This our second year at Ricks Center in Denver, and we have decided to go for a 3rd year as well. We are not limited by location, so I have researched private schools (gifted & alternative as well as “Unschooling” schools) in nearly every state of the US. We have also looked into private tutoring, and also have done a small amount of research on a handful of expat schools around the world. We are from Denver, but that is not why we settled on Ricks Center. We were traveling the US when I decided to google “gifted preschool” and Ricks Center was the first result! The rest is history I suppose.
There are definitely good options out there, but for right now, our family is very happy with Ricks Center.
We have tried some other philosophies, including:
- Montessori: I love the idea behind Montessori, but in practice I think it is a little too rigid.
- Waldorf: I love the idea behind Waldorf as well, but again, in practice I think there are too many rules and restrictions.
- Unschooling: The thought behind unschooling is nice, but in this case, there are not enough restrictions!
- Ricks Center is just right (yes, I am quoting from Goldilocks and the 3 Bears)
Why Private School?
My husband nor I ever attended a private school, and when we had our first child, we had no idea how we were going to handle education. We talked about homeschooling as well as doing due diligence to find the neighborhoods in Denver or elsewhere with the “best schools.” Private school wasn’t really on our radar. But now that we’ve tried out private school…I have a strong feeling we will not be considering public again (I’ll talk about why in a minute).
We have one child currently in Preschool, and one in Pre-K, so most of my review will be reflective on the early childhood program, but I have also had a limited window into the primary side (because of the “buddy” program”) so I will comment on that a little bit too.
Just a disclaimer before I get into the Pros/Cons and my complete Ricks Center Review –
My overall view is that no school is going to 100% perfect all the time for your kid. Something is bound to go wrong at some point. Because choosing a school is kind of like being in a relationship with someone – you love them, but every once in a while they do something that annoys you. The key here is to make sure you choose a school that the things you love about them are the most important, and the things that are annoying are just little side things that don’t matter.
So – knowing that your school won’t always be 100% perfect, you need to find a school that is willing to work out difficulties with you. To talk about problems, and come up with solutions. To communicate.
In our case, we have had 2 complaints (1 extremely minor, and 1 significant). Both were resolved swiftly & immediately, with absolute care, understanding and kindness.
I do think that the quality of a school is almost entirely dependent on the Director who is running it. Bad director = bad school (we were really interested in Denver Accelerated School, until we found out that there is an uptight director over there. No thank you)
So in this way, my review is mainly reflective of the current director Anne Sweet, as well as the current teachers there (no pressure Anne!).
I am not an expert in “gifted” educational methodology. But in my humble opinion, gifted students at any age need caring, thoughtful adult figures in their lives who really listen to them, learn about who they are, understand how they best learn, and treat them like meaningful humans, and not just like another random kid in their class that will be gone next year.
Additionally, if YOU consider yourself a “gifted” parent – it is essential that you have access to administrators at the school that you can really count on to have real conversations with you, about real topics, in a meaningful way, without bunches of beuoracracy, superficiality, or the drama.
Enough rambling – lets get on to the good, the bad, and the ugly!
Ricks Center: The Good
The Ricks Center Philosophy
I love the play-based philosophy. Some parents like to have their kids learning “book work” as early as possible. Some schools pride themselves on being able to teach kids to read before they are out of the womb (exaggeration, but still). Rick’s isn’t teaching my preschoolers how to read…
…BUT what they are doing is teaching them so much more important things at this age… I love that they listen to my kids. They have real conversations with my kids, even though they are only 3 and 5. My son still talks about things he learned from his teachers last year, they were so impactful to him.
I like the project based philosophy of the upper school. There is a certain level of freedom that a typical school environment doesn’t allow. They get to choose projects to work on, activities to do. They can choose to go outside for recess, or stay inside and read. I think this develops independent thought, creativity, and critical thinking, which is my top priority to get out of an education.
The Teachers at Ricks Center
I love that the teachers treat the kids like real, tiny humans. What I mean by this, is that the teachers show the children respect. They don’t just half listen to the kids when they are saying something, and then hurriedly keep doing whatever they are doing. They actually LISTEN to the kids. They ask questions. They challenge them to think critically.
This alone is worth the full tuition price for the school because you will not find teachers that treat your children like this at most schools. Especially not in the early childhood classrooms (where it is more common for the adult in the room to not take things so seriously, and only half-listen to the children).
I believe strongly that as humans we become like the 5 people we spend the most time with. So it is very important to me that my kids are spending their day with adult role models who are respectful, thoughtful, understanding, and excellent listeners.
The Classrooms at Ricks Center
The classes have such a calm, collected vibe. This blows me away. I have 3 kids, and my house isn’t as calm and collected as the preschool room that has 16 3-year olds.
I have to say, that this is also worth the tuition price. I shudder at the thought of having my kids in an environment where everything is chaotic, stressful, loud, obnoxious, wild, and teachers barely able to make it through the day.
Have you seen Daniel Tiger? Don’t you think Teacher Harriet is the most calm, collected, and patient teacher in the entire world? Well, the Ricks Center teachers are like this too. I’m not kidding.
The Admin at Ricks Center
They will work out any issue you have. And they are so nice about it, even if I am frustrated or communicating like a weirdo.
