Sojourner Truth

[Anonymous]

Does anyone here have direct experience with Sojourner Truth? Our child has never done Montessori, but we are thinking that the structure might be a good fit for him.

[Anonymous]

I have a connection to the school, but my kid does not attend. I have been in the school several times and it is lovely, but a different instructional model. You should definitely make sure you understand the key differences before selecting, but it is really great IMO.

I would also say that a significant number of students in the school did not have any Montessori before joining. The MS/HS model for Montessori learning is quite different than early childhood and the school is intentionally designed to welcome students & families without prior Montessori experience.

You may not get a lot of responses from this board, but if you reach out to the school via email they should be able to connect you to a current parent. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

We have a sixth grader there and chose Truth over Deal. Montessori is working well for our kid who newly loves learning again, after years of not particularly liking her very good/rigorous DCPS elementary and has made deep friendships these past few months. The kid loves the power of having more of a say in learning. Curriculum seems pretty good so far, i.e, I know they learned ratios just like friends at Deal. But they also began with the looking into the Chinese & Egyptian numerals. The quarterly projects seem manageable, they get a ton of class time to work on them. Our kid loves the small STEM lessons so much we have had to warn them they really need to spend more time doing their humanities/writing project.

Other highlights: basically no homework if they are keeping up with in-school check lists. Full hour for lunch and recess, and sometimes they get chances at extra recess depending on group work progress. Small learning groups, which allows for differentiation for both advanced or behind kids. (Ours has benefited from both sides of this!) Lots of field trips and hands-on learning and entrepreneurial opportunities. A good number of clubs and some sports, which seem decent for a new charter school.

It’s a great little community of kids and families. There’s this contingent who went to Montessori elementary schools. There’s a fair number of kids with 504s & IEPs, as it attracts a lot of high-energy kids and/or kids with learning challenges who may not be a great fit for traditional classrooms. It also just seems to attract families who seem to really want to be there for one reason or another. Like we got into a cool conversation with a dad from SE who is an engineer and has helped his kid build some incredible things in their free time and was looking for a middle school that would welcome/cultivate what he called “nerdy interests.”

That said, there are some new school issues and growing pains. Some groups have more behavioral issues than others, which can be distracting for learning. The communication about what’s going on in the classroom isn’t great, and seems dependent on how communicative your kid is. I mention because I know several parents who feel like they don’t know/understand what’s going on, especially those more accustomed to traditional schools/homework, and are questioning the school’s rigor. This may also reflect the PP point that a lot of families are new to Montessori, as it is very different. But I think the school could do a better job at managing this unfamiliarity with stronger communication. And the Montessori culture has come into to conflict with more traditional public school culture when it comes to disciplining kids, meaning I’ve heard about incidents of communal classroom punishment and/or teachers shouting at a class of kids to behave far more than I would like for a Montessori school that touts the importance of respecting kids. That’s not to say it happens a lot, I just think it should never happen.

But overall our kid is pretty happy. Seems a lovely, very humane way to spend the difficult middle school years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a sixth grader there and chose Truth over Deal. Montessori is working well for our kid who newly loves learning again, after years of not particularly liking her very good/rigorous DCPS elementary and has made deep friendships these past few months. The kid loves the power of having more of a say in learning. Curriculum seems pretty good so far, i.e, I know they learned ratios just like friends at Deal. But they also began with the looking into the Chinese & Egyptian numerals. The quarterly projects seem manageable, they get a ton of class time to work on them. Our kid loves the small STEM lessons so much we have had to warn them they really need to spend more time doing their humanities/writing project.

Other highlights: basically no homework if they are keeping up with in-school check lists. Full hour for lunch and recess, and sometimes they get chances at extra recess depending on group work progress. Small learning groups, which allows for differentiation for both advanced or behind kids. (Ours has benefited from both sides of this!) Lots of field trips and hands-on learning and entrepreneurial opportunities. A good number of clubs and some sports, which seem decent for a new charter school.

It’s a great little community of kids and families. There’s this contingent who went to Montessori elementary schools. There’s a fair number of kids with 504s & IEPs, as it attracts a lot of high-energy kids and/or kids with learning challenges who may not be a great fit for traditional classrooms. It also just seems to attract families who seem to really want to be there for one reason or another. Like we got into a cool conversation with a dad from SE who is an engineer and has helped his kid build some incredible things in their free time and was looking for a middle school that would welcome/cultivate what he called “nerdy interests.”

