Seattle Learning Center

We love SLC Montlake. Our son started there when he was 8 months old, and we plan to keep him there as long as they let us! I was the typical nervous first-​time mom and the initial transition was typically tough, but the teachers were terrific about keeping me informed with compassion and competence. I can’t say enough good things about every single teacher; we love each of them so much, and more importantly, they truly love the kids. Plus they have very little turnover — we’ve only had one teacher leave in the 10 months we’ve been there — which is huge in daycare land. They only hire the best and it really feels like a community.
We feel so lucky to have found SLC and feel our son has been given the best possible start! Thank you guys :)

This is a truly wonderful daycare. Our son has been both at the Montlake location from 4 months of age to 20 months and now attends the Queen Anne location in the Sunshine room. The care that goes into hiring the teachers is obvious — they have dedicated, sincere and loving staff who truly care for the children with kindness and patience. They focus on play and the education here is equally focused on building interpersonal and motor skills. We feel like our son is in a very special place with caretakers that are invested in his development. I highly recommend both locations!

You have to know a person that works there before applying but of course not often the case. They have the best teachers I can assure you that. A lot of turn over with employees and children.
Queen Anne Location

This review is actually for the Montlake center of SLC. I highly highly recommend Seattle Learning Center, so much so that both of our young daughters go to SLC.
Any parent can tell you that finding childcare is a daunting process. When it was time to look for daycare centers I figured I had to temper my expectations between what I hoped for, and what was offered. We had our sights set on bright horizons, and on paper, they sound great. They have 2 trained chefs on staff, as well as a very structured program. However, it was a very cold and sterile environment. I did not see one hug being given, not even one high-​five. During my orientation at bright horizons I saw 6 infants strapped to a huge stroller waiting in the lobby for almost 15 minutes. No one engaged the infants or talked to them. The minder of the stroller was standing behind the stroller talking with the reception staff. I tried to push my worries aside because everyone says bright horizons is the best childcare. I had huge concerns as the south lake union center had construction right next door to the center and the children spend time outside everyday. Also, the bright horizons on west 8^th in downtown Seattle was a bit rude to us and I was hung up on twice when I called them. I still tried to push my fears aside and push forward with bright horizons.
By chance my husband found Seattle Learning Center on Unilocal and we figured since we already waited 4 months for bright horizons to have an opening we might as well look at other places as well. As luck would have it, SLC was just opening their Montlake center and luckily, we were able to attend their orientation. From the moment we stepped into the center we knew this was the place for our daughter. You could feel that the teachers genuinely care about the children. When they ask after my children you know that they have genuine interest and aren’t just being polite. They may not have the trained chef bright horizons has, but they have a accomplished care taker and grandmother, Marissa putting love into every single one of the meals she cooks there.
In the infant room, where my older daughter started out and my youngest still resides, they have Miss Marissa, Miss Camille, and Miss Jackey. After my youngest was born I felt quite overwhelmed with going back to work and having two young children in daycare, but everyone in the infant room made my transition back to work very easy. In my grandmother’s day, she still had community and family around her to help her raise her children. In today’s modern world, I lack that familial community, but SLC was able to recreate an urban community for my children. When I drop off my youngest in the infant room I feel as if I’m greeted by my sisters. If my baby is crying the come over to hold her so that I can leave for work. They sing my baby songs, hold my baby if she’s sad, they know what toys she prefers, and they make sure she’s developing appropriately and enforce tummy time. Every single day that I drop off my daughter in the infant room, Miss Jackey, Miss Camielle, and Miss Marissa make me feel as if I’m dropping off my daughter with her favorite aunts and grandmother.
My older daughter is in the toddler room, and Lily has done a wonderful job staffing the toddler room. Miss Meghan and Miss Allison always stop whatever they are doing to greet any toddler that comes to school. They start off with a welcome song, then spring into art time, which my daughter loves. They then go into circle time to sing songs and read books. My daughter might be the most eager for circle time as she runs to get a circle mat every single day. I don’t know how they do it, but at daycare, they’re able to get my daughter to eat a huge lunch and enforce her to sleep during nap time. What I like most is that Miss Meghan has started to work with each toddler one-​on-​one. At 20 months of age my daughter has a ton of words, she can put on her own coat and shoes, she is pretty good at potty training, and shows great strides towards empathy. Watching her grow at SLC gives me the confidence to say that she will be ahead of the game when it’s time for pre-​school and kindergarten.
SLC really does deserve more than a five star review, it really is as good as it gets! This center recreates the loving community that you hope your children grow up in! If they have an opening, snatch it up as quick as you can :-)

