Comments on: Shining Star Learning Center: Skokie, IL

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 22:22:41 +0000

I have had two children go through this daycare and I love it here. The owners have worked there for years and are very kind to the children. The place is clean with great toys and my kids were very happy there. Would definitely recommend to a family looking for a personal experience where there child doesn’t feel like a number.

Report this review

By: Longtime patent

Longtime patent — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:22:34 +0000

As a longtime parent of children who attend shining star, I am struggling to understand why a group of people continue to slander shining star. A group of parents of current and former students regularly meet up and I have never heard very many negative comments from them at all. My children receive a fantastic education/social experience there. The staff and owners are like family and do a wonderful job. I received regular reports on changings and unless they are throwing out unused diapers, my children were changed far more than 3 times a day. Also my kids never looked like they were malnourished and are good eater, so I find the claims that kids are not getting food to be utterly ridiculous.

While I am sure there are tons of awful places out there- this absolutely is not one of them. It is really easy to hide under an assumed name, claim you were a former teacher ( the staff turnover is so low that the details and timing of the post does not fit any of the teachers who left) or the use the umbrella of anonymous on the Internet and make wild accusations. At the end of the day, it is the parents who are willing to be identified (all of the recent posters) who word you should take on what really goes on here.
The Silvers family

OVERALL School Rating: 4
Health and Safety: 4
Environments: 4
Teaching Staff: 5
Teacher/Child Ratios: 5
Curriculum: 5

Report this review

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 20:53:33 +0000

this center is …

OVERALL School Rating: 1
Health and Safety: 1
Environments: 1
Teaching Staff: 1
Teacher/Child Ratios: 1
Curriculum: 1

Report this review

By: happy doctor mom

happy doctor mom — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:55:29 +0000

My daughter has been attending Shining Star since she was 4 months and we have been so happy with the daycare/school. I don’t know why there have been negative reviews posted (most of them several years ago), but my experience with them not only as a mother, but as a pediatrician and a child psychiatrist has been extremely positive. As a children’s physician, I believe the qualities that are most important in a good daycare and nursery school are : 1) safety; 2) quality of the staff; and 3) a child’s experience for personal growth and development.

Regarding safety, I feel extremely secure with Shining Star. The school has two buildings separated by a shaded, fenced-in play area, one building is for infants/toddlers, and the other for older children. There is only one entrance/exit for each building, through an extremely secure and heavy door in the back that is noisy upon opening. You enter the door and walk through a hallway by the office window. The hallway leads to a large room that is divided by short walls for the different age groups. The room is large enough for the children to be active, but not so large that the staff can’t keep an eye on all of them. The rooms are well-worn, but clean. There is a chance for kids to bump into each other, but that can happen on any playground or at any school. Because the room is square, there are no blind spots or corners where the children can go unsupervised. In my daughter’s room, there are crawlers, walkers, and runners. Personally, I am okay with this because I believe that an important social skill for children is to not only be exposed to differently aged peers, but different developmental levels of motor, language, and cognitive skills. I’ve observed the children being active, but also being redirected appropriately by staff whenever they went too near a crawler. I did not witness any times when a child could even be potentially physically harmed by a staff member. Children will go outside twice a day only when the weather is not too cold or too hot. They apply sunscreen in the summer if they go outside regardless of the weather, and make sure that the children are in the shade when playing or walking around the neighborhood.

The staff is excellent. The teacher/child ratio is ideal, and the staff has had very little turnover in the last 10 years. I’ve seen daycare centers where their staff have degrees in early education, but little or no hands-on experience. One can study from a book and do supervised internships, but studying and doing are two very different things, and in my opinion, just having a degree does not necessarily equate with having quality staff. I have been most impressed with the teachers – not only do they genuinely love their jobs (hence the low turnover) and the children, but they KNOW each child’s temperament and adjusts accordingly. For example, my daughter is feisty, loud, and loves toys that play music. Another child is more quiet and reserved. All the staff members know the individual children, and will modify their individual teaching styles to fit that of the child’s temperament. A larger, more impersonal daycare would not do this.

Finally, because the staff takes such an interest in the children, they naturally foster their personal intellectual curiosity and growth. They encourage each child to develop, but at their own pace. For example, the staff may point out to me another child in the room and talk about his/her strengths and skills – “this is _name_ – she just learned her abc’s yesterday and she loves to color animals…right now we’re learning all the different names.”

Because Shining Star is a smaller daycare/school, it feels like an extension of a family. The multicultural and diverse staff have become “aunties” to my daughter, and her face lights up everyday when she sees them. The school is not a shiny, large, modern building with a large number of young inexperienced staff who isolate children to different rooms according to age. It is a family environment, one that is older, well-worn, well-loved, and comfortable. I feel so lucky to have found them, and I wouldn’t want my daughter anywhere else.

OVERALL School Rating: 5
Health and Safety: 5
Environments: 5
Teaching Staff: 5
Teacher/Child Ratios: 5
Curriculum: 4

Report this review

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:35:37 +0000

Once I entered the center I noticed immediately the cleanliness, the staff is EXTREMELY nice and very hands on with the kids. Its a very diverse atmosphere (kids of all races) attend. I noticed a swift change in my child’s verbal and social skills. We kept our child there for over a yr until our careers forced us to relocate. We’re SAD to go “Shining Star” they were GREAT in helping our child in that early developmental stage and took great of our kid. We’re THOROULY satisfied with our time there and would reccomend it to anyone!

