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May 2024 by Marcela Diaz
My son went to Goddard since he was a newborn and he absolutely loved it. The teachers ate great and really listen to your concerns and help the children feel at home and very comfortable. We had a very bad experience at a nearby daycare so Goddard truly made us feel at ease and we felt our son was in good hands.
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April 2024 by Evelyng Baranello
The best preschool for our little one. The staff is amazing. My LO is safe, respected and has learned so much in the short time she’s been there. We love Goddard! ❤️
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April 2024 by Jon
Nice and communicative staff, accommodating management, plant-based diet, app for activity tracking.
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April 2024 by Mike Pickard (InVain)
We had a wonderful experience at the Goddard in LITH. The teachers there are very caring & always go above and beyond for the kids. The summer program is awesome and we highly recommend the school! Our son loved it there & learned a lot!
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January 2024 by Nicole Grudakov
I am really sad to be writing this, but we had 3 incidents within 3 months where my son had a HORRIBLE diaper rash from his poopy diaper not being changed for a very long period of time (one of the times being put down for his 2 hour nap with a poopy diaper). I confronted the teachers after each time and for some reason it kept on happening, even though we do not have these issues at home. That is unacceptable and ultimately lead to my decision to remove my son from the school. My son loved attending here, and for that reason I am really sad and disappointed that this happened, but my child's safety and well-being comes first. Just a fair warning to other parents considering this school, this was in the 15 month - 2 year classroom.
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November 2023 by Kathleen
We love Ms. Lori and Ms. Mel, and it's very apparent that our child does too! We had toured a few places and felt some of the other day cares in the area just didn't feel right for one reason or the other. I cant speak for the other teachers/rooms, these stars are specifically for the teachers previously mentioned.
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October 2023 by Bill Bakopoulos
Goddard has been an absolute pleasure to have our children enrolled in for daycare. We've truly felt like it was an extension of our own family and could easily see the teachers and staff really took pride in their work and loved working with the children. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Goddard to anyone. After comparing to other child development centers - Goddard is second to none.
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March 2023 by Grace Co
I had really high hopes for this Goddard location but it's sub-par compared to the locations my friends children attend (Grayslake and Elgin.)The owners don't seem to take pride in this location. In fact, I've never seen the owner present. The children's bathrooms need some TLC, and classroom equipment needs to be replaced. It's evident from photos shared by friends and even those posted on the other Goddard social media pages, that other schools facilities are much nicer, some even include a gym for a very similar tuition price. Where is our tuition money going?I am excited about the new curriculum we were emailed about because the current programming is all over the place and when planned, not always executed by teachers.The teachers we have had so far are for the most part good, but I've heard some comments made to children by teachers that just don't sit well with my partner and I. Some teachers have been incredibly caring, others disengaged.We are currently exploring options at other local centers and determining when it's best to move our children.Goddard seems to be a great brand, so I hope this location can make the changes necessary to provide excellent care.
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December 2022 by Kendal Davis
I called in last week to have my son enrolled, the Director Bridget told me that they had no open spots but she would Call the owner and see if they could make a spot. I got a callback from Bridget in about an hour after our initial phone call saying that the owner made a spot available for my son, mind you there were no open spots so we started to schedule his orientation so that I could get him started Monday. I then disclose his medical condition which by the way is non-life-threatening and then she proceeds to tell me that she needs to talk to the owner and get back to me and also asked “would you even want him in a daycare setting”. Not even five minutes after we hung up the phone I get an email from her Stating that “before she could even talk to the owner the spot have been filled”. How was a spot that’s not even existent that she “pulled strings” just for my kid filled? In my opinion they don’t want to deal with my son and his medical condition which is fine because I wouldn’t want to send him somewhere, where adults aren’t competent enough to accommodate for medical needs.
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May 2022 by Stephanie N.
