Our daughter attends the toddler program here and we couldn't be happier. The school has been…read moreamazing for her developmentally; she is learning more than we ever expected her to at such a young age. From the administrators to the teachers to the custodial staff, everyone here is a gem. Incredibly kind, patient, and dedicated. We love attending the events the school holds, which are often for fun but also very often to service the community. We really align with the ethos of both the teaching practices and worldview of Sunny Hollow. A small but important fact: there's a surprising amount of diversity in my daughter's classroom, especially considering the neighborhood. It's been great seeing that and I hope that stays true as she grows into the older classrooms. Something to note: Sunny Hollow is very much a school and not a daycare, even for toddlers. There's a specific ten minute window for drop offs in the morning, and the after school program is from 3:30 to 4:30. They have a specific curriculum for the kids that they stick to. We personally love this, because it's definitely helped our daughter develop beyond what's expected of a two-year-old, and it's actually really nice that we see her as going to school, not going to daycare. A big thing that's been a massive plus: they spearhead toilet training from the get go. A couple months after our oldest daughter started at Sunny Hollow, our second daughter was born. We were (and are) so swamped in trying to take care of two very young kids, we barely did anything with toilet training. Our daughter, because of her guidance at school, started wanting to go on the potty at home all by herself. We're still in the midst of training, but it's been more or less painless. Our youngest daughter is only four months old but we already put in her application to go to Sunny Hollow. So happy to be a part of their community!

It's just a shared office of businesses in the north loop. It's cute and there is a lobby. There is…read more1 restaurant, however, they sell breakfast and lunch. It's in a great location to other dining options. the bathroom and facility is extremely clean. There is a limited workout room for tenants

This is our 4th year at LCS and it is such an incredible school, staff, and community! While the…read moreacademics are at the core, they are in a place where learning is seen as fun and exciting and keeping a growth mindset is important. Plus, minimal tech, computers, and screens is worth a lot!

We have a child in Children's House (pre-K) and a child in Elementary (1st grade) at Lake Country…read more We love the individualized attention and support each of our children receive from their guides, the assistants and the rest of the staff. Both children are excited to go to school and are proud of the work that they do and what they are able to accomplish. We also love the sense of community the school fosters, including that younger students are paired with an older student mentor. One of the biggest differentiators is access to the land school in Wisconsin -- what a treat for city children to get to explore, work with animals and gardens, and have overnight opportunities with their peers. Every time my children bring up equity or social justice issues or demonstrate a deep understanding of a topic that seems beyond their years, I am reminded of why we choose Lake Country and am thankful for the opportunity.

We love Southwest Montessori! We've have a total of 3 years of schooling there between two…read morechildren so far. The staff is wonderful, helpful and accommodating. We feel that the Montessori method has help our children become curious, self learning individuals. it looks small from the outside but we feel it provides a wonderful learning environment. It is truly a hidden gem in SW Minneapolis. Would highly recommend.

Not sure what Ryan S. really knows about the school but my two students are able to function quite…read morewell. I like the mix of structured and self learning. Students are learning to self-direct instead of sleeping through lecture after lecture like I did way back when. The students navigate well on their IPads and if you're a parent that wants to know what's going on you certainly have opportunities to stay informed. Nice facility, good teachers, and an involved community. This place has been like a second home to my two sons.

Our exchange student went here this last year, so everything you're about to read is coming from…read moresomeone who did not actually attend the school. The school seems completely unorganized and chaotic. They attempt to be a school of the 21st century, but they fail miserably. There is little to no printed information given to students about anything. Everything is handled via these dumb iPads the taxpayers wasted their money on, but sometimes they don't work. As parents, we just felt out of the loop, as everything the teachers do happens on these iPads. The school schedule changes from day to day, with classes starting at one time on a Monday or Tuesday, and then starting at a completely different time on any other day. The students are given chunks of free time and are expected to manage that time like they were "in a career setting," but they mostly just wonder the halls and play games and text on these iPads. They have WAY too much free time at this school. They have things like "academic support" and "RAMP." I couldn't tell you the first thing about "RAMP" other than it's sponsored by the U of M and it's some kind of mandatory college prep thing that helps walk your kid through applying for schools and loans. (Which to a foreign exchange student is completely useless.) I can tell you that if it were my child attending that school, I would have some serious problems with the way things seem to work there. I know schools have changed since I graduated in 99, but this place is an absolute mess.

I just finished my first year hosting with Nacel Open Door. I can't recommend them more highly! I…read morelive in Northern California which is pretty far from Nacel's mid-west headquarters. We are a small group out here (just 3 students - my two plus one other in a nearby town), but I never felt that we didn't have the full attention of the program. Our students had ups and downs and everything in between this last year. The organization was here for us every step of the way. Management and our regional representative were out here several times visiting and checking in. One student had to be rehomed, and I as her local representative felt very supported as I dealt with her host family, brought her temporarily to my house and worked to find a new family. I hosted two students myself. I am in constant contact with my regional representative who has advice and has listened to hours of my calls and text messages explaining everything we've experienced! These people have become friends and I value the agency's depth and years of experience so much. I'm hosting again this coming year. I'm a much better host parent after having done this for a year. I will continue to work with Nacel Open Door and think the world of all the people I've come in contact with at the agency.

