ANY staff member mention accidents, not once did anyone clean her, and not once did anyone take responsibility. I tried to be patient, but things just kept getting worse. The situation that completely shocked me happened on October 22nd. I picked my daughter up and found diarrhea all over her underwear, through her pants, onto her dress, down to her socks and even in her shoes. The smell was strong and the mess was obvious. This was not something you could "miss." My daughter is FIVE YEARS OLD. This has never happened since she has been potty trained. When I asked her what happened, she told me she tried to go to the bathroom but couldn't because the teachers were changing a bunch of babies in there. I've witnessed this happen previously myself. It clearly prevented my daughter from using the bathroom. And what's worse? NO ONE noticed she had diarrhea all over her. NO ONE changed her. NO ONE told me anything. A week later, I picked her up again and she had dirt all over her bottom. The teacher tried to tell me "she got a little dirty going down the slide." The moment I looked at her, I knew she was soaked in pee. When I grabbed her nap roll, it was completely wet with urine. Nap time is at 12:30 pm. I picked her up at 5:30 PM. That means she had been sitting in pee for HOURS and not a single adult bothered to check her, clean her, or notify me. This is neglect. There is no other word for it. And the final straw, the thing that made me pull her out immediately was when she came home with an actual bald spot where another child had ripped out her hair. No call. No incident report. No explanation. Nothing. I discovered it myself at home. That is completely unacceptable and unsafe. I wish I could go more in detail to share with parents, but this is now a legal matter. I am not exaggerating. I have pictures of everything I'm describing, and I included them in this review so parents can see the truth for themselves. Please do not be fooled by all the five-star reviews. Parents had the possibility of receiving 10% off their tuition in exchange for writing a review. That's why so many glowing reviews popped up at the same time. I also included proof of that so you can see the pattern yourself. If you care about your child's well-being, hygiene, safety, or basic dignity, do NOT send your child here. I wish someone had been this direct with me.

I couldn't even get past the initial interaction with 'customer service.' I was asked for my name,…read moreprovided it and was told 'that's not the name I have.' Whoa, scary. Come to find out, The Young School keeps your info on file indefinitely even if you never tour or enroll your child. I inquired years ago when my middle child who is now 9 was one. They had no openings then. This means that they have had my info lying dormant for 8 years which I signed nothing agreeing to. I've gotten married, changed my name and had another baby since. None of this would have been an issue if the rep didn't respond in a suspicious tone when I provided my name. Instead of saying, "hey, I see you may have inquired about our center in the past, have you had a name change or gotten married?' It was more of a tone that conveyed suspicion. Just a weird interaction altogether. When I brought it to the attention of the rep she began to raise her voice and ask for even MORE personally identifying information. Lady I just want to know if you have any openings to start! May be a nice center maybe not, I would never know thanks to this initial interaction.

THIS IS NOT A REVIEW ABOUT THEIR CHILDCARE. I know that they're rated well for the childcare they…read moreprovide. However, trying to get information and a tour has been unreasonably difficult. They canceled a virtual tour of their facility twice. Also, Jessica Trail - the head of the school - takes too long to respond to emails. I figure they're not going to miss our business since they seem to have a long waitlist (this is just conjecture since I can't really get any solid information). Be that as it may, I still think it's reasonable as a prospective patron to expect follow-through and timely responsiveness (meaning no more than two business days). In the interest of fairness, I must add that Jamie Sultz (admissions?) has been quite lovely to speak with.

Military Montessori school. Your kids will come out with superb manners but will lack any…read moreindividuality. Poor communication as well. Please, if you decide to enroll, talk to the primary teacher who will be actually teaching your child as the front desk is there to give you a false sense of warmness.

My son (32 months) loves JBS-Columbia, and so does mom & dad. This school has provided us with a…read morelevel of comfort indescribable. Since enrolling a year ago, our son's Intellect has grown tremendously, the environment helps to balance and support his energetic nature and curiosity for learning. The teachers are calm, tenured and caring. The parent community is wonderful as well, we socialize with one another and make sure to catch phone numbers when we find our that our kids are really good friends. We are deeply appreciative of the JBS' community!

Teachers are good, administration is ok and accounting is nightmare, they have hidden policies to…read moreovercharge and in a pretty immoral way. If you dont mind being charged more than what is published, the school is good but I do mind being wrongly charged even if it is a couple dollar more or hundred plus like in our case.

Tuition is cheap, but they aren't very professional and often use cartoons on screen time to…read morebabysit the children. Their administration is pretty terrible and incompetent. You would never guess they manage other schools in the area by their lack of safety protocols. I had my relative pick up my child with no proper checks. Management also doesn't tell you when diseases are spreading among the children.

After three yers of going here the owner kicked us out.....The lack of teachers is a problem…read more There was one teacher in class as opposed to two. So kids couldn't go to the bathroom because not enough teachers were there...When my wife addressed this with the owner, the owner kicked us out of the school. Do Not let your children and your families fall under this dictatorial regime. The directors and the teachers(whom change on a monthly basis) are great. The owner is horrible. Plus the toys in the school are older then all of my kids combined. For the money she should be getting new toys for the kids yearly. Do not pay money to give this owner more incentive to keep this business model going

My son has attended the Goddard School for over 3 years, and he loves his teachers and other staff…read moremembers. He was identified with a speech delay to which the staff supports and accommodates his IEP therapies with ease. Pros: Great facility, provide your picky child what they want to eat, educated professionals, good curriculum (chess, soccer camp, sign language, etc.) Cons: pricey (pay for quality), high assistant turnover (typical)

Our toddler started here a couple of months ago and we can't be happier with the place. Previously,…read morehe was kept home with a nanny, but when she abruptly left us we wondered what to do. No longer having her was a blessing in surprise as now he's in a place where he learns daily, from talking to social skills. Let's start with the caregivers, who've all been very pleasant and understanding. We especially like "Miss Meg", who knows every little child by name and recognizes their personalities and behaviors. Just the other day she was professionally reigning in a child that was being a bit of a bully, teaching some ethical behavior. All of the caregivers are polite, professional, and ready to talk with you about anything. They keep a daily log on food, naps, diapers, and what the child was up to, all to discuss with the parent at the end of the day. I've even had them gladly change my son if he's due for a new diaper right when I show up to take him home. Even better, they're going to help potty train him... oh yeah! Then we look at the facility, which is larger than it appears and full of everything for a growing mind. The toddler room has plenty of toys, including building blocks, and all the amenities of a school. An in-house kitchen is used to serve proper food, they use one of the larger areas (for older kids) to have a weekly movie afternoon, and they have plenty of outdoor play area that the children use regularly. There is also a locked front door with a security keypad, to ensure school safety. The only downside is the price, and even then it's average for the area. You can expect to pay upwards of $400/week for babies, dropping to about $300/week once they're over two and continuing to drop after that. It seems expensive, but considering you're basically putting them into pre-preschool, and you can see the value. You do have to call and make sure they have any openings, but La Petite is part of a larger chain of day cares throughout the area, so they may have other locations that might work as well. If you're in need of some place for your little one, then I can't recommend La Petite enough!

When i had to go back to work with my baby being 3 months old. I was terrified about sending him to…read moredaycare. I toured at least 15 places and La Petite was the only place i didn't want to run back out of. I love the brightwheel app. I love everybody at the center. They really make it feel like a big family. My little boy is almost 2 now and still goes there. It seems like he learns something new everyday. They are constantly finding fun ways to teach the kids new things.