Our daughter loves it here. They have taught her sign language. She loves the teachers and often…read moredoes not want to leave because she is loving the game they have created. I appreciate how the staff is consistent and she has connections with her teachers.

My youngest child, age, currently attends Great Beginnings. My older children attended when they…read morewere younger as well (see below!). He has learned so many skills that are setting him up for success in Elementary School and beyond! The focus on social/emotional development is invaluable as well as sign language, music, reading and writing! He is exposed to so many awesome things that help his creativity grow. I appreciate the teachers positive and caring attitudes and love seeing my child happy and learning new things everyday. The relationships my older children formed at GB are still relationships they have today while in middle school. We love Great Beginnings! My previous review: My two children have been at Great Beginnings since they were 12months old, they are 5 and 6 now. They have had an immensely positive and caring experience with all the teachers (who have been there for MANY years) and children. They have learned so many things that have helped them grow into respectful and smart individuals :) The program is a full day program which has helped my oldest transition easily into kindergarten, she was also WELL prepared for the academics of kindergarten! I cannot tell you enough how great the staff, environment and educational growth are. Great Beginnings is truly GREAT!

Not sure why this is reported as permanently closed. I just took a class there this past weekend…read moreand it was great! I took a beginner woodworking workshop, with Joe as the instructor and loved it. Learning new things in general is fun and even though I have no future in carving wood because of my own lack of patience and skill, I would still take another class! The workshop was all day from 10-5, and the instruction was great, very informative, helpful, and patient. Emphasis on safety while treating us all like adults. High quality tools and equipment that were in great shape, and high quality materials and wood for us to work on. The classes here fill up really fast and there are wait lists for a lot of them. I believe the capacity was five students due to covid, but in the woodshop we were in, there were only six workstations anyway, so I'm guessing the normal class sizes are not big either. Lots of classes on the website and new ones seem to be listed regularly. There's a lot of workshops but I hope they offer more weekly classes. They didn't answer the phone during posted hours but are very responsive and friendly with email response. I'm really looking forward to trying out more here when more classes open up!

This is one of the few folks schools west of the Mississippi. Folk Schools started in the…read moreAppalachian mountains as a way to pass on mountain and folk crafts. Arbutus Folk School always has a wide range of classes, including ceramics, blacksmithing, basketweaving, and other textile arts. There is a small gallery store too. They co-sponsor the Olympia Old Time Music Festival and other music concerts, classes, and a monthly open mike. It's a great place to take classes.

My daughter came through mid-year. She fell in love with her teachers…read more The staff took our vegan diet seriously and respectfully. They worked with us and genuinely want to give families a good experience. There was a field trip a week. There was a gorgeous farm school campus. Now, my daughter was in the Tumwater location but still learned and loved. She would skip into the classroom without turning back to say goodbye to me. I am so grateful for the wonderful experience. Thank you!

My son has been at Sequoias Treehouse since he was 3 month old, he is now 10 months, and our time…read moreat Sequoias has been wonderful! I greatly appreciate his teachers, Sandy and Laila. I call them his second and third moms! They both have such a warm command of the room, and I am provided with a detailed sheet every day reporting how much bottle he drank and at what times, also outlines his naps and wet diapers. They have an open door policy in the infant room so I often stop by on my breaks to say hello for a quick baby snuggle.

First, this is not so much a review of foundations, but rather with CADENCE…read more regarding Foundations, The teachers are wonderful, especially Ms Sarah and Ms Demi, who are fantastic. The facilities are great, and so is the quality of education they provide. As far as the school goes, I give it a 5 put of 5. That said, recently they have been acquired by a company called cadence. Since then your kid will get sent home for the slightest reason. If they have a fever then it's mandatory three days out instead of 24. For some things it's 5 days. Nor will they accept results of a negative Covid test. Cadence's ridiculous policies puts a tremendous amount of strain on working parents that unfortunately offsets many of the great aspects of the school. In Cadence's defense they will refund some of your tuition back if your child is out for a long time.

