Just got my Class A CDL after completing education and training with SoCal Truck Driver Academy…read more There is very little wasted energy in their approach. You are provided with the materials and behind the wheel training/techniques needed to succeed. The instructors I worked with were great. They were supportive every step of the way and go above and beyond for their students because they want you to succeed. Highly recommend!

THIS SCHOOL IS A SCAM…read more Take warning. This is an unlicensed truck driving school. The owner, Normand Pineault, is currently being sued for fraud, breach of contract, and sexual misconduct. Here is what you can expect in return for your $3,800 enrollment fee: INADEQUATE TRAINING Federal regulations require truck driving schools to teach you certain skills like how to drive on the freeway, how to couple and uncouple the truck from the trailer, and how to dock the truck in different Positions. This school teaches none of that. They spent a few hours teaching me how to back up the truck straight and they had me drive circles in the parking lot of Westminster mall. State regulations require all commercial license applicants to complete at least 15 hours of behind-the-wheel training before you can take your DMV driving test. The owner scheduled me for three 5-hour lessons, but my instructor typically showed up an hour late and left an hour early. He did not let me drive on the freeway because the vehicle is only covered by the insurance policy when the owner is driving. After 3 days, the owner told me that I had received all the training hours I paid for because he includes the instructor's driving time. He will submit false certifications signed under penalty of perjury to the DMV so that you can take your exam without being properly trained. BEFORE you start your first day of training, you will be required to sign the form stating that you've received 15 hours of training that you will never get. If you fail the test, he will offer additional training for $1,000 per day. UNQUALIFIED INSTRUCTORS Federal regulations require behind-the-wheel training instructors to have 2 years experience driving a commercial vehicle. My instructor was hired only 2 weeks after receiving his license. It was very obvious that he did not have any training or experience because he couldn't answer my questions and he routinely put himself in danger by doing things like standing in front of the truck while I was driving. The DMV form that lists your training hours had the owner's name pre-printed in the space for the instructor's name. The name of the actual instructor was not listed. BUSTED EQUIPMENT The school promised me that I would use the same truck for my training and testing, but on the day of my DMV test, they swapped the trucks and I had to take the test on an unfamiliar truck with mechanical problems. When we began the exam, the truck would not even start, and I had to call the owner to do his special trick with jiggling the keys in certain way so the truck will start. The mirrors are improperly mounted and one of them was missing, so I was not able to see where I was going when backing up the truck for part of the examination. The truck I was given for the exam also had a busted transmission, and the gears would grind whenever you try to shift. You will lose points on the exam each time this happens. I have been driving cars with manual transmissions for more than 25 years. I know how to shift. The truck I was given for the test also had some extra pieces of metal sticking off the back of the trailer, and the examiner failed me because these were sticking out beyond the test boundaries. NO TRAINING FACILITIES There is no actual training facility for the school. The business address that is listed is actually the owner's home address in a gated community in Irvine. You can't even drive a truck on those narrow streets. Instead, you will meet your instructor in the parking lot of a storage facility in Irvine where the trucks are kept. There is no room to drive there, but you will practice backing up the truck in the small parking area between customer storage units, so you will need to watch out for people loading and unloading their Ikea furniture. The owner does not have permission to operate and remember that you are not covered by his insurance policy, so try not to run anybody over, because you will be held liable. For additional training, I was driven to Westminster mall each morning (30 minute drive. You will ride in the passenger sear and you can send text messages to your friends while your instructor texts with the owner). Then you will get to practice backing up in the parking lot behind the Best Buy. Delivery vehicles, security guards, and mall patrons will drive through the alley during this time, and you will need to stop to let them pass. Federal regulations require the school to provide a private range to practice your maneuvers uninterrupted. Oops! You wont get that. Try not to run over the Korean man who jogs through the parking lot every morning. Remember, you are uninsured. The parking lot is nothing like the DMV test area, so this will not prepare you at all for your test. Normally we would test with 2 orange cones, but sometimes the instructor will forget to take the cones out of the other truck, so you will practice with only 1 orange cone. Sometimes we used orange hockey pucks instead.

We learned about Magnet's debate program during COVID as we were looking for online programs for…read morethe kids. We are in LA so unfortunately unable to do the in-person classes. It was fantastic. Coach Bill is truly passionate about debate and dedicated. They got to compete in both online and in-person tournaments as COVID lifted. It was a great way to start honing their public speaking skills and confidence. Highly recommend!

From the owner: Speech and Debate Academyread more

My kid is 7 and have been going to Create class for a couple months now, he loves learning about…read morehow to design his own games with coding blocks and the social hour afterwards where he gets to play Minecraft or Roblox. I love the ease of communication with the center and how accommodating and flexible the center is with makeup classes.

My daughter loves going to Code Ninja. It's a great way to learn the fundamentals of logic and…read morecoding blocks before learning actual coding at level 3. They learn how to program games which she has a joy of doing. She has been going since Kindergarten at another location. We moved to this location because they give you an extra of playtime--like 3D printing or playing Minecraft, which makes pick up and drop off a little easier. When they get older, the kids can looks in the folder of what other people programmed and add/edit your own version so it's kind of like open source programming. IMO since the future is all about AI, although AI will be programming for us. I still think computer science will be the fundamental for our kids to learn before learning how to program AI.

