Discovery Isle Child Development Center

My little one attended Discovery Isle for short period of time. One of the 2 teachers in his classroom always seemed extremely disinterested. She would never make any meaningful eye contact or talk. My little one who is otherwise extremely happy to go to the school in general cried even during the 5^th week there (whereas he was extremely happy to go to the other preschool he was attending from day 2). The teachers always misspelled his name in his daily report even after I told them so. I took him out and started him in another preschool where he adjusted very well within a day. I’m so glad that I made the change.

My son attended the center this summer as his regular school had a long break. My work offers a discounted program, and I chose Discovery Isle Child Development Center for his 2 week break. My son is one of those kids that gets along with everyone. So, I am very lucky. He enjoyed his stay here, and he would tell me all about the activities he took part in, and what he learned from them. I was also happy that the Principle (Aimee Hudlow) was easy going and down to earth. She was easy to work with… and by easy I mean flexible with my schedule. As a working Mom, that is a huge bonus and a relief.
The center has some rules that I don’t agree on. But, I can understand. They don’t allow the kids to take off their shoes when they are taking a nap. This is in case there is a fire, they need to get up quickly and leave the area. While I understand. I also think that kids should take off their shoes throughout the day to allow their feet to breath.
The other rule. Air hugs. Give a child personal space. My son is a child that gives hugs. He cares and loves. He shows with affection by hugging you. I can understand if a child does not like being touched. But, don’t cultivate an environment that does not allow it at all. We are teaching our kids that it is not acceptable to hug each other. When in fact, it is more than acceptable. If we grow up not wanting to be hugged or touched, that is fine. We can verbalize this at a time when we are adults. Not when we’re a innocent 5 year old.
Overall, I give this center 4 stars.
Thank you.

Our son and daughter have been attending DI for almost a year. We are super pleased with DI and so grateful that we made the decision to enroll them in DI. Our son is in the intermediate class and our daughter is in the infant room. The teachers are absolutely fabulous and go out of their way to make sure each child feels special, loved and respected. Our son loves his teachers so much that he will often «call» them on his play phone while we are at home to chat. He looks forward to going to «school» and is learning a lot. His teachers are able to keep him interested in learning and that has really shown through at home as well. Each week consists of a theme and lessons (including Spanish) are taught surrounding that theme. At the end of the week, the children are encouraged to bring a share item from home representing the theme of the week. This is one of our son’s favorite times of the week. It gives us a chance to talk with him about the theme and gives him the opportunity to put it all together.
Our daughter is in the infant room and drop-​offs can be hard (more so for me than her). I can rest assured that she will be getting tender loving care all day. Whenever she is having a rough drop-​off, there is always a warm hug ready for her from one of her fabulous teachers. Her teachers will often send me pictures of her throughout the week (which just makes my day)!
DI offers some other services that I have not found consistently at other schools. DI provides breakfast for the children who arrive in the early morning and snacks in the afternoon. They send home a report on each child daily that lists their nap and eating schedule along with any pertinent notes from the day. Additionally, twice a year, DI sends a detailed report home with the child indicating where the child is at developmentally and socially for their age.
All of the teachers at DI feel like our extended family and we feel blessed to have found such a wonderful safe, caring and nurturing environment for our children. I would recommend DI to any parent looking to enroll their preschooler in a program.

My daughter went here and my son still goes to Discovery Isle in PQ. We love it. The teachers are like family and they learn so many things. We recommend it highly.

My older daughter has been at DI for over four years and my younger daughter for almost one year. They both started there when they were 4-​months-​old. From the start, I have felt my daughters were in safe hands. Their health and safety have never been compromised. In fact, DI completely revamped their facility and drop-​off/​pick-​up procedures to ensure the highest level of safety for the children. They also have appropriately strict health policies to ensure the children’s wellness.
The teachers and staff at DI treat the children with exceptional care and place their interests as top priority. They are all well-​qualified, loving, and passionate individuals. Each child is given the specialized care and attention they need and deserve. I was quite amazed by the success the Beginners room teachers had in potty-​training my daughter and others shortly after their second birthday. Also, the preschool teacher is top-​notch. I am in awe of how much my daughter has grown, both emotionally and academically, over the past year. I owe much of this to her teacher (s).
I have been very impressed with the curriculum at DI. Even as an infant, my daughters were creating art projects and participating in developmental exercises. My 1-​year-​old is learning baby sign language and can already hold a crayon properly. My 4-​year-​old is leaps and bounds ahead of children her own age who attend other preschools. She knows several words in Spanish, including counting to 15; and recently impressed me with her knowledge of Claude Monet.
Lastly, I appreciate DI’s flexible scheduling. It allows for cost savings to families who do not require full-​time care. I know not all daycare/​preschool facilities offer this. They also offer sibling discounts and vacation credits. I have never hesitated in recommending DI to other families. It has proven time and time again to be the best choice for my daughters and their futures.

