Desert Willow Family School

Posted: July 25, 2026

Since the founder retired, the school culture has changed significantly. In my experience, the school has not been supportive of students with disabilities and has been inconsistent in addressing their needs. There also appears to be favoritism among students, which contributes to an unfair environment. I found the grading practices to be inconsistent, and bullying has not been addressed effectively. I hope the school takes these concerns seriously and works toward creating a more inclusive, equitable, and safe environment for every student.

Posted: July 25, 2026

Posted: July 25, 2026

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Posted: July 15, 2025

If I had realized how inflexible the program, I may have still signed up because you hear such great things about the school, so I wanted to share my experience. It may have been our assigned teachers, but I talked to many other parents, and for being marketed as a family-school, it fell short. The communication between the teachers and parents is poor about what actually happens at school. I've had better communication from our regular APS school. One of the teachers would not let me volunteer or observe in the classroom because she said it made the other kids jealous. My kindergartner received age inappropriate assignments and I was told the readings in nonfiction are always three levels above grade level. My kindergartner made normal progress, but I think they would have made more progress if assigned readings were closer to their abilities.

I think the school is protective of their high test scores and is thus very inflexible with their curriculum. I think the only benefit is generally the kids have stable parents at home, so there is less bullying. Also, note that the school poverty rate is very low, socioeconomically similar to the rich districts in town but with very involved parents to boot. There are fewer kids on IEPs and they have less severe needs. I think all this factors into the slightly better test scores than the La Cueva feeders.

Parents should know the recess standard at Desert Willow in 80-20 program is only once per day in K-2, once a week in 50-50, and there is no library, music, or art classes. Both teachers said these could be done during our homeschool time. My children were expected to do an hour of homework Tues-Friday and four hours on Mondays for homeschool. If you feel physical activity and fun in learning is important in elementary, I would skip. If your child is the kind who would thrive here and you are the kind of parent considering it, your kid will probably do equal or better elsewhere and have more fun at school and as a family.

Posted: July 15, 2025

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Posted: August 27, 2024

If you don't want to work to make sure your kid has a good education then don't sign up. The format is 80/20 or 50/50 homeschool so it's going to be work. Parents go to classes to understand what the kiddos are learning and help teach. It's literally what we sign up for. The test scores speak for themselves. We're willing to go the extra mile to ensure that our kiddos have a good education. It's an amazing and unique school with a true community feel.

Posted: August 27, 2024

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Posted: April 5, 2022

Our family has been at Desert Willow Family School for five years now. It isn't perfect place, but it has been a great fit for our family. Our son, who is in his first year at our local high school, and is at the top of his class there, recently told his younger siblings that he feels that Family School gave him the tools he needs to learn and to excel. Our experience with teachers has been hit or miss. Because of the school's unique design which demands a lot from its students, teachers and parents, there is a fair amount of turnover with teachers. We did have a very negative experience with a new teacher who left after that first year. On the other hand, we have also had incredibly exceptional teachers who truly teach because they love their students and love to inspire learning in them. I believe that this is the best education my children could receive. I home schooled for five years before enrolling here, (which was also a great experience), so perhaps I was better prepared than some for the workload required. Family School enables me to be involved in my children's learning without carrying the full burden of their education by myself.

Posted: April 5, 2022

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Posted: July 31, 2017

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Posted: July 31, 2017

I think this school has good and its share of bad.
I agree with others that the common core is ruining not only this school but many! I think it is time for a change because many students are struggling and many parents are having trouble helping their students to understand.
Another issue I have is how much work is being sent home. I am all for helping my child but when they are in school for as long as they are I expect them to be taught AT SCHOOL! Again I am fine helping with homework when needed but not only in my home but it seems more like I am trying to explain and teach my child at home and it leaves me wondering what if anything is taught in class, this is not only my home but after talking with MANY parents they agree. I work all day have to pick everyone up, get home, cook dinner, and spend a couple of hours playing school as well. The evening is wasted, kids are tired, no one is happy, the time is more stressful than bonding or settling down for the evening, and the kids are tired of school too, which is never good as they start to dread it.
I think it can work for some but for those of use who work all day and do not have help it starts to be a burden.

