New Einsteins Academy

I can’t say enough great things about this school. From the teachers to the owner, director, staff, parents, kids, everyone is wonderful. They treat the children with respect, patience and are able to accommodate every child’s or parents’ needs. I have always been extremely impressed with the cleanliness of the school. This is important to avoid children from getting sick and so the owner is very strict about that, which is one of the things I love about the school. The fact that they are an «environmentally friendly» school is also a plus. They care about what the children are eating and make a true effort to supply healthy and organic meals. They also really care about the children’s safety — things like making sure the kids are appropriately dressed for the season, that the kids are wearing sunscreen, that they are hydrated, etc. My son went to NEA for about 2.5 years and he absolutely LOVED the school and his little friends. I highly recommend this school to anyone that I speak with.

We have been at New Einstein’s for the last 1.5 yrs and have had a very positive experience.
Olga (the Director) is wonderful. They have done a great job managing transitions (starting at the school, moving up to the next classroom, potty training, responding to changes at home). They are also very good about communication (regular parent teacher conferences/​scheduling any meetings as need, calling you when your kid get a big bump from tripping on the sidewalk so you don’t freak out at pickup, etc).
My son is excited to go to school, see his friends, tells me about things he learned at school. I really like the field trips they have starting in the 24 month class where the kids get to aquarium, pumpkin patch, etc. I am also pretty jealous of the food (Gorilla Gourmet) based on the weekly menu, and the rotating enrichment classes.
On top of that, NEA is really great about not closing. We haven’t had a snow day yet this year.

NEA is one of the best schools in the Bucktown /​Wicker Park neighborhood. They offer such a diverse atmosphere. They’re very educational! The kids get to enjoy variety of classes such as music, dance, language, yoga and other wonderful activities to expand their knowledge and minds. The staff is exceptionally friendly, caring and nurturing to the kids. The food served is organic and parents get updates via weekly newsletter! Leaving your child is difficult but I know they’re in the hands of professionals. This is shocking but kids hate leaving at the end of the day because they love their friends and teachers so much!

I can’t say enough about how lucky we are to have found New Einsteins (NEA). I had visited 3 other daycare options in the city, and we were in a tough spot with needing full time care for our daughter to replace our part-​time nanny arrangement. I can’t imagine our daughter anywhere else! The minute I walked in I just loved the feel of the place — each room has natural light and it doesn’t feel like a huge space broken up into smaller spaces for each age group — the have their own rooms and each room feels like the perfect size for the size of the group of kids. Ogla, the director, made me feel good about the place even more — she and the rest of the staff are warm and friendly and truly care about our daughter and the other children. The peace of mind I have after sending our daughter to NEA is priceless. Our daughter started at New Einsteins at 20 months in the Ocean Room (young toddlers). Adriana and Stacy were wonderful with her and she loved them! Other daycare options felt like a parking place for kids to be contained, NEA felt like our little one was in preschool. The activities, structure, and socialization was wonderful for our daughter.
It was so much fun when our daughter started telling us about her «friends» at school, calling them out by name, telling us what they did each day. When our daughter decided she was ready to potty train on her own, the staff supported her even though it wasn’t typically done until she went into the green room (older toddlers).
Now that she’s in the green room with Kelly, Myra, Shannon and Jessica, our daughter has blossomed even more. She loves her teachers and her friends and she has grown so much! Between the music, language, art and yoga — I don’t know where to start — it’s a terrific program. More like pre-​pre K than daycare. Sometimes I hang around at pick up to watch how the kids interact or how the staff handles challenges with the kids so we can be consistent with what we do at home. Our daughter loves «school» so much she doesn’t want to leave at the end of the day saying she misses her «friends» and often wants me to come in and play and read with her and the other kids. I’m so glad our daughter (and ourselves) get to be part of this community. I love sending her to a «school» in the neighborhood and having the chance to get to know the other kids and their parents. It’s a wonderful, diverse, educational and playful environment!

We have been sending our kids to New Einsteins Academy for more than 18 months and we are extremely happy with our decision. We started in the young toddler’s class with Ms. Erin, Adriana and Stacie (who are all awesome). Then we transitioned to the older toddler’s class, which has been fantastic so far. NEA is a play-​based, safe, nurturing and super-​clean environment, which offers a rich academic curriculum to a very diverse student population in the heart of Bucktown. The owner, Inna, the director, Olga and the entire staff truly care about children and would do everything that would work best for your child. Classes are small. Teacher turnover, which something parents should definitely look carefully during their school search, is extremely low. From an academics standpoint, they have a great curriculum which is very stimulating. Our kids have learned so much. They know their numbers, colors, shapes, letters, they enjoy reading, and are getting much better with their manners and social skills. They love their friends and look forward to going to school every morning. They are also bilingual and their English has dramatically improved since they started NEA. They love their teachers, Ms. Kelly and Ms. Mayra along with Ms. Shannon who are very helpful in every way possible. They have learned so much and on top of it– they are having so much fun. The school offers organic food including breakfast, snacks, lunch and fun enrichment classes such as yoga, Spanish, Kid fit, cooking, field trips. Art and music are also carefully incorporated into the curriculum. If you are looking for a great school that provides a stimulating, challenging and fun learning environment for your child, I would highly recommend checking out NEA. We are happy to be a part of this wonderful community.

