Coming back to stay I still love this school! Our family has been at University Cooperative School…read morefor 10yrs - my 15yr old attended K-5th grade, and I currently have a 4th grader and my youngest is in PreK. We are incredibly grateful for this school, the holistic education it's provided our children and the community that has been the anchor for our family life. The teachers are excited about what they teach, care deeply for the students. With enthusiasm for their subjects and the freedom and support they need to follow that enthusiasm they make engaging, responsive, project based learning the norm all through the program. The kids stay excited about learning, comfortable asking questions and learn to ask for what they need as a learner. Our modern lives are designed in a way that is isolating and can wearus down with the load of demands of parenting- but the model of cooperative school (that's very flexible/understands we work too!) means that you can build real relationships and community in a society where that can be incredibly hard. At U co-op our children end up with so many loving adults who know and care for them - I can't overstate how valuable that is. Especially when life brings rough seasons or crisis. We know each other's kids and support each other through this parenting journey. The nurturing, adventurous environment helps kids be comfortable and confident in themselves -quirks and struggles included. My kids love going to school and I love the joyful childhood it has given them.

We have loved this place…read more We've been with U Co-op for the last two years, with almost a year and a half of that during the pandemic. I can't express how incredible the school has been. The most extraordinarily compassionate teachers and staff, and a parent community that has been supportive, resourceful, kind and caring. There is a warmth to the building (which we are thankfully back in - and masked) that we fell in love with from the first tour. It didn't feel cold or modern; it felt like creativity and childhood. There are nooks for reading, spaces for found art, paintings up everywhere. The teachers allow the children to follow their curiosity and even adjust the lessons to be relevant to the things that interest them. The kids are learning just as much as peers at other schools, but in a way that focuses on their self development and self esteem. This school has been a great find and has helped carry us through this difficult stretch.

The best preschool hands down! We were lucky enough to get a spot here and couldn't be happier with…read moreour decision. Ayfen and Torry are the best. You will instantly know they are passionate about teaching, are invested in the kids and their families and try really hard to accommodate for you and your family. I'd give a 100 stars if I could!

In a nutshell, this preschool is hands down the best place for your child to adapt and assimilate…read moreto life away from home. Ms. Ayfen and Mr. Tory are the perfect team and I personally, consider them my daughter's guardian angels. I get greeted with a genuine smile every morning and am briefed on my kid's achievements at pick-up every day. All the pictures and videos I get on a weekly basis of my daughter learning something new, doing art, singing or having fun outdoors almost makes me feel like I didn't miss a moment and that I was right there all along. Ms. Ayfen is always trying to make learning innovative and fun for the children. Every student's culture and traditions are acknowledged and studied about and even celebrated. They are very well-rounded for their tender age. There's also plenty of healthy outdoor time and they get to go on some pretty cool adventures and field trips. I couldn't ask for more as a parent!

I went to the School of Visual Concepts for a day-long workplace training on content strategy. I'd…read morenever been here before, but would definitely go again! The school is located in a busy, high-traffic part of South Lake Union. There's a paid parking lot across the street, but it was also easy to get to by bus. The building is fairly large, with several classrooms and conference rooms. It's pretty minimalist, but the letterpresses and type trays are cool and fun to look at, and the hallways display interesting student work and large-scale steamroller prints from the annual Steamroller Smackdown competition they run. They also sell letterpress cards made in-house, with some cute designs. Our training was from 9-4, and while I knew they were providing lunch, it was a nice surprise that they also offered breakfast: bagels, donuts, coffee and fruit. They also had an excellent snack bar for grazing throughout the day, with chips, trail mix, fruit snacks and cookies, plus coffee and tea. The bathrooms were conveniently located, small but clean and well-maintained throughout the day. There were several other events running at the same time, but the facilities were well maintained all day long. Our presenters were an in-house instructor and a guest speaker, and they did a good job keeping things interesting over a long day, with videos and activities to break up the speaking. That said, there were some downsides. Our group of about 50 was really too big to fit, even in the largest room, and the people on the edges of the room had a hard time seeing the monitors. The large meeting room is almost all floor-to-ceiling windows, and even with the blinds drawn, there was a lot of glare; combined with a slideshow that was white text on a light blue background, it was very difficult to see -- which wasn't ideal, since our activities required seeing what was on-screen. The street outside was high-traffic, including frequent buses, and there was some sort of construction project going on in the parking lot that was quite loud and distracting. Most of this, I think, can be chalked up to a group that was too big. However, we fell behind almost as soon as the training began, which threw the schedule off -- we didn't get a break until after 11. Lunch was scheduled for 1, which felt kind of late, though at least we had the snack buffet to work on! Overall, I liked the facility, and most of the issues we had came from being too large of a group for the room we were in. They offer letterpress and hand-lettering classes for individuals, and I'd really like to come back and try one of those. If you're looking for graphic design or printing classes in the SLU area, do check out the School of Visual Concepts.

