Montessori Discovery Academy

I LOVE everything about this school! My son started in the toddler class and is now in the preschool class. I love the teachers and all the staff. They do an amazing job and I love the Montessori method of teaching. My son has advanced so quickly and he loves it! They have a wonderful shaded playground and do great field trips and special events. They are very flexible with my schedule and are very organized. I wish I could give them 10 stars!

We’re lucky to have a Montessori school in Bountiful since it’s such a good environment for children to learn in. Lorna is a teacher for ages 3-6, and her cabin classroom is really cool. She’s invested in her students and really goes the extra mile to make sure her students have a good experience and she keeps parents well informed. I recommend this school to anyone in the area looking for a better learning environment for their children!

My son attending this school from 1st grade to 4th grade. I really liked the school and thought they did a great job with the Montessori program. I highly recommend them to others looking for an alternative to the traditional school model.

Update: After several years at this school I have nothing but praise for the teachers and staff. My son has learned manners, kindness, and empathy from Carrol and her staff. He has also learned so much over the years, ending his 4th grade year doing Algebra, reading like a pro, and doing spelling words that most adults get wrong. Discovery Academy WORKS and is a fantastic school. I have nothing but good things to say!

Absolutely horrible experiance. Our daughter has autism and frequently has fits when there is loud noises. After a couple months we are told she is going moved to the big building to a small class to be "normalized." We told the director and teacher how we get her to calm down to each idea we were told "we aren't going to do that" basically telling us we will just tell her to stop and if she doesn't she'll go into time out (which only made the fits worse). We were called at least twice a week the entire time she was there by the office saying we had to come get her because she was to upset which ultimately led to my wife loosing her job because she had to go get her so much. Our daughter was constantly being blamed for things like saying bad words but when we ask where she heard them she said the teacher says them all the time and that the teacher said it was ok to say them. I brought that to staff and I was told "our teachers have better morals than that." If you have a child with special needs do not send them here. We took our daughter to Kindercare in North Salt Lake and it's absolutely great.

Overall School ★★☆☆☆ The school at first showed that they do teach some of the Montessori basics but are lacking in having a fully trained staff that practice the Montessori method. We quickly noticed there was also a lot of turnover, we just showed up to different teachers. That is hard on young children. From our experience, we would never recommend anyone take their kid under the age of 4 there as they have a low tolerance for kids who are still learning the rules, and or have never been in a pre-K program. They serve toddlers but they are licensed as a school not child care therefore not held to the same licensing standards as a daycare. They don’t keep track of kids well, two instances in 2 weeks took place were three kids escaped the log cabin and were running out in the parking lot. No teachers followed them and they made it all the way to the main building before another teacher took them back. Second instance we went in a class room to find our child’s items and found instead a fellow student crying in the corner. She said her teachers left her in the class room and she did not know where they were. Because they don’t take attendance when moving kid’s locations, the aftercare teacher had no idea this child was even at school! The school does not seem to be tailored to working parents. Aside from the aftercare issues, the school is closed whenever Davis School District is closed. They close for one week between school year and summer camp, and 1.5 weeks between the end of summer and school beginning. If you want to use the aftercare (which I don’t recommend) you will pay extra for that. Remember you paid the same tuition for these months as the months with no days off. This was the absolute worst aftercare experience we had! After taking my daughter one day I ended up taking the rest of the week off work because it was so awful! After Care ★☆☆☆☆ I’m just going to cut right to the heart of this. You pay for a teacher to toss the kids into a room or on the playground while they sit outside the door doing their own thing. Or in the room on their cell phones. No enrichment or learning activities take place. Not only that the ratio for kids to teachers are way off and all older kids get tossed in the same room as the toddlers. We witnessed little kids being injured on the playground from being caught in the older kids age appropriate rough housing. Field Trips ★★☆☆☆ It was a bit much to think about a 2-year-old going on a field trip. The center transports children in their van, and rely on teachers and parents to drive the rest of the children. Personally we were not comfortable with anyone else installing our child’s safety seat and transporting her. Toddlers are required to have a parent attend with them. So, if you are not a working parent then it might work for you. The locations are fun and exciting but the care is lacking. On one of the field trips we volunteer on we watched as the parents spent more time wrangling the kids up while the teachers sat back. The poor staff at Wheeler Farm were stressing out as there was no controlling the kids. One child was left behind while the class was on the wagon ride. Teachers had no attendance lists and there was no attendance taken once we arrived at the location. Summer Camp ★☆☆☆☆ Basically, this is just aftercare in the hot sun on the playground. The kids will spend hours out in the sun with little water. We were also disappointed to find out from our child that they watched TV during the day on multiple occasions. I could get a babysitter at home for cheaper if I wanted her to watch TV all day. Conclusion. We ended up pulling our kid from the school and have no intention of returning. If you are a stay at home parent who just needs preschool I would recommend them. If you are a working parent who wants to know your child is receiving a quality early education as well as safe child care don’t do it.