We appreciate the excellent job DI has done over the past 2 years while our daughter attended their daycare center. We had to recently move her to a closer location near home due to my work schedule and responsibilities. She was very happy there and we were sad that we had to move her.
She thrived in the Infant Class, thanks to their nurturing and creativity. She always looked forward to seeing her teachers and all of her friends. As a new mom, they were very attentive to my needs (breastfeeding) and hers. The center supported us beyond what we imagined, everything we did at home, remained consistent at the center. They gave me peace of mind in knowing that she was in such good hands by constantly communicating with us via phone calls or emails. They also prepared monthly reports of any new developments and skills and included pictures of her daily activities and crafts. The management staff and teachers were always available if we had a concern or question. If done via email, they responded quickly on that day. It helps that each staff member is approachable and friendly. Every day they always remained pleasant, patient and kind.
They encouraged my daughter and provided ample opportunities for her to engage in her new world through play using different textures and materials, toys, music and taught her to use sign language when she was too little to use words yet. They provided a safe environment for her to explore, though she had some bumps and bruises from her attempts at walking which is typical for a beginner. She loved playing outside as their area is separated from the older classes. They have lots of toys, like push toys, blocks, water table in a mostly shady area and they have plenty of room to roam.
As a newborn she was surrounded by 1 year olds which provided an environment as if she had a sibling. They are separated for play; 1 teacher with the infants while 1 or 2 others with the 1 year olds or vice versa depending on the size or stats of the class. The infants have a padded area to roam, roll, explore, play and crawl. They do gather together for circle time and some other activities which helps the 1 year olds learn to be gentle while giving the little ones a glimpse and motivation into crawling, walking, and talking. The cleanliness was to my satisfaction, though their freezer could’ve used a good scrubbing. They took precautionary steps wiping down areas, toys, sheets, refrigerator handle and sanitizing these items during any cold/​flu seasons.
My daughter learned about colors, shapes, animals, seasons, camping, books, etc etc as each month they have a new theme. We loved how their play time was structured for fun and to learn. As another mother mentioned, it is a learning center not just a glorified babysitter like other centers out there. Our experience with them was great and we highly recommend them.
Good luck in your search.

This review is based on a tour we did of their infant room only.
From the get-​go, the staff at the front was nice enough and it looked like all the kids in the playground were having fun. The way its set-​up is there is a front office then you have to go outside again to reach all the classrooms (i.e. no indoor hallways.)
This seemed inconvenient to me especially with an infant on a rainy day for example. You go in the office, go back outside, carry the baby carseat/​baby in the rain, back into the office then back outside to your car. Also, for older kids if they need to line up, they’d have to line up out in the rain since there is no awning outside of the classroom doors… but I digress.
We were taken to the infant room which was the very last classroom. Right away what struck me was that we were not asked to remove our shoes or wear booties. Every single infant room we had toured had a no shoes policy. So here you have crawling babies with their hands on the floor where dirty shoes walk all over, then those hands go in their mouths — no thanks.
A majority of the classroom is tiled with only a small carpeted area for the non-​mobile infants to lay out where, again, teachers would walk with their shoes on.
Another thing I was not crazy about was their infant room age range is from 6 weeks to 24 months. That range is just too much! I believe once a child has reached 1 year/​can walk they should not be in an infant room anymore and many moms and other daycare centers we toured feel the same way.
The infants and toddlers have a private playground/​area which looked nice and the room itself was bright but small.
The teacher that was inside while we were there didn’t really talk to us so I can’t say I got the warmest feeling. To me, it says a lot when staff stop to say hi to our son, especialy if we are looking to put him in their room.
Though, tuition wise they were a little less for part-​time (3 days/​week) per month compared to other places in the area, I wasn’t crazy about their infant room.