That said, there are some new school issues and growing pains. Some groups have more behavioral issues than others, which can be distracting for learning. The communication about what’s going on in the classroom isn’t great, and seems dependent on how communicative your kid is. I mention because I know several parents who feel like they don’t know/understand what’s going on, especially those more accustomed to traditional schools/homework, and are questioning the school’s rigor. This may also reflect the PP point that a lot of families are new to Montessori, as it is very different. But I think the school could do a better job at managing this unfamiliarity with stronger communication. And the Montessori culture has come into to conflict with more traditional public school culture when it comes to disciplining kids, meaning I’ve heard about incidents of communal classroom punishment and/or teachers shouting at a class of kids to behave far more than I would like for a Montessori school that touts the importance of respecting kids. That’s not to say it happens a lot, I just think it should never happen.

But overall our kid is pretty happy. Seems a lovely, very humane way to spend the difficult middle school years.

No experience with Truth, but highlighting this because this has been our experience in upper elementary Montessori and is one of the reasons we are strongly considering Truth. Not just that our kid gets the benefit of extra help and advanced work, but that at its core, Montessori emphasizes that being advanced/needing help in one area may or may not translate to other areas.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for the very helpful feedback. Our kid is struggling at his current school, not because he isn't capable, but rather because he is feeling overwhelmed with too many tests and assignments at once. The Montessori model does seem more humane.

[Anonymous]

My child is at Truth and loves it. He is more excited about school now than I have ever seen. He has also found friends that he is already close with. I do think that classroom newsletters would be awesome to help translate what is being taught. Overall, it feels like a very special place. My child has taken more ownership of his learning and is more responsible and driven to do his work as well. I wonder about the rigor and how the Map testing cooresponds to traditional tests. Probably a question Google could answer if I do a little digging. My child did get into a couple great school option but we chose Truth and are happy. They also consistently test for Covid which has provided a peace of mind as much as possible. Hi

[Anonymous]

Any LAMB families end up going to Truth? It’s an interesting option to continue Montessori beyond elementary.

[Anonymous]

They do a good job of promoting the school culture on Instagram-- it looks like today that they won some kind of poetry slam.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CXfC4TxNJ9Z/

I "went" to an open house. I was impressed by the principal and Executive Director and their answers to some pretty frank questions by parents. I worry about my kid attending a fairly new school, but am intrigued by the capacity to "track" my kid who can bloom in math but needs some extra supports in ELA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any LAMB families end up going to Truth? It’s an interesting option to continue Montessori beyond elementary.

My Truth student has quite a few friends from LAMB who had been at the Perry Street campus next to Truth. At first, she wasn’t a fan of learning Spanish but the LAMB alums have changed her mind about it and convinced her to join Spanish book club with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any LAMB families end up going to Truth? It’s an interesting option to continue Montessori beyond elementary.

My Truth student has quite a few friends from LAMB who had been at the Perry Street campus next to Truth. At first, she wasn’t a fan of learning Spanish but the LAMB alums have changed her mind about it and convinced her to join Spanish book club with them.

This is cool to hear. I was wondering what oopportunities Spanish bilingual children might get at Truth.

[Anonymous]

Well she died in 1883, so probably not.

[Anonymous]

My child is having a great experience as a 6th grader at Deal, but Truth seems like a better fit to me due to the small community. I’m not a fan of Montessori, but willing to give it a try as the school seems to check my boxes especially being diverse. Not sure how I can convince my child to change schools next year, but hoping for some pointers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any LAMB families end up going to Truth? It’s an interesting option to continue Montessori beyond elementary.

We are at lamb. Definitely not considering truth. Lamb is great but it is very easy for kids to slip through the cracks and avoid learning difficult subjects.

I just don’t think that’s smart for middle or high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any LAMB families end up going to Truth? It’s an interesting option to continue Montessori beyond elementary.

Former LAMB parent here- our child is a 6th grader at Truth and loves it. Her LAMB friends that attend DCI seem pretty stressed out by the homework. They have great teachers at Truth who really care about the students social, emotional and academic development.

I would say that if you are looking for a "traditional" middle school experience (lots of sports, clubs, worksheets/hours of homework for your kid), then Truth might not be the place you are looking for. Our kid isn't into traditional sports so pretty happy that there is a modern dance elective for her. It's a small school and will grow into 2 campuses next year. It will be interesting to see how the high school develops. There are not many public Montessori high schools in the U.S./world. We think it's a good fit for our kid for middle school as a school like Deal, Hardy or DCI would have just overwhelmed her.

[Anonymous]

How large will the Fall 2022 9th grade class be? I’m intrigued too but how helpful is no homework in High School or Middle School? Perhaps I am old but the structure of homework and studying in High School is essential for college.