Posted: November 17, 2014

Like other reviewers have mentioned, this school is not for everyone. For my family it is perfect. I have an 8th grader, a 5th grader, and a 2nd grader. They all love school. They don't feel like robots that do nothing but school work - they are extremely proud of themselves and their achievements. They are learning personal responsibility and to recognize the growth that they have made. They are never bored. I love that I am involved in their learning - the homeschool component is basically that I help them with their homework, which I want to do anyway. The commitment level for parents is definitely high, but I have no desire to drop my kids off at a school and let them do all the teaching - I want to know what my kids are learning and how it is taught. The school focuses on academics without a lot of extras, BUT there are no classes on Mondays, so that's when many families do music lessons and other supplementary programs. If your children need a challenge academically, you won't do better than this school. (And - if you read the negative reviews, don't they kind of read the same? I wonder if some of them are from the same reviewer?)

Posted: June 4, 2014

This is a great program that allows our kids to be in an environment with all different kinds of people (ethnic, socioeconomic, religions, etc.) like the real world. We get to be heavily involved in their learning and sometimes it is a great deal of work but it is worth it. Unfortunately Common Core and state testing are being required at this school and it has hurt the program. It seemed that this year 2013-2014, the pace of learning slowed down considerably and I am afraid that Common Core is going to ruin what was the best option for our kids. The idea behind Common Core is good but it has been implemented in a way that is hurting rather than helping the children of our nation.

Posted: April 26, 2014

Wow. I am shocked at the negative reviews. We have 3 kids in the program and have been with the school 6 years. I think it's definitely not for everyone, but we are extremely pleased with the quality of the school, the curriculum, and the teachers. I think these dissatisfied parents have gone, because we have zero slots available to new kindergartners as all open slots go to siblings first. This shows significant commitment among existing parents, and is a hallmark of the learning community that we have developed.

Posted: February 15, 2014

If you are wiling to give up any social development with play with other children, free time, and sanity of not only the child, but also the parent. If your willing to, or have the time to devote and extra 20 hours a week to home work, then this would be the school for you.The curriculum is too far advanced, ie. five year old kindergarten children bringing home work that clearly is for fourth and fifth graders, and changes too often, for most of the kids, (even the above average intelligence children). My child attended there for a while, and we decided to go back to public school for a trial period where we learned that wasn't advanced enough. Ultimately we decided on homeschooling which seems to work better than both options. Our child gets a challenging education,equal to, I believe superior to the family school education, but still has time to be a kid, which DID NOT happen at the family school. I suppose the best word to describe the experience here is BURNOUT. Too much work, and too many ridiculous theories of what children should be taught. They need free time to develop. Parent participation is expected, but your time would be better spent homeschooling your own child.

Posted: February 14, 2014

I agree with majority of the negative posts here. My son spent the first two months of kinder here .. The curriculum is confusing, never published, and very age inappropriate. I mean place value in the thousands before they can count to 100,really? More homework is not always better. academically you will do just as well if not better with something like horizons curriculum. The bonus is your kid will have time to be a kid and enjoy other interests. I'm sorry but this school was a huge disappointment. I got my son out as he was surely shutting down. When we expressed our concerns we were told that it's just not for everyone and there was not room for any new ideas or challenges. Hey, that was enough-were out and far better off. my son is doing great but still misses the kid connect as we are homeschooling now. Still waiting for a school with like hours and a published curriculum to come along. That would be a real great school!

Posted: September 15, 2012

I really don't think that many of the negative reviews here are justified. This is our family's 5th year at Family School. We have some special circumstances that make the multi-age classrooms very attractive (a younger sib who is gifted, and older sib who has ADHD and until recently struggled to keep up with reading). It's definitely not the school for people who think the teachers should be doing all the hard work. The parents are co-teachers with all the responsibility that implies. Families must have the time to devote, and I think the school does as good a job at communicating that as possible. (It would be interesting to me to know which reviews were written by 80/20 vs 50/50 families.) Expectations are high, and our kids are developing great academic, study, and critical thinking skills.

Posted: September 14, 2012

The school now has a brand new and beautifully designed website that sounds like an infomercial, with a bunch of puffed up descriptions and testimonials from some folks who "graduated" from it 20 years ago when it was a different school altogether, but nothing really has changed the last 3 years. It is a load for any kid and any family to meet all the undefined requirements they ramble about at their 2-hour compulsory meetings, designed to reinforce the parent "commitment" component. 4 weeks of the year are completely taken up by testing. Retention is not very high. You can indeed try it for yourself as they invite, but chances are you will burn out sooner rather than later.

Posted: July 26, 2012

What worked at one time no longer works. The children are not learning what they did at one time because many of their brighter peers have moved on. The teacher turnover is high and the principal is not easy to talk to. Most importantly, the quality of education has really gone down over the years and the retention of famlies is not there.