The elementary program for this school is less than adequate. We are leaving foundations after my…read moreson's kindergarten year and are working diligently to get him to where we think he needs to be academically. I don't know if that is attributed to the program or the teacher; I know I am not the only parent coming out of this year that feels this way. They test the students on subjects they simply don't teach. And if they do - I hardly saw evidence. The communication with my son's teacher was lackluster at best. During a parent teacher conference, I asked a simple question about reading materials, and she completely shut down. She couldn't answer what the kids use to assist in reading, as I quickly discovered my son hadn't learned anything and needed to know how best to supplement at home. When I asked what materials they use, she stopped talking, put her hands in her lap, and looked down for a good minute. It was truly disturbing. it was as if someone unplugged her. My husband and I were very confused. Communication over day-to-day activities was also lackluster. One Friday, my son dropped his entire lunch (that we provided), and they did nothing to get him anything else to eat. Not even a cracker. Nor was it communicated to me that this had happened. I waited until Monday to ask if he had actually dropped his food, and his teacher did confirm it and told me she looked for some food for him, but 'nobody had any', which is odd considering the school has a chef. Another day I walked up to the playground to see my son eating leaves off the ground. A typical kid thing to do, but his teacher had no idea. Why? Well, I asked what she did when they were outside - in Discovery Park - a pretty heavily wooded area. My son told me she remained at the picnic table for most of their outside time. Then, after he ate a berry off the ground - I emailed again, looping in the program director. I was surprised that they had a berry-producing tree (that the students had full access to); I was told then that 'Obviously, a teacher cannot supervise each and everything all children do while in our care.' Considering there were 10 students, and usually an assistant on the playground with the teacher. I was shocked. One day I got to school early, poor timing on my part; not wanting to interrupt his playtime with friends, I waited in the parking lot where I saw that his teacher indeed sat at the picnic table. She didn't get up once in about a 40 minute period. She sat facing the parking lot, away from the wooded area. This also explained why my son came home with scratches all over his body, with no explanation. The school set some pretty impressive standards for covid, which, to be honest, is why we enrolled him. Those precautions went right out the window; I'd say a month or two into the program. As parents, we weren't informed of this. I know of one event that happened a WEEK into the program that was explicitly against their self-imposed covid protocols. Any time I tried to express my disappointment, or frustration I was met with justification. These are our experiences, and I can imagine that if I receive any response, it will invalidate the things we experienced and justify behaviors. To be honest, I was reluctant to even post this as a review as I feel like in my gut, somehow it could come back on my son. We paid good money for this program, and to come out of it having sent him to daycare his kindergarten year, I'm sure any parent can imagine both the disappointment and the resentment that we feel.

Children's museum is always awesome and my nephew had such a fun time. The food was pretty good - a…read morestep above fast food. I got the pizza quesadilla and while it was pretty basic it did genuinely taste good, especially dipped in their marinara sauce. Big pieces of pepperoni and melted cheese. The chicken bites were decent, the breading was a little thicker than I would have liked but the chicken meat was moist. The slushie was, well, a slushie. It didn't feel overpriced and as far as having food in the building after kiddos play for hours and hours, I was pretty happy with our meal. It's worth it to just grab some lunch here if the kids are hungry!

I was told Hands On Children's Museum is a must do with kids and I'm glad we finally got here…read morebefore we move back east. I think we spent close to 5 hours here and my kids would of stayed longer but I had a few stops to make and saw their was going to be some traffic going home so decided it was time to go. There 2 floors and a decent size outdoor area. It was rainy when we went but that didn't stop by kids from checking out the outdoor area. The art lab was huge. There were so many things to check out my kids were so engaged and didn't want to leave.

My daughter attended Fern Gully for 4 years. We love it so much!! She learned so many important…read moresocial skills. The teachers are kind, patient and fun. And best of all it connected us with a community of like minded people and friends for a lifetime. I highly recommend this school!!

Unfortunately, this "school" is not what it advertises to be. If you are considering sending your…read morechild here, I recommend that you reconsider that decision for the safety and well-being of your child. "We provide Waldorf inspired, holistic, outdoor education." " a mission to nurture the whole child in all areas of development, including physical, social, emotional and spiritual, as well as intellectual." "We focus on social- emotional awareness, creativity & resiliency." None of this is actually accurate. The teachers lack the knowledge or skill (or both) to incorporate the ideologies or either Maria Montessori or Rudolf Steiner. They do not focus on social-emotional awareness. The teachers utilize punishment that is not rooted in Montessori or Waldorf. My son, who has neurodivergence, was punished so HARSHLY here that his neuropsychologist asked, unprompted by me, to send a letter to the school teachers to educate them on how to appropriately handle discipline and how to offer support instead, for young children. My son endured extreme trauma here. There are many other farm, forest and outdoor schools in Olympia. I recommend any of them over Fern Gully. I would stay far away from this place. They do not offer a safe environment for your child - they don't supervise the children and they do not keep them safe emotionally.

Lakeview has been the daycare of choice for our family for nealy 20 years. Staff there are kind…read more and thoughtful how they care for our littles.

Perfect but parents can be a little mean staff are great and an over all great place my kid had…read moremade a lot of friends and memories