Amanda puts her heart and soul into everything she does. Wonderful program. Varied group ages and…read moregenders

Teacher dan was always great to us and the kids. He makes the classes fun and engaging. They are…read moresuper accommodating with payment we had already made when we had to move across country. We are grateful and I'd recommend their classes to anyone with little kiddos!

My piano had not been tuned in many years - about 10 or so. Caleb Crockett of Chicago Piano Tuner…read morewas better than I expected. He was on time and spent quite a bit of time on my piano. It has never sounded better. (He plays better than I do.) I will continue to use Caleb and his company in the future. He's great!

Punctual, did a great job on a piano that had been out of tune for many years, and reasonably…read morepriced.

Great Teacher. Very knowledgeable and also good sense of humor. Location is also very good, just a…read morefew steps away from the Davis metro station. Highly recommended

Got a great quote. They arrived within the window, and made quick business of disassembling and…read morepacking up the piano. They loaded it up, brought it to the second location, and had it set up with no issue. Super professional, super fast, and very friendly service. Highly recommended!!

Piano was moved today. Very professional. Price was reasonable. Nice movers. Highly recommend.read more

I was disappointed with my experience. During what was going to be a routine tuning, I was told my…read moreBaldwin Hamilton baby grand needed all new hammers for approximately $2,750 because the tone was too bright (that the hammers installed on these are not good). Before making such a significant investment, I sought a second opinion from another very skilled and experienced piano tuner and was told that my hammers were completely fine and all I needed was a tuning. I felt that I was trying to be majorly upsold, and did not appreciate that.

Good movers. I wi have them tune my piano in 3 weeks as well! It was a good experience.read more

This is a great school with a caring faculty and staff. They have a lot of extra curricular…read moreactivities and create a wonderful, well rounded learning environment! There is even a special Resource Teacher that is able to work with those who may need an extra challenge or are struggling a bit. They have 2 campuses. One is listed above. The other is 3740 W. Belden Ave. Chicago, IL 60647 773.342.5854.

My uncle lives in a house that he nearly single handedly built himself in the woods of Vermont…read more It's sturdy, beautiful, and expertly crafted. So I thought, "surely I must have some of this handiness in my previously totally non-handy self." But before I plunked down thousands of dollars for lathes, circular saws and other manly machines you can buy at Home Depot, I thought I'd test the waters with a woodworking class. Finding one in Chicago proved harder than expected until one say I saw a flyer at a local coffee shop advertising Woodsmyths. It sounded like exactly what I'd been looking for: hands on, experience with a variety of common woodworking tools, and a mix of instruction and projects. The class started out fine enough: there were about 10 people, we read some handouts, received some brief instructions, then got down to business. I liked that we'd get to work on things ourselves that we'd then take home to keep, but the instruction left a lot to be desired. The teacher is a bit eccentric and seemed more concerned that everyone finished their projects than whether they actually learned anything. I felt rushed, didn't feel encouraged to ask questions and when I did, the instructor often just fixed my problem for me instead of showing me how to do it. After 10 weeks and $350, I had three items I'd crafted mostly myself: a toolbox, a simple bookshelf and a storage box-style end table. The last of these I really liked and still have, the others didn't survive my most recent apartment move. And disappointingly, I don't feel like I really learned all that much. The teacher was a stickler for safety (a good thing), so I feel mostly comfortable operating woodworking machines. But I don't feel like I know better now than I did before the class what to do with them. I know Woodsmyths also offers a more advanced class that people seem to take, so maybe others had better experiences that I. So if you can't find any other woodworking class options, it may be worth giving this one a go. But don't expect to be anywhere but a tiny step closer to building your own cozy bungalow in the New England woods.