The Ricks Center Overall Vibe
I was worried about it being snooty or uptight. It is definitely not (if it was, I don’t think I would fit in very well).
I love the small size of the school. And the “buddy” program makes it so the “little” kids get to know the “big” kids, who have been more than kind, caring, sweet, and helpful to my 2 kids who go to Rick’s, and to my 1 year old baby. It is like a little community 🙂 I have seen nothing but sweet interactions between the older kids, and my 3 little ones. It breaks my heart!
Other Good Stuff to Mention
Communication is great, they send an email every single day with a summary of what they did at school that day. Its SO beneficial, because instead of asking “what’d you do at school today?” and getting the typical “um…nothing” reply, we know exactly what to ask about and this gets our kids launched into a total excited conversation about their day!
They have lots of events/activities/programs/music for both parents and kids. You can be as involved or uninvolved as you want.
Weekly newsletter
They aren’t weird about attendance if we want to travel whenever we want (this is probably true with any private school, but I thought I’d include it, because my public school friends have complained about this)
Ricks Center: The BAD
- You have to pay for parking (because its on DU campus)! Teachers have to pay too! I think we should all get free parking. This would make me really happy (Anne are you reading this?? Free parking. Puhleez.)
- Sometimes there is a line of traffic in the circle (where you pick up your kids). This might sound really stupid, but I actually thought about not enrolling in Ricks the first time because of that circle. Its not bad in the AM, but for pick-up there is a wait. AND it doesn’t help that parents constantly leave approximately 27 feet of space between their vehicle and the car in front of them. WHY??? However, if you’re in early childhood, you are required to park your car in the garage and walk your kids in and out, and then you avoid the whole traffic line altogether.
- I think the website is pretty outdated, and really doesn’t give a ton of information.
- I get the feeling that a significant amount of energy is spent on pushing the school’s enrollment up (more profit) and I think they could focus more on keeping it small and exclusive, and just creating a total A+ experience for all the students, parents, and teachers. But hey…money doesn’t grow on trees does it? Somebody’s got to earn that cheese…
- They don’t really allow you to meet your specific teachers BEFORE you sign the contract. I don’t like that. I want to know what human being I am signing on to have my children spend 1080 hours with over the course of a year. I suppose you are expected to trust that admin will make sure every teacher is a great choice. But still, I would like to know for myself. I’m just too curious!!
- There isn’t too much “diversity” but there is SOME, however it is a niche, private school…umm…yeah…to be expected…its a pretty common issue…this topic makes me uncomfortable…moving on…
- They have a lot of days off, and you have to pay extra for “extended care” on those days if you can’t stay home and watch your kid. Something to keep in mind if you don’t have a very flexible schedule.
- I heard a kid from upper school say the “f” word once (he said to me “your car is f*ckin ballz!”), and I was really envisioning private school kids to be likened to innocent little angels, who never say, do, or think anything bad, and have little heart tattoos with the words “i love my momma’ painted across. But it turns out they are human. So yeah…I don’t know if this is a con, or just reality.
- And, I’ll say it…I’ve noticed that some of the parents can be a little bit nit-picky at times. This is probably true of any school (theres always that ONE parent right?) but maybe slightly more common at a private school. The good news is, the teachers deal with it like absolute champs. 100% professional, completely understanding, and so cordial. I’ve heard some of the menial things that parents have complained about in the preschool room this year…and if I was the teacher I would not have had the ability to be so patient.
Ricks Center: The UGLY
Sorry to be disappointing, but there is no UGLY. Our family loves Rick’s Center. If there was truly something ugly, we would probably leave.
I’ve read the negative reviews on good schools from several years back, and apparently there was some kind of problem with the director at that time. Luckily we enrolled the same year that Anne Sweet started, so that was never an issue for us. I’ve not experienced or seen ANYTHING like what was described in those reviews at all. All the teachers get along very well with each other, as well as the director, the parents, and all the other admin, and everyone else who plays a part in keeping the school together.
My Kids’ Ricks Center Review
My kids love Rick Center. They LOVE their teachers. They love their friends too. They come home telling me about the activities that they do. They have fun there. My son still remembers SPECIFIC conversations he had with his teachers from last year. They made a lasting impact on him, and its because they truly took the time to really see him, really get to know him, and understand him.
Last year, before we enrolled for our 2nd year at Ricks Center – I asked my then 4 year old if he would rather go to pre-k at Ricks Center, or take a year off and travel around the world. He said “how about I do pre-k at Ricks Center, and then after that we travel the world, and then after that we come back to Denver to go to Ricks Center for 1st grade, and then after that we travel the world again?”
(Now, I’m not entirely convinced I should base major life decisions off of what my 3 and 5-year olds say, but I do factor in their opinions, and this plan doesn’t sound like a bad idea)
In Conclusion
My overall view is that no school (even a private school) is going to be 100% perfect all of the time. So find a school that has the philosophy you like, teachers you like, community you like, and a director that will really listen to you and be there for you. Because in that case you can rest assured that when there is something wrong, they will make it right. And this is what is most important to me.
I definitely recommend Ricks Center 100%, even if you don’t already live in Denver. If you are looking for an exemplary private school that is welcoming and that your kids enjoy, you won’t be disappointed.
Hope you make it through the interview! Wear a tie. Just kidding.