Anyone reading these reviews know that picking a pre-​school/​daycare is pretty serious business. Previously, we had a nanny and that experience was ok but a nanny could never give the social experience that a school/​daycare could so we decided to move on. When picking one for my daughter, it came down to Bright Horizons and Seattle Learning Center. I have to admit, Bright Horizons talks a pretty good game. Every food that they serve is made right on location (no purchased muffins etc.) and they have two chefs on staff — a culinary school graduate and a nutritionist. But with all of their talk about nutrition, teaching theories, and curriculum, it just didn’t feel warm. I talked about it with some other fathers and they said some stuff about Bright Horizons having a corporate profit agenda and blah blah but it really wasn’t that at all. Like have you seen that baby sitter that just sits around and watches television while the kids run amok? That’s what Bright Horizons felt like when I observed their teachers.
Still, I was about to accept an opening at Bright Horizons until SLC Montlake opened. We went to their open house and after a short conversation with Molly and Lily, I KNEW I found the right place. The talk was so genuine and even to this day, when they ask about my daughter, I feel that they’re truly interested and not just asking to be polite. Lily is of course fabulous, but in my opinion, it’s Molly that makes that place special.
It’s going to be a big deal for me when my daughter eventually leaves SLC as they represent one of the first really big decisions that I made for my daughter — a decision that I definitely do not regret!

We’re lucky to have found such an amazing preschool for our daughter. She loves her teachers and friends. We get daily reports, pictures, activity/​meal schedules and a LOT of peace of mind. The school’s curriculum is very diverse. It includes gymnastics, french, age-​appropriate lesson plans, field trips, and parent/​child activities.
I don’t have any complaints and keeping our daughter in this school until she is ready for kindergarten is a big priority.

Our son has attended SLC for the past year and we absloutely LOVE it! The staff is enthusiastic, educated, and truly have interest in the children’s learning and development. Lily, the owner of SLC, is an organized leader and runs this learning center with the children in mind. What I love most about her is her interest in continuing education with respect to early childhood development and teaching methods that she then educates the teachers on. Finally, and most importantly, our son loves his days here and talks enthusiastically about his teachers and his friends. Every day he comes home, he is full of new knowledge and excitement. We are expecting our second and can’t wait until they are able to attend! Oh, one more positive that I really appreciate about SLC is the sense of community; 4 family potlucks a year, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mother’s day and Father’s day celebrations and regular parent teacher conferences keep us very involved with SLC despite being busy working parents.

We really love Seattle Learning Center. The staff are great – very warm and personable. I feel like my daughter really gets individual attention. The activities are great too – they go outside, even in the rain. Highly recommend this place.

We are so happy with SLC. The teachers and staff are great, open, receptive and loving. For a full day program (they don’t offer ½ days anymore), this is an ideal place.

*Such amazing staff, I feel so lucky to have my boy here
*Lily is warm and so personable, they are so spot on with their health and fitness regimen and the food variety is so great for the little guys
*I love that they go to the playground darn near every day

Great teachers! The kids do a lot of different activities and art. It is a great place for the little ones to learn, play and socialize. The teachers are very creative with the daily activities and occasionally have fun theme parties for the kids. My daughter absolutely loves the teachers and the school.