New Einstein’s Academy is the best daycare and school and we feel blessed that we found this lovely place. We were very hesitant going from a nanny share in our own home to a daycare. Olga, the director and the entire teaching staff made us feel confident and comfortable with our decision with their warm and welcoming ways and their experience and knowledge with toddlers.
Our son started in the ocean room (15mo-​24mo) when he was 20 months old. Adrianna and Stacy made my son feel so loved and confident with their warm and nurturing environment, my son thrived immediately in many different ways.
Now my son is almost 27 months and graduated into the next room (2 – 3.5yo) with a lot of his buddies when he was 2 and adjusted rather quickly to the new teachers and classroom. His teachers, Kelly & Mira along with the teacher assistants Shannon & Jessica, have been so helpful with potty training, any behavioral challenges that have come and gone, and educating my son– it’s been perfect.
They daily enrichment programs ranging from yoga, art class with an outside art teacher, music class, kid fit class, cooking class, Spanish lessons, etc have all been wonderful and thoroughly enjoyed by all of the students. The kids get to be outside twice daily at a local park and/​or explore the neighborhood on walks which is important to us that he be outside and get fresh air. The organic food that is served is fantastic, offering a wide variety of meals and snacks that my son loves. Nap time is quiet, dark, and peaceful for the toddlers which is very important to me. We are given daily personalized update cards at the end of the day including food eaten, length of nap, and potty information which is very useful. The weekly letter we receive via email including pictures and lesson plans learned for the week is fantastic so we can know exactly what they learned and how they did that day. The classrooms are kept extremely clean and organized with their green toys and furniture and their no outdoor shoe policy.
All in all NEA is the best school for our son and for really any toddler to grow and flourish in a nurturing and academic based environment.
Marisa P. & Little G

We had our son at NEA for about a year and loved it! He had a great time there, enjoyed all the activities and teachers. Everyone was very caring and nurturing.
It is a very clean, organized daycare. We really liked the family activities they did (thanksgiving, mothers day, fathers day etc) It is a fun way to know other parents and bond with your child. Loved the organic food and weekly newsletters. Leaving your child its always hard, but it makes it better when you know he is at a great place like NEA.

We moved here in July and were looking for a very specific type of preschool for our daughter (now 3.5yo) — one that would be much more into development rather than babysitting. Checked out 3 places per recommendations/​reviews — Crème de la Crème in Lincoln Park (looked like Disney World and they seemed more impressed with their 17 LCD screens in the lobby than educating the kids… a little boy sat crying for 20min by himself… teachers did not seem to be the brightest.), Urban Child in Gold Coast (which we actually liked, but it was just a little… too much… wasn’t exactly the environment we wanted), and New Einsteins.
The moment we walked in, it was obvious that the owner, Inessa, and the program director, Olga, cared. They were very welcoming, took time to answer all our questions, talked about their plans for expansion, etc. We really felt that this place was much more down to earth and homey. It was also super clean, with tons of educational toys and activities. Everything looked like it was obviously thought through.
Our daughter has been going to New Einsteins for over 3 months now and we are very happy with it. Her English skills have grown tremendously (her primary language is Russian), and she’s picked up several Spanish words as well! She comes home singing the songs she’s learned and telling me of the stories they’d read. Their art projects are great — all with development in mind.
They do organized activities daily (dance, yoga, art, cooking), go on field trips (for example: they went to see a play, the zoo at Lincoln Park, going to Didier Farms for pumpkins this week, etc), spend plenty of time outside. Food is catered organic from Gourmet Gorilla.
We get a weekly newsletter with pictures and a letter from the teacher, updating us on what they had done over the last week… I LOVE this newsletter and look forward to seeing my happy kid in the pictures :-)
One more thing worth mentioning — they are very «green.» All the cleaning products, etc., are child-​friendly. My daughter used to get sick literally every other week before we moved, and I’m sure that it was partly due to allergies (we lived in the Ohio River Valley), but also her previous preschool was not nearly as clean.
We used to have battles every morning about going to «work.» Now, she’s happy to go – she loves her teachers, talks about her friends, and of course, Miss Olga, who has really made the transition so much easier.
I would definitely recommend New Einsteins and wish them lots of success :-)

Our 4 year old son started here just a few weeks ago when they opened. He looks forward to going every morning. They have a great curriculum and very enthusiastic teachers. He brings home projects each day and stories of his experiences. Additionally, the hours of the school are very convenient for working parents.