My 16 year old son completed driving lessons with DJ from Coastline Driving School and had a great…read moreexperience throughout his training. We are in Victorville, and the scheduling process was very easy. It was simple to book appointments, and they had plenty of availability, which made it convenient for us. DJ was patient, professional, and very knowledgeable. He made our son feel comfortable and confident behind the wheel, which is so important for new drivers. DJ explained things clearly, stayed calm, and really took the time to make sure he understood the rules of the road and safe driving habits. As a parent, it gave me peace of mind knowing he was learning from someone who truly cares about teaching and safety. Highly recommend DJ and Coastline Driving School to anyone looking for a great driving instructor!

Cancelled on us THRICE. I have paid in FULL. Cancellation given less than 2 hours before the…read moredriving lesson. I want my money back or I'm reporting you to the BBB

We live in the bay area in northern CA. My son has been with ModernBrain (remotely) for 3 years and…read moreis heading to high school after this summer. He learned so much from Modernbrain's dedicated and knowledgeable coaches. He also built a lasting friendship with his peers in Modernbrain who share the same passion with him. Our experience with ModernBrain is nothing but great. I would highly recommend it to anyone who might start exploring interst or would like to sharpen skills in specific speech/debate category. BTW, their tuition and tournament fee is very reasonable and transparent, not like some other instituitions in the bay area.

I was watching my 7 year old daughter do her ModernBrain speech and debate class for the 1st time…read moreand the coach asked her to argue the pro of reading versus watching a film. I immediately thought this was going to be hard for her because she definitely loves her movies. Instead what I found was a thoughtful argument for something that I knew would be hard for her. For example, she cited that through reading you can become a better writer, and have better comprehension because you see the same words and gain familiarity. In addition to better reasoning, she was also able to structure her argument better than I expected. She started her argument with a hook which is a question to draw the listener into her speech then she stated a couple of her main points before she began to get into the meat of her argument. I found the whole thing adorable but I'm sure it will also serve her well in all future academic endeavors. I know it'll be useful even for meetings in the business world if 7 year olds are allowed!

I've attended Creative Arts for about 5 years now and it's one of the best art classes I've ever…read morebeen to. They support everyone's creativity and unique ideas. Their classes are great for both young kids and older students. I did my AP Art Studio portfolio here and Meg is a great teacher. She fully supported my ideas and helped me develop them further to better paintings. I became a better artist here and would recommend to everyone that is either just starting out art or amazing at it already. It's a great place to work on any form of art. They've also helped multiple students get i to OCHSA and so much more! This is the best art class you'll find in Irvine from beginning art classes for kids to advanced classes for teens.

My husband and I are not very artistic so when our 9 yr old daughter asked us to add art on her…read morealready long list of activities, we were very hesitant. She kept asking for months so i decided to bring her to Creative Art. We explained to Meg that we did not know anything about art and there's no art gene run in the family. Meg assured us that she has had many students from families just like ours and they did great. We signed up for the tryout lessons and immediately were impressed with our daughter's progress. My very athletic girl can sit thru 2 full hours focused and quietly working on her projects. Meg knows how to encourage her students and she created a very laidback environment, perfect for you to explore and to be creative. Class schedule has many options and when we have conflicts with other activities, they are willing to work with you. I sent my girl's paintings to friends and family members and they are so impressed, we got a lot of "where did she get that from?" We are very happy with Meg and Creative Art

Took the 2 day Critical Skills course out in San Bernardino National Forest and this team is…read moreamazing! A variety of wonderful people and backgrounds attended and I learned so much. Thomas was really helpful, kind and incredibly intelligent with an inspiring story and history of incredible life saving experiences and knowledge! Fun, hard work, and absolutely worth it! and not to mention the beauty of being out there!

This school is great! We have done 3 classes with them. Each class gave us the confidence to go…read morehome and put our new knowledge into practice. I like training with Thomas and Shielah. Take a course with them. You won't regret it.

This is based on our initial evaluation meeting and what I observed in an hour I was there…read more The owner was very welcoming and passionate about coding and could tell he was an expert in the field. He was very thorough in explaining the program and the curriculum. He was kind and answered all my questions during the meeting while my son was in his evaluation session. When I emailed back saying my son didn't show interest, I was expecting a no reply or a short acknowledgement email. Instead he still gave a thorough assessment of how my son did and pointed out the areas where he did well. We're hoping my son changes his mind in the near future but for now I wanted to share the positive experience I had with Btree. I really think this is one of the top coding programs in our area.

Btree Code Academy is a great place to learn coding…read more The curriculum focuses on solving problems rather than just lecturing, and is well designed to adapt to individual student's pace and levels. We were able to customize our learning topics based on our interest and progress. Combined with a small class setting, it feels like having private coding instructions. Our instructor Matthew is very knowledgeable and patient with our young learner. I appreciate the weekly reports about the progress and challenges our student made during each class. Through Matthew, our kiddo learned not just coding, but math concepts and advanced logic. His teaching focuses on exchanging thoughts and ideas with students instead of one-way lecturing. He is transparent, pragmatic, and well-versed in all the coding languages and the programing community that we feel comfortable seeking and relying on his advice regarding areas of opportunity, trending topics, certifications, competitions, or summer camps. The email communication with the school and the owner Daniel is always timely and effective. It's a small and friendly community with like-minded people. Price is reasonable. I highly recommend!