OVERALL School Rating: 5
Health and Safety: 5
Environments: 5
Teaching Staff: 5
Teacher/Child Ratios: 5
Curriculum: 5

Report this review

By: danaemk

danaemk — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 18:37:23 +0000

We have sent our daughter to Shining Star since she was eight months old and she will continue there until she starts Kindergarten. The staff is like extended family to our daughter. They are kind, knowledgeable, and caring. The facility is clean and the curriculum is perfect for our four-year-old. She learns new things every day.

Through our whole experience, the owners and staff have been accommodating and helpful. Our daughter had to have an eye patched for a few months, and they did this right on schedule. We stopped in several times at the beginning to check on this so we know it happened. Recently, our daughter had a string of bad behavior. With help from her teacher, we got a report on her behavior every day and were able to reward her at home when she had “thumbs up” days.

For babies up to one year, we get a daily sheet with all diaper changes and feedings, so the one review that says they don’t change the babies enough seems to be misinformed. Our daughter was changed very regularly.

And I’m really not sure about the sunscreen comment. Since we’ve started there, we’ve been required to supply sunscreen for our daughter and they apply it when the kids go outside.

Our daughter has blossomed at this center. She has overcome her shyness and is open to meeting new people and learning new things. We highly recommend Shining Star and if have more children, they will attend as well.

OVERALL School Rating: 5
Health and Safety: 5
Environments: 4
Teaching Staff: 5
Teacher/Child Ratios: 5
Curriculum: 4

Report this review

By: rgleyzer

rgleyzer — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 04:07:24 +0000

My 2.5 yr old has been attending this day care since he was 3 months old. I researched at least 10 daycares before selecting Shining Star. First and foremost, my son loves his teachers, and tells me everyday, that he wants to see them. He runs to them in the morning when he first arrives. Second, we are bilingual and the russian speaking staff makes sure they talk to him in that language, as requested by me, resulting in him understanding and speaking in Russian and English! What a plus! Next, he has developed very rapidly with his motor skills, language skills, emotional, physical.. you name it. Yes, he was sick a lot the first year he attended, until he was about 1.5 yrs old, then it just stopped. This will happen with any daycare initially. I feel that Shining Star is my son’s second family. I am so blessed to have them in our lives. I love the fact that they take the kids outside a lot, kids need fresh oxygen to breathe and this is very helpful in both, cold and hot weather, so long as they are dressed. I have seen parents bring in their babies in 15 degree weather, wearing nothing on their feet, but ankle sox. If this is your parenting style, then no, your child is not ready for the outside climate in the winter. It is still the parents’ responsibility that their child is prepared for daycare, making sure you supply them with all necessities. My son has many friends in Shining Star, the kids there are wonderful. The same teachers have been there for the past 2.5 years! Stability is so important. I hope you realize that there is a lot of competition for daycares, and many people on here just post negative comments to sabotage their competition. Good luck and I hope you consider this wonderful home-away-from home.

OVERALL School Rating: 4
Health and Safety: 5
Environments: 4
Teaching Staff: 5
Teacher/Child Ratios: 5
Curriculum: 4

Report this review

By: Liz

Liz — Sat, 28 May 2011 00:42:51 +0000

this center is …very good. The staff has very little turnover. In fact I am struggling to think who the assistant who posted above IS as other than an older care giver leaving for health reasons I cannot recall anyone leaving in the six years we have been sending our kids there. And very little turnover with the kids either, which speaks volumes.

I have been very happy with this place. It is a little rundown, not super fancy, but always clean. And the kids do lots of projects, can attend dance, karate, and gymnastics classes, and go on field trips in the summer.

And yes many Russian families send their kids there so I agree with one of the posts above that that explains the broken English.

OVERALL School Rating: 5
Health and Safety: 5
Environments: 4
Teaching Staff: 5
Teacher/Child Ratios: 4
Curriculum: 5

Report this review

By: Happy Parent

Happy Parent — Mon, 23 May 2011 19:45:33 +0000

My 2 year-old son has been going to Shining Star since he was 8 weeks old. The staff is warm, caring, sincere, knowledgeable and properly trained. My son has great friendships there with the other kids, a great vocabulary (which attribute in part to the wonderful Shining Star staff), and he speaks fondly of his teachers. As much as a 2 year-old can, he tells me about his day and it always sounds like he’s had a great time.
The staff is open and honest. On the rare occasion that I’ve had a concern, they have heard me and responded responsibly and with sincerity.
I think it’s wonderful that they take the kids outside. They are concerned with the children’s well-being and always ensure that they are properly dressed.
In response to another reviewers comments – it is inevitable that kids in daycare will get sick pretty frequently. Any pediatrician will tell you that this is normal and to be expected. This has nothing to do with Shining Star’s level of cleanliness – it’s just something parents have to deal with when their kids are first going into daycare. For kids that don’t go to daycare, they just go through the same round of sicknesses when they enter kindergarten.
Shining Star is a wonderful place. Not particularly fancy from the outside, but inside you will find warm, caring teachers and a group of really happy kids.

OVERALL School Rating: 5
Health and Safety: 4
Environments: 4
Teaching Staff: 5
Teacher/Child Ratios: 5
Curriculum: 5

Report this review

By: luise11

luise11 — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:13:17 +0000

My children have attended The Shining Star School in Skokie. One of them graduated from there last year and went on to public school well ahead of other children in his class. I would love to thank all the teachers and management team for providing a warm and loving environment. My children loved going to school every day and what they have learned is unbelievable! The school is always very helpful and accommodating to my family’s needs.

OVERALL School Rating: 5
Health and Safety: 5
Environments: 5
Teaching Staff: 5
Teacher/Child Ratios: 5
Curriculum: 4

Report this review