Anyone who is taking this furniture making class is probably not looking to start a career as…read morewoodworker. I signed up for the the class to scratch my wood working itch to see if it might turn into a cool new hobby. I was hoping to learn some things about building furniture and seeing if it was something I want to explore further. The intro class is a 10 week program and I made it to week 5 before throwing in the towel. Neil has no business teaching anything. The guy has a major anger and control problem. The class is run from a converted garage behind his house and he doesn't have enough tools to accommodate everybody in the class. Space is tight. Which is manageable and means we had to take turns and learn to work as a group so we all didn't need the same tools at the same time. Not a big deal. However he made it a huge deal. He micromanaged everything to the point of driving quite a few of us insane. He's like the Anal Retentive Carpenter on an angry coke binge. By week 3, he didn't know any of the names of us dudes in the class yet he knew all of he names of the women in the class. Why? Because he was routinely hitting on them in pathetic ways. And probably burning mental images of them into his brain for lonely nights at home when his internet connection goes out. Week 1: The completely useless and extremely painful safety lecture. He talked for 3 hours about: really nothing. He told drinking stories and babbled about nothing that really had to do with safety. Captain Obvious. There wasn't much useful safety content. It was painful to sit through. I assume he doesn't lead by example since he violated all of his own safety rules routinely. Week 2-4: We started on a shelf project. Most of the components were precut and the bulk of experience was sanding things with an orbital sander and drilling screws. Think graduate level Ikea assembly. During the drilling part, he handed out a bunch of phillips driver bits that are used in drills. These are $.99 pieces. He handed out five of them and when we were cleaning up, we could only find four of the five. He went on a tirade that we weren't respecting his tools and had all 7 of us crawl around on the floor for 20 minutes looking for it. We never found it. Neil found it later - in his own pocket when he was doing laundry. When anyone asked questions about anything, he would get really agitated. Like we were dumb dumbs for not knowing wood is sold in 1/4 lengths. Duh. The following week, we were measuring pieces for our shelf project using a tape measure. We had a tape measure we were sharing among the group. Neil walked by our work bench and asked who was using the tape measure. None of us responded because none of us were using it. He went insane. He started yelling and screaming about keeping the work area clean. He started cussing like a scene from The Exorcist, opened the door to the shop and then chucked the tape measure out into the street. This is the same guy who the previous week gave a lecture about respecting the tools and had us crawling around on the floor for a $.99 piece. The guy has no business teaching. There are plenty of other good working schools in the city where you can learn the skills of a potentially very rewarding hobby.

Skokie Montessori School has been such a gift to our family. Our son started at SMS at age 2.5…read moreafter a rough start at a different program, and we have been so impressed at how smoothly he adapted to the environment here. The care the teachers put into creating and maintaining a peaceful and orderly atmosphere has made all the difference for him. It has been clear from the start that Ms. Jackie, Ms. Adela, and Ms. Kit are incredibly invested in their students and the quality of the program. Our son quickly developed trust in the environment and the adults in the building, and as a result has been able to come out of his shell and find much joy and engagement in the classroom - on the weekends he even asks to go to school! We have watched our son's ability to concentrate deeply, recognize boundaries, and engage in positive social interactions take a big leap since he started attending SMS. At home, he practices many of the independent skills that are reinforced in the classroom: hanging up his clothes and materials, clearing his place at the table, taking initiative to clean up after spills, etc. We consider ourselves so lucky to have found this school and can't recommend it enough.

This school has been instrumental in the development of our kids. For those unfamiliar with the…read moreMontessori way like we were, we are now firm believers that this philosophy has set our children up for success in more ways than just in the classroom. Montessori emphasizes independence and order in a nurturing environment, which is especially essential during ages 2-5 years old. This particular school has a toddler classroom (2-3 year olds), 2 preschool classrooms (3-6 year olds), and an elementary classroom (6-12 year olds). Montessori mixes age groups so the child has the opportunity to be both a student and "teacher" to their peers. This is a unique opportunity unavailable at other daycares, preschools, or public schools. We felt it has challenged our children above their "grade level" by being able to see what older children are doing, and one of the main reasons why they are thriving. It also taught them how to help others in need. One of the misconceptions about Montessori is that children won't be well rounded if they only do what interests them; however, SMS ensures they're exposed to various materials in the classroom. Basically, the teacher caters each student's curriculum differently, while also teaching lessons in small groups. For 3-6 year olds and elementary, there's a progress report at the end of the school year on focus areas like personal development, motor development, work skills, math, language, art, practical life, sensorial, etc. For the toddlers, they are "playing" while learning at the same time. Each Montessori work/material serves a purpose! There are also two parent/teacher conferences each year available for all students. SMS is a small school with a clean, calm, family-feel environment. A hot daily lunch is included in tuition, but they also allow lunch brought from home if your child has a restrictive diet. Their current hours are 7:30 - 5:30, and the pricing differs. The staff is accessible via email and phone, and you can personally speak to the teachers at the end of the day. They do not have an app for pictures or that tracks everything your child does in a day, but the positive side is that the teacher is paying more attention to your child instead of being on a device. Also, they follow a school calendar year (2-week winter break, 1-week spring break, etc), which also allows time for the teachers to get well-deserved breaks as well. In the several years we've been with the school, there have been zero teacher turnover in the main teachers! We toured 5 different daycares, and SMS was the least chaotic, cleanest, and the teachers were the happiest, most patient, and nurturing. Overall, we have nothing but praise for SMS and the teachers!