Our son attended Goddard in Lake in the Hills, IL beginning in September 2020. When we initially toured, we were impressed by the staff, the school, the curriculum, and the focus on child centric care. His first teacher, Miss Kimmy, was fabulous and took such great care of Levi. Toward the end of our son being enrolled this was not the care we experienced, and we wanted to share that.Ross Greene believes "Kids do well when they can and when they can't, it's because they are delayed in the development of crucial cognitive skills. Challenging kids are not always challenging: they're challenging only when the expectations placed on them outstrip their skills." This philosophy is what we believe and what we felt Goddard believed as well. It seems the belief ends when something is not going well.We had a couple of issues toward the end of our enrollment at the Goddard School. Our son has a preference in wearing dresses. When he started wearing dresses we noticed faces being made from staff (not teachers) at him wearing a dress. He moved up a room in August 2021. During a conference with his teacher, she brought up the fact that he wears dresses. Per this teacher the director had wanted to make sure she had discussed his wearing a dress with us. We are not sure why the clothing he chooses to wear would need a conversation unless they were inappropriate.Then, this teacher went on maternity leave in January 2022. The day after she went on leave, the secondary teacher in the room called us to discuss how children were making fun of our child for wearing a dress. This puzzled us a bit, as in our eyes it would be the teachers job at that moment to reinforce "people can wear what they want" and stop the conversation. Making fun of someone for what they wear is bullying and bullying should not be tolerated. Knowing what was happening was helpful to continue to talk to our son about comments others may make but at the moment the school and teacher should have been responsible for dealing with the bullying. Having concerns with him wearing a dress being directed at us as parents to "fix" does not fit with the Goddard Mission statement or Children's Bill of Rights. Our son should have been supported in his individual choices and those bullying him should have had the bullying behavior addressed.Prior to the teacher going on maternity leave we would get an incident report here or there (sometimes something he did, other times something that happened to him) and at all of the conferences we were told his behavior is a little hyper or busy, but fairly normal for his age. Once that teacher went on leave we started getting 3-4 calls or incident reports a week.We were in constant communication with the teacher regarding the incidents. We fully support that safety is a concern and wanted to assist how we could in supporting our son in being successful.We had a meeting with the director and the teacher and walked away feeling as though there would be no support or advocacy for our son. Language in that meeting included "this is not a regulation issue, he does it on purpose". We were told in that meeting they would try different approaches - some of these were never tried including the use of a fidget toy. It was clear his biggest struggles were during times of idle play or transitions. We requested he be given a book, worksheet, or classroom job during transitions to help him remain focused. He was moved to a small carpet during carpet time - but we had to push to see when he could start integrating back with his class, it seemed they wanted him to remain on the smaller carpet indefinitely.From there things continued to escalate. Our son would come home and tell us friends would hurt him or say something mean but the teacher never believed him. In his words "they thought he was the one being 'bad'". He also told us the teacher told him she didn't like him. Due to the escalating behaviors, we started looking for outside support for him such a occupational therap
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December 2018 by Jaimie Prather
This school is amazing! Everyone is so attentive, caring and willing to help! My child has made so much progress in the short time she has been there. Definitely worth the money!
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December 2017 by Rafal Tomal
My daughter loves it here! Ms. Kirsten and Ms. Kelsey are very good teachers who really take a good care of all kids.
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December 2017 by Michael Peters
Both my daughters are students here and the facilities and staff have been fantastic over the past 4 years. The oldest is headed to kindergarten in the fall and I feel like, thanks to Goddard, she'll be well beyond what they'll expect of her (even if she is the youngest kindergartener there!)
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December 2016 by Adenike Abu
The teachers and staff members are wonderful. Children are treated like prince and princess. The school is home away from home.
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December 2016 by Laura Davis
My son has attended The Goddard School for alsmot two years now (we were at previous centers before) and he and I both love it! He gets to learn so much beyond what other daycares offer. He enjoys the bonus of the gardening they do every spring! The staff there is amazing! You cant really ask for better teachers or administration. My son has a chronic health condition and from day one they have worked with me to have him still involved in activites with kids his age and be able to excel at his age level. Michelle is always there when you need her for any questions as well which is amazing for an owner! I wouldnt take my son anywhere else!