I am always anxious before going to a place I've never been before. The staff here was so kind and…read moremade me feel welcome and known the moment I walked into the classroom. I feel this is so important -- without a learning *community* learning is difficult. I took a full day workshop on visual meeting facilitation. I have tangible and valuable skills from just one short day here and am looking forward to applying what I learned in my work!! Also - free breakfast and lunch! Only gripes/suggestions: 1 - when doing name tags it's nice to get into the habit of asking students to state/write gender pronouns, SVC doesn't seem to have a policy around this but I think it would be appropriate 2 - this might only be specific to my instructor, but I think more could've been done to set ground rules for class at the beginning (like how/when to ask questions). there were a couple students in my workshop who ended up dominating conversations. this is really common with extroverts who quickly jump in with comments. But sometimes implementing a policy of "if you just spoke, wait a bit to see if someone else has something to add" can be helpful and encouraging to more quieter types/internal processors in the room. I also had a list of questions i wrote down expecting we would have time to ask questions at the end, but we ran out of time. So policies around class participation could be helpful! I enjoyed the more interactive parts of this workshop especially when we broke into groups and had more time to chat with each other and apply what we were learning. Highly recommend classes at SVC, I'll be back when my wallet lets me!

I can't say enough good things about the school. Our son attended for the three's class, the summer…read moreschool program and then the pre-K class. The teacher is everything you could hope for as a parent to have with your child every day. The classroom is bright, clean, and fun! it has its own private playground in the back where the kids spend time every single day sometimes twice a day!

We are gearing up for our second year here and are so excited for our babe to continue to grow and…read moremake new friends. The environment is warm and welcoming, the space has a lot of natural light, there are lots of areas for play with a variety of toys that are switched up throughout the week. It's so fun to see the kiddos thriving! Being a co-op parent there brings a lot of opportunity for parent involvement, so if you're worried about sending them off to preschool and missing out on those "little moments" don't! It's wonderful seeing our children grow into themselves. Teacher Elise is so wonderful and kind, when we ask our daughter who her favorite people are she is always mentioned. I love that she isn't afraid to meet the kids where they are or get down in the dirt and look at bugs with them. So what I'm saying is, if you're thinking about joining do it!

My two children have attended this after school program for years. The owners have bent over…read morebackwards countless times to make life easier for us parents, starting from the very beginning when my oldest kid's after school program closed suddenly in the middle of the school year. On short notice, Paola and her team found an opening in her program for my kid (and his friends!) The bilingual environment, the cultural programming, and the capable staff have offered a fantastic environment in which my children have thrived. This program has felt like family for many years. I'm grateful for JOL!

My son has been going to the afterschool program for two years, and he loves it. He consistently…read moreasks to be the last one to be picked up, which is a great sign for parents. The programming and curriculum is top notch. It's more than just babysitting. They definitely work with the kids to develop emotionally, physically, and academically. I'm very happy with JOL and would recommend them to anyone in the area!

Celeste is an amazing coach! I have been working with her for few weeks now and she was able to…read morequickly adapt to my requirements and learning style. Since my goal was an ironman I was looking for a coach for open water swimming and was happy to teach me in the lake. She is super easy going and was able to make me feel comfortable pretty quickly. Her focus on technique has been very helpful in getting my basics right before we started touching onto endurance building. We are also able to adjust our schedules if needed if work or life gets in the way without any hassle! Overall I'd definitely recommend Squid swimming!

Terrible service. Unresponsive to emails and cancelled coaching session 10 minutes prior to start…read moreof session with unacceptable excuse. She may be a good swim coach but a terrible business "professional".

I like the teachers there, I like how friendly and always helpful they are, especially…read moreMrs.Vanessa(the owner and the leader of this faculty). What I don't like it's that I have to check my kiddo work by myself all the time. I don't always have enough time for that and the course costs a lot for what? All as I see it's just a Kumon materials(paper) and a little help from teachers when my kiddo asks. Maybe I don't know something behind the curtains, but it looks like I do their job and pay my money for that. Looks strange for me. Every year I'm thinking to quit, but too lazy for looking something else, especially my kiddo making progress there and I don't want to disturb him.

In the fall of 2020, my wife and I enrolled our 5yo son into Concordia's "Giraffe Class" Pre-School…read moreand were impressed with how well the academic staff fostered his growth in a healthy, positive environment. Ms. Pam, his teacher, immediately assuaged his fears around starting at new school and within a few days he was already looking forward to attending class. The administration is collaborative, the parents are a community, and the teachers are experienced and wonderful. We look forward to having our daughter start her journey at Concordia this fall!

We have had a fantastic experience with Concordia. The preschool program has teachers that are…read morekind, caring and experienced. It was the perfect balance of play and learning. Our kiddos made friends, came home with neat craft projects, funny stories, silly songs and dances. They were happily tired out and it was wonderful. Covid-wise, their policies were kid-appropriate, safe and well-considered. With such a good experience in the preschool, we continued onto their K-8 program and are so pleased. The classes are small enough to have 12:1 student:teacher ratio and I LOVE it. It's such a better fit than what we saw in SPS. The 1st - 8th grade classes are combined (1st and 2nd grade together, 3rd and 4th together, etc.) and it facilitates each student learning at their appropriate level. The school went through the accreditation process this year and scored very high. It's such a relief and pleasure to know our children are learning in a tailored environment, with diverse classrooms and a welcoming, kind community.