Beautiful grounds for a Y day camp! We visited this camp during their Harvest Open House. We…read moreenjoyed the camp lunch (grilled hot dogs & chips). Lots of activities for kids and families! Staff were friendly. Nice walk to Lake Kingsley.

We've had two children attend Tutor Time and have really loved the feeling of community provided by…read morethe staff. The security of live stream video in the classrooms was one of the original factors that attracted us to the school.

Tutor Time was initially a great place for our infant and he was there for 3 years before we…read moredecided to leave. As an infant, moving infant, toddler, & 2 year old there had been regular activities & lesson plans covering science, basic math, sensory tables, ABCs, etc. There were quarterly conferences with the parents/guardians. About a year ago, multiple long time teachers left for other jobs & after this, the classrooms became overcrowded, unqualified people were hired, and lesson plans along with conferences ceased to exist. Our son came home multiple times angry, sad, & with bite marks. Despite asking for more information about what we could do to improve his life there or what seemed to be causing his big emotions, nothing changed & we were just told "this is normal behavior". The director promised to look into the lack of lesson plans & all they did was document the morning story time. The rest of the day was unstructured. Our son didn't want to go there anymore despite his friendships with his very good friends because there was no consistency with who was in charge in his room. There were different teachers & aides every day. When we decided to leave, we told him it was because he is a big kid now & big kids go to new schools. However, one of his teachers at Tutor Time told him he was leaving to go to a school "to teach him how to behave" 2 months ago, this location was under a DHS investigation for a restricted disciplinary act against a child. I also witnessed & reported a new teacher screaming at 4 month old infants. Despite this, she was kept there for a few more weeks before she left. Our rate was increased multiple times per year all in the name of being able to hire better people, however, untrained people were consistently hired instead. The bright spots that Tutor Time has going for them are both Miss Brittany's, Miss Laurel, Miss Grace, and Miss Alison. They are wonderful human beings

We had our two children (a creative 10 year old and an all sports 8 year old) go to art camp for a…read moreweek. They had a GREAT time! I knew my 10 year old would really like it, but I was surprised how much our eight year old liked it. I asked him he would like to go again, he said absolutely. They made soap, made and painted sculptures, worked with clay, water colors, drawings and collages, paper flowers, woven llamas and even had a llama visit and had ice cream at the neighboring parlor. I asked what our son would like others to know, and he said: you may not make what I made, but you'll get to do something awesome. Mrs Ross knows how to run a classroom too. I HIGHLY recommend art camps and sessions with Mrs Ross.

Outstanding education. Benilde prepares students well for College/University. We've prioritized…read moretuition payments over other things in order to have the opportunity for a Catholic education

As far as academics, the subject matters seem right on track with other schools and maybe even a…read morebit more homework which we are fine with. However, there seems to be an excessive amount of subs. Currently out of 8 daily classes, one of my kids has 3 subs. 37% of her classes are taught by teachers who don't know the kids, are not respected by the kids, and cannot coax the best out of the kids. One earlier sub actually hit a child which was brought to the admin by students. Teachers often cross teach and sometimes not to much success. I am a better math teacher than one of my kids current teachers. However, in the high school there are some stellar teachers. All of the teachers could use lessons in human behavior. The goal is always to how do I teach to many different kids on many different levels, not just how do I get through the day? There are lots of sports and clubs to choose from but like all schools if your child wants to participate they can, if they want to get lost in the fray, they can get lost in the fray. The biggest issue we have had is unresponsiveness from the administration. I have several children at BSM and, like life, there have been issues. I always try to address them to the Jr. High principal but have ended up contacting parents directly because sadly, nothing gets done and you do not get the courtesy of a follow up call. Bad situations continue to be bad, get worse and then months later there you are calling parents directly anyway whereas if it was taken care of immediately perhaps the poor behavior could have been corrected immediately. All schools have their issues but I do not know if I would choose this school again. They are very supportive of the kids that will be successful wherever they go and because it's easy to support those kids. The kids that could use more support, encouragement, direction, mentoring, etc. are on their own. The combination of a parent/school support system can elevate kids who are short on confidence and if I could choose again I would interview all administration with a more objective eye and choose better.

Saw the reading "Blues in Stereo" by Danez Smith. It was such an amazing experience and I loved the…read moreatmosphere of the space. I already reached out to a friend who could maybe do a reading there as well. I thought it was really nice and classy. I do wish there were more signs about where the reading was taking place it was a little confusing.

Wow! What an inspiring place! My friend and I went to a reading with 2 writing fellows and a guest…read morewriter. All three were wildly talented. We were blown away. The Friday night event was FREE and had a Q&A panel at the end. Learned so much about the writing process and how to move through writers block. I'm not a writer but still felt welcomed and enjoyed myself. The event was about 90mins. Afterward we had dinner at Grumpy's- very close by such that we walked there (one block). I needed parking for more than 2hrs and found a nearby lot by Dunn Bros for $4 all night. We will definitely return for the next event!

Kidcreate is a family favorite. Our kids most requested activity when they have the day off and we…read moreparents don't. Checkin to the rooms can be little bumpy on the busiest days but nothing that would prevent me from giving kidcreate a highly recommend.

My granddaughter loves KidCreate. When I picked her up, she was having so much fun. The teachers…read moreare so nice and they provide so many creative and fun projects from clay to painting. We definitely recommend Kid Create for kids of all ages.

We had an absolutely amazing time at this sustainable Safari in Burnsville. We went for my…read moredaughter's birthday. They upgrade the food cup to a larger size for them on their birthday, which was really nice. We saw all kinds of really fun animals like kangaroos, Highland cows, ringtail lemurs, an emu, porcupines and so much more. I highly recommend coming here with kids ages 4 to 12. Really all ages could enjoy this experience as well but I think that age group would absolutely love seeing all the animals and the space is big enough yet small enough to have a solid hour or two of fun seeing the animals and interacting with them. Staff is really friendly and knowledgeable about the animals. My kids absolutely loved coming here and we will probably be visiting throughout the summer.

This was such a nice surprise! This petting zoo was amazing! Had a great array of animals, they let…read moreout the porcupine to climb around and interact with people. I 100% recommend for kids and I honestly had an amazing time too!

http://www.worldreliefmn.org/ Had to do some personal…read morehomework after spotting the logo on shirts and asking a few questions. I was very visibly moved when I saw a group of Somali refugees come into MSP late in the evening last week, just about the same time as I arrived. A cadre from World Relief was on hand to assist. We were all congregated by baggage claim #9, and immediately, I thought of the Lost Boys of Sudan documentary, and the many, many books that I have read on various countries' histories in Africa. I tried to move to the side and just observe the advice and support being given to these new visitors to this country, and watched their reaction, attempting to read their faces. I even helped one fellow brother locate his suitcase on the belt. Were it not for people like Pastor Trotter who bother to care and enable those without to begin to start a life with, the world would be a much poorer place, in more sense than one. Taking action and participating in aiding and giving hope to the most vulnerable has always been one of my loves (as well as other social justice and human rights abuse issues). World Relief empowers those who are forgotten to feel remembered and cared for. This was my very first experience upon touching down in MN, and already, I was a huge fan of this wonderful spot in MidAmerica.