How do Local Schools Rank? Our Moms Tell All

Agh!  Schools!   For every new Mom it’s like swimming in an abyss of endless information.

I found myself fighting through the choices without much direction when deciding which school was best for my young son.  So, on Oct. 11, I polled our awesome group of Moms.  Here’s what they had to say when asked this question:

Tell me, tell me Ladies! Which school does your child attend? Do you love it or not so much? Tell us why!

“We are on the waitlist at Pathfinder Academy in NE Mesa.  Our other option is the neighborhood public, Ishikawa Elementary, which has great reviews too.” – “Ishikawa in Mesa! Love it! I taught there for a year and now my son started kindergarten.” – “I taught at ishikawa and now my son goes there! Best school in the area and such a supportive staff/community.”

“My son goes to Fulton Elementary and we love it!”

“Summit Academy, it’s an IB school and we love it!”

“Sanborn Elementary and we love it so much! Wonderful teachers, awesome principal, very well-organized and lots of school functions!”

“My daughter goes to a Chandler CTA school. It’s public but it’s a Traditional Academy and so far, I’m impressed with the school.

“Greenfield Elementary and we love it!”

“Our 7-year-old is in 2nd grade at Higley Traditional Academy and we’re very impressed.”

“We started this year at Legacy Traditional in chandler. He is in kindergarten and our first to enter school. We absolutely love it!!”

“Franklin at Alma Public choice school (located within Dobson Ranch). We have been very happy with it. No uniform, but strict dress code.”

“Arizona School for the Arts. LOVE IT! We take our daughter to Phoenix everyday for it. She is really into performing arts and it’s an excellent academic school. She just started this year and she is thriving.”

“Eduprize in Queen Creek. So far I’m loving it.”

“Magma Ranch…. 2nd grade… absolutely love it… my 2nd grader is challenged and has straight A’s too!”

“Gilbert Elementary, my sons only in kindergarten but we love it! We have a giant history with the school, me, my brother, and my cousins all went there and my aunt use to work there so he’s been around the school since he was a baby.”

“Canyon Rim Elementary 4th grade. I absolutely LOVE the school from every aspect! We just had our daughter evaluated last year and dx was ASD/ADHD. The IEP team is amazing, they are so caring.”

Kyrene has many fans!

“Kyrene Monte Vista. I love it. We looked long and hard for the perfect school, and then found a house in zone of it. It was so worth it!!” – “I love that school. I went there too” – “My eldest grew up in Kyrene district (de la Sierra) and we loved everything about all the schools in that area!”- “We’re at Cielo and I freakin love it. We’re out of district. And there is no comparison to our assigned school.” – “Kyrene Traditional Academy. We love it! We toured several schools and were planning on sending her to our neighborhood school but last May I decided to tour KTA. We love their emphasis on phonics and handwriting. My daughter has done really well so far.” – “My kid goes to Kyrene de la Mirada.  I like Mirada because they are used to kids on the spectrum and a gifted school.”

We had several Moms with great things to say about Montessori Schools: 

“Desert Shadows Montessori. Both my boys love it!” –  “Montessori House charter school in Mesa. It’s the closest thing to home schooling & I love the Montessori methods!” – “Adobe Montessori in Chandler!  We knew it was the one the second we walked in.  The Montessori method really makes sense to us and our son is learning more quickly than we imagined.  It’s amazing and he loves it which is the most important thing!”

There were a few daycares / preschools that were mentioned:

“We had our children at Sun Valley Preschool and really enjoyed it. Guadalupe & 101 area.” – “My 4 year-old started Preschool at Oak Tree Elementary she loves it so much. I don’t have a true opinion of the school yet because it’s still so new.” – “Bright Horizons Day Care. It’s expensive but absolutely worth it. His teachers are involved, loving, dedicated, and he is really blossoming there. He’s learning Spanish and their art program is amazing. He’s been there since he was 6 weeks old and I have nothing but great things to say about them.” – “Sugar Britches Learning Center and they are amazing! Thanks to them my speech delayed cutie is catching up so fast! I can’t say enough good things about them and I’m pretty hard to please lol!”

I realized there are several homeschoolers in our group.  Some of our Moms had this to say:

“I have 5 kids and one on the way. 4 are homeschooled right now. I don’t do co-ops because I find it too hard to be gone all day doing that. They have an art class Monday mornings for an hour but otherwise I do it all myself.”

“Homeschooled and we all love it!”

Thanks for the input MOM nation!!!