I had been a host family for multiple years. We found a student who had dreams of playing high…read moreschool and college athletics in the United States. We offered to host him for the entire year and support him in his passion. When we expressed interest and moved quickly to help get him over before the school year started. After quickly making arrangements with the school they said they found another host family. Come to find out THEIR OWN EMPLOYEES diverted the placement for a short term welcome arrangement with the employee! I have to assume there was a financial incentive because they don't even have a plan for where he will transition before the holidays. I had written a letter to upper management begging them to reconsider before sending the information to the student, nope. The situation felt bias towards pushing a white, Christian, rural, traditional family experience verses an alternative American experience with multi-racial/Jewish family. The student was available to host until we expressed interest and their employee who could have offered to host months ago or even helped another student refused to budge, they needed to host our student for 12 weeks rather than our family for the school year. Something fishy is going on, not sure if it is a change in leadership or just the current environment in the United States causing bias, I no longer believe they are making decisions based on the best interest of the students.

If I didn't (obviously) know better, I might think that Kenwood Elementary was a private school…read more The attention and love that every teacher shows the kids and the amount of involvement of the parents & families is on a scale I have never seen in an urban public school. To be fair, my comparisons are in Philadelphia and NYC but even compared to other public Minneapolis schools, Kenwood is head & shoulders above the rest! I've just returned from their annual back-to-school open house and BBQ. After the summer off, it was like a family reunion. My daughter will be starting 1st Grade and we are just thrilled. While waiting for our ride home, a dad and his son and my daughter and I were playing at the park across the street. The man told me that with the bus rezoning, his old address was no longer in the Kenwood bussing zone. So he checked out Jefferson...and then moved. To a new home, within the Kenwood bussing zone. That's how dedicated you and yours will become to this old-fashioned-in-the-right-ways and cutting-edge-in-others fabulous school. Every year they consistently score above every other school in the city- and they also take their arts education just as seriously as all the book-like studies. I once had a parent of a girl in my kid's kindergarten transfer her child to another school. When I asked why she said she thought it was "too clique-y". I highly and wholeheartedly disagree! Kenwood welcomes everyone, with open arms, regardless of ethnicity, race, religion or socio-economic circumstances. And I may be one of the few, but I do not like school uniforms and thankfully Kenwood does not use them. The one thing that kept me from giving a 5-star review are the school hours. 7:30 a.m. start time is just sooo early.......ugh! I'm editing this review as my kid is now in 5th Grade at Kenwood and I feel it's only fair to follow up in case parents of kids are considering Kenwood as an Elementary choice. Let's just say that the bloom has gone off the rose a bit since my last posting. To be fair, Kenwood and it's staff/educators are bound by the limitations that the Board of Ed put on them so I always try to keep that in mind--and because of that, and that the other complaint is actually more of a parent/neighborhood issue, I kept the stars at 4. I wound up having to hire outside tutors to supplement my daughter's education but because she is dyslexic. If your child isn't learning different, then thank your lucky stars and enjoy their curriculum (that sadly, since my last posting, is no longer geared as much towards art--they've lost their "Arts" status) but still has loads of cool things like an African drumming workshop, Taiko drumming workshop and field trips to cool places like museums and nature conservatories. The 5th Graders go on an overnight trip to Eagle Bluff which my daughter has been excited about since kindergarten. The media center uses iMacs that seem about 3 years old on average. The teachers are, for the most part, friendly and competent but sadly for you dear reader the very best, Mrs. Kohanek, retired the year after my kid had her. I'm sure you'll find your own favorite however. As for any special help your child might need, Ms. Kelly is very nice and has helped my daughter as best as she can but, we just now are only beginning to understand how the dyslexic brain "sees" and what a dyslexic student needs to thrive and, for my kid, and I feel confident in saying, any other kid, it's not Kenwood. But, to be fair, it's not any American public school that I know of. The social side of Kenwood is kind of brutal. Ironically, I mentioned in my first posting about a lady who said Kenwood was "clique-y". I didn't see it with Kindergarten. The kids didn't care who lived where or had what. The parents were all just meeting one another. It was wonderful. But by 1st Grade the lines were drawn. If you live in Kenwood, you are top tier as far as social status goes, and most of those parents are running the volunteer show--PTA., yearbook, Newsletter, helping with school plays, etc. If you're rich but live elsewhere, you're 2nd tier--of course being good looking helps too but not necessary. And the only color that matters at Kenwood is the color green. They are very "liberal". If you live outside Kenwood and aren't flaunting wealth- 2 bad. Those kids are at the bottom. You can try to volunteer, like I did, but I didn't get far. I never got replies to inquiries on times of meetings etc. Whenever I would email an exciting thing that my kid was doing (she acts in a troupe that brings awareness to homelessness) that they might want to mention in the school newsletter, I wouldn't get a reply much less get it run. A confidence boost like that would help my kid a lot. But who knows, maybe you'll get warmer neighborhood parents. I hope so.

I was there for 2 years, 1st was great because I had a couple of D/HH - Deaf and Hard of Hearing…read morefriends and I had a great support from staff but there were like not enough help. 2nd year was worse because they didn't require all of my needs because Prepich the new school district took over they made the program worse and worse. But still improving, however the program that the previous school district had was a fantastic program, and bam different school district took over and destroyed the program as time passed through. They ruined the COOL FACTOR of Crosswinds. The Theater program is destroyed and it's after school instead of during, and plus the school district brought a company to run the theater program. Now my favorite teacher from there can't run it anymore because of that stupid school district brought that stupid company. I think the Art classes are gone or not i don't know, I can't confirm. Anyways I don't recommend this school is worse now then back in 1997-2013 belonged to E-MID school district. 2013- is now belongs to stupid school district Perpich school district. So yeah I don't recommend this school at some points but not fully. Btw it's a year round school year and I like that school started at 9:30 AM - 4:00PM and that rocked.