Montessori Kingdom Of Learning

Our daughter has been attending MKL for two years now. She loves it, she's challenged by it, and she grows on a daily basis. She is in Kindergarten now, and we fully intend to make sure that she continues all the way until she graduates from the school. It's definitely one of the best decisions that we could have made.

This school did not work for us, unfortunately. Our main reason for having to pull our three year old daughter from this school is described below. A few other things we noticed during our time that we did not appreciate: there were few to no books in the toddler room - I inquired about them one day and was pointed to a 2ftx3ft basket with no books in it and she did not know why there were no books there which led me to believe reading was not part of their everyday activities, one day I picked up my daughter and several of the kids were crowded around one of the teachers phones watching a movie (my daughter frequently mentioned this as part of her day), and lastly, only a select few individuals seemed to actually be attentive and caring towards the children. The primary reason we pulled our daughter out of the daycare was that we toured with the owner when we moved from out of state and expressed that both my wife and I work full time and need full time care (Monday through Friday, normal hours and with holidays off). We were assured by the owner that it was not an issue and proceeded to sign our daughter up. A few weeks later we walk in as normal and see a sign posted on the door that the school would be closed and it did not fall on a holiday or on a day representing a holiday so we requested a calendar of days in which they are closed on non holidays. Come to find out they are closed for two weeks in July, a full week in December and several other non holiday days. We asked about this as it was the first time we had been informed and the tuition was not decreased during those extensive times when the school was closed and just recommended finding supplemental care. Ultimately we had to find another full time option for our daughter and received a lot of grief from the owner for pulling her out, not understanding or an apology for their mistake and having to put our three year old through an unnecessary transition. I gave two stars because I think they have great potential, they have an edge over the neighboring daycares (we live in Peoria) but the owner and management needs to put more effort into making the staff friendly and attentive to the kids. They also charge erroneous fees to start up - they could at least make it more simple, such as just a start up fee vs 4 different things they charge to start up. I would consider removing this posting if these start up fees were refunded to me. Our daughter only attended this school for about 8 weeks and we had to pay over $300 just in start up fees - excessive in comparison to their competition.

Only gave them a one stat because there is not a zero staff. The RUDEST "directors/front office" older ladies I have met. I wanted to take a tour on my ONLY DAY OFF and the lady says she only takes apt 9-10 am when I'm obviously working. Then asked me how many days so i say depends maybe 3-5 and then continues to say well this is a 5 day center. OK so then why would you ask me how many days. Why not just mention you are a 5 day center.

My grandson is 2 1/2 years old and has been going there for 2 years now. The school is great and so is the staff. I'm very happy with what my grandson has learned in the last 2 years. He learns something new every day.

Both of my children have been here since they were infants. They really foster exploring and real life skills. Such a great community of teachers and parents!