It was last minute that I had to look for a daycare for my 1 year old son since I got a job offer and had to start the following week. I looked at 2 daycares and my son took to this one instantly. He instantly clicked with the other infant/​toddlers so we enroll him and he started the following week. We started with 3 days since my mother in law was able to help look after him for 2 days but my mother-​in-​law doesn’t drive and we had to drop off and pick him up 20 mins each way. We really wanted 3 consecutive days to start but was told they only had MWF. I didn’t understand why.
A week later I emailed the principal and told her this schedule didn’t work and that we really needed consecutive days and she said 4 days is ok M-​Thurs. I didn’t understand why they didn’t let us start with M-​W. It didn’t make sense to me. Was it just unnecessary hurdle that they wanted to give to new enrollees? So that’s why I took away one star. This was really unnecessary.
Apart from that, they were responsive to my emails and answered my calls. My son adjusted really well and the staff was very attentive to him. He came home happy, clean and well taken care of. I will update the review as time progress and if I see any changes.

We’ve only been sending our kids to Discovery Isle on Azuaga for about 6 months, but we’ve been pretty happy.
First, the positive… The administration has been really helpful as our kids adjusted/​transitioned. They were really open with the idea of letting my youngest hang with his older sibling in the morning to help with separating, even though they were in different classes. It helped tremendously. The Administation has also been helpful with suggestions when I’ve had questions about any behavioral issues. The teachers (Ms Abier and Ms Jeanna) in the the Pre-​K class (room 5) have been wonderful, and both my kids loved them.
Now the negative… The only negative thing I have to say was that I wasn’t very happy with one of the teachers in room 1. It seems the teacher and assistant are meant to balance each other (one more structure, and one more hugs and kisses/​supportive). The teacher who is apparently the more «structure» part of the class didn’t really bring her A game. When I dropped off the kids and she was the only teacher, the class was chaotic, and she never really seemed very happy. When other teachers were there by themselves wtih the kids in the morning for drop off, it was much more orderly. To her defense, I do have to say that this age-​group is a challenge, and she’s the one dealing with it all day.
Both kids were pretty happy regardless of my opinions, so I still give Discovery Isle 4 stars.

I’m so glad I made a right decision to choose the best caregiver for my twins. After considering all of the options such as home daycare, nanny and daycare center, this place became by far the best I wanted to pick for my kids. All of the teachers and the management staffs are very friendly and personable, facilities are very clean and well-​organized, the environment around the school is very quiet yet easy access to the freeway with no traffic. On top of that, the school program is very unique and my 1 year old kids are having so much fun and learning a lot by participating lots of fun activities every day. This place is truly a «child development center» I think. If you want to have your children to open up the world in their early stage, I highly recommend this school.

I’m not really even sure how to put into words how happy I am with Discovery Isle. I’m not typically speechless, so that’s saying a lot.
My son started attending this school just a month before his 3^rd bday, and on the heels of a pretty bad experience at a different preschool. I was quite nervous, because my toddler had been exhibiting some bad behavior at the other school and I was told that he was basically too hard to handle. He hadn’t been being horrible at home, but he doesn’t have any siblings, so I’m not able to observe him around other children too often. He is extremely high-​energy, at all times, so this coupled with the feedback from the other school made me hesitant about being able to find the right fit for him.
Fast forward to him being enrolled at Discovery Isle, and I just couldn’t be happier! The administrative staff is great about communicating with parents about everything, making us feel included and even making sure to send emails with pictures every now and then. And I can’t even tell you how happy we are with his classroom teacher — Miss Keyla. She is the best! She’s the perfect fit for my son, and I’m just so thankful that she’s willing to put the time and effort she does into making this experience a successful one for him.
I genuinely feel lucky to have found this place.

OK, so since my last review, some of the teachers have left and my satisfaction has suffered a bit. I really like the principal and her staff… I just don’t see the same classroom experience this year that I did last year.
The thing that still sets this place apart is the office staff. They’re very easy to work with and are responsive for the most part.