Sojourner Truth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I think "no homework" is a misconception. My kid definitely has deadlines, and if he doesn't meet them in the time offered at school, he has to complete the work at home. I'm grateful he's learning time and project management

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

We left LAMB after fourth grade because of this issue. My child was slipping through the cracks in areas that were not his strengths. Montessori requires a ton of executive functioning in order to learn at pace with your peers because you have to organize yourself more than in a traditional classroom. While I always found Truth intriguing, I would want to know how they are tracking kids carefully in all key subjects and jumping quickly to remediate areas kids fall behind in. You may not think this is an issue for your child if they are doing well in a traditional school….but Montessori could create the issue. We had the opposite experience: issues disappeared once child was being required to work in all subjects in a traditional environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

We left LAMB after fourth grade because of this issue. My child was slipping through the cracks in areas that were not his strengths. Montessori requires a ton of executive functioning in order to learn at pace with your peers because you have to organize yourself more than in a traditional classroom. While I always found Truth intriguing, I would want to know how they are tracking kids carefully in all key subjects and jumping quickly to remediate areas kids fall behind in. You may not think this is an issue for your child if they are doing well in a traditional school….but Montessori could create the issue. We had the opposite experience: issues disappeared once child was being required to work in all subjects in a traditional environment.

This is why you don’t have many Montessori middle and high schools. Most kids are not self motivated and will choose to focus on easier subjects. That is why structure is important with requirements to work in all subjects.

I think it’s great in ECE and maybe early elementary with K, 1st. But higher elementary and up, it is not a good fit for many kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

My kid is in 6th at DCI and there has been no homework since first two weeks of school, but I also worry it's too much for my fourth grader, hence I've been following the thread. Is your kid engaged and learning? Are kids who are not naturally into academics noticed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

We left LAMB after fourth grade because of this issue. My child was slipping through the cracks in areas that were not his strengths. Montessori requires a ton of executive functioning in order to learn at pace with your peers because you have to organize yourself more than in a traditional classroom. While I always found Truth intriguing, I would want to know how they are tracking kids carefully in all key subjects and jumping quickly to remediate areas kids fall behind in. You may not think this is an issue for your child if they are doing well in a traditional school….but Montessori could create the issue. We had the opposite experience: issues disappeared once child was being required to work in all subjects in a traditional environment.

Exactly our experience in Montessori.

[Anonymous]

my son seems to be perfect for Montessori - good student, super self-motivated on many topics, varied interests and academically-minded. And if you try to get him to do something outside the structure of school that seems like school - he's allergic to it. Makes me wonder if something requiring him to direct himself would help or hurt him.

[Anonymous]

I agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

We left LAMB after fourth grade because of this issue. My child was slipping through the cracks in areas that were not his strengths. Montessori requires a ton of executive functioning in order to learn at pace with your peers because you have to organize yourself more than in a traditional classroom. While I always found Truth intriguing, I would want to know how they are tracking kids carefully in all key subjects and jumping quickly to remediate areas kids fall behind in. You may not think this is an issue for your child if they are doing well in a traditional school….but Montessori could create the issue. We had the opposite experience: issues disappeared once child was being required to work in all subjects in a traditional environment.

This is why you don’t have many Montessori middle and high schools. Most kids are not self motivated and will choose to focus on easier subjects. That is why structure is important with requirements to work in all subjects.

I think it’s great in ECE and maybe early elementary with K, 1st. But higher elementary and up, it is not a good fit for many kids.

Not to derail but I have actually found that there is a ton of structure to elementary at LAMB. Maybe this is new with a new focus on academic metrics and so forth. In elementary Montessori the kids do have to cover every area and they have checklists of work to complete every day including all classroom areas. The flexibility is supposed to be more in how they choose to learn those subjects and even then it’s fairly regimented. At least this year it is. I’ve been actually less happy with that because it feels less free and fun and child led but it certainly is not allowing any falling through cracks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

We left LAMB after fourth grade because of this issue. My child was slipping through the cracks in areas that were not his strengths. Montessori requires a ton of executive functioning in order to learn at pace with your peers because you have to organize yourself more than in a traditional classroom. While I always found Truth intriguing, I would want to know how they are tracking kids carefully in all key subjects and jumping quickly to remediate areas kids fall behind in. You may not think this is an issue for your child if they are doing well in a traditional school….but Montessori could create the issue. We had the opposite experience: issues disappeared once child was being required to work in all subjects in a traditional environment.

This is why you don’t have many Montessori middle and high schools. Most kids are not self motivated and will choose to focus on easier subjects. That is why structure is important with requirements to work in all subjects.

I think it’s great in ECE and maybe early elementary with K, 1st. But higher elementary and up, it is not a good fit for many kids.

Not to derail but I have actually found that there is a ton of structure to elementary at LAMB. Maybe this is new with a new focus on academic metrics and so forth. In elementary Montessori the kids do have to cover every area and they have checklists of work to complete every day including all classroom areas. The flexibility is supposed to be more in how they choose to learn those subjects and even then it’s fairly regimented. At least this year it is. I’ve been actually less happy with that because it feels less free and fun and child led but it certainly is not allowing any falling through cracks.

Can we start a new thread with this? For us truth is a total nonstarter because my children would just worry about the chicken and knit all day. Kids need to know a little bit of pressure in their life in an age appropriate way. Also at lamb. Also concerned about current admin and upper el.