1st–5th at LAMB

[Anonymous]

My understanding of LAMB from former parents is that there is a very committed group of parents who refuse to ever say anything bad about it or Montessori, another group sticking it out because they want DCI and can't fathom public school, and then there's a faction that does leave regardless of what a PP claims.

The community frankly seems kind of toxic and I can't imagine sending my kid to a charter school to supplement that much of their academic learning, especially at critical ages. But there is a lingering Ward 4 fear of DCPS in certain cohorts and so I don't see LAMB's popularity changing any time soon and thus the issues are unlikely to be addressed either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My understanding of LAMB from former parents is that there is a very committed group of parents who refuse to ever say anything bad about it or Montessori, another group sticking it out because they want DCI and can't fathom public school, and then there's a faction that does leave regardless of what a PP claims.

The community frankly seems kind of toxic and I can't imagine sending my kid to a charter school to supplement that much of their academic learning, especially at critical ages. But there is a lingering Ward 4 fear of DCPS in certain cohorts and so I don't see LAMB's popularity changing any time soon and thus the issues are unlikely to be addressed either.

You're the same person who has a habit of trashing lots of different schools on DCUM all the while claiming, dubiously, to have insidery knowledge about how each of those different schools function and what parents at all those many different schools think. Have you considered the possibility that you're completely crazy? And a congenital liar?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My understanding of LAMB from former parents is that there is a very committed group of parents who refuse to ever say anything bad about it or Montessori, another group sticking it out because they want DCI and can't fathom public school, and then there's a faction that does leave regardless of what a PP claims.

The community frankly seems kind of toxic and I can't imagine sending my kid to a charter school to supplement that much of their academic learning, especially at critical ages. But there is a lingering Ward 4 fear of DCPS in certain cohorts and so I don't see LAMB's popularity changing any time soon and thus the issues are unlikely to be addressed either.

I am the person who posted (2x) about my 1st and 3rd graders at LAMB. I fear I and most of the earlier posters don't fall into any of your groups. Many of us love LAMB, and we see it's imperfections. I hope this is helpful.

[Anonymous]

Former LAMB parent here with two kids now at DCI. I agree with others, we stayed for the community and because our kids were happy. But this came at a cost: math and English tutoring and homework so they actually learned the common core. We got the tutor recommendations from other LAMB parents and most of our friends there had tutors too. Meaning: the academic results are in great part thanks to the tutors and work at home rather than the teachers. We could afford it so this worked for us, otherwise we would have left earlier in search of better academic programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former LAMB parent here with two kids now at DCI. I agree with others, we stayed for the community and because our kids were happy. But this came at a cost: math and English tutoring and homework so they actually learned the common core. We got the tutor recommendations from other LAMB parents and most of our friends there had tutors too. Meaning: the academic results are in great part thanks to the tutors and work at home rather than the teachers. We could afford it so this worked for us, otherwise we would have left earlier in search of better academic programs.

Thanks for being real. Can you give a sense of how the tutoring logistics worked? That’s interesting that the community has recs of good people to work with, but what does that look like — multiple times a week on week nights? Every weekend? Something else? Trying to get a sense of how that additional commitment fits into people’s lives to set expectations a bit.

Also is there any indication that this practice of supplementing with tutors is also part of the experience at other Spanish immersion schools? Thinking of DCB and Mundo Verde for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former LAMB parent here with two kids now at DCI. I agree with others, we stayed for the community and because our kids were happy. But this came at a cost: math and English tutoring and homework so they actually learned the common core. We got the tutor recommendations from other LAMB parents and most of our friends there had tutors too. Meaning: the academic results are in great part thanks to the tutors and work at home rather than the teachers. We could afford it so this worked for us, otherwise we would have left earlier in search of better academic programs.

Very longtime LAMB parent here. In all our time at LAMB, we can count on two fingers all the people we've known who've gotten outside tutoring. In our experience, it's rare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former LAMB parent here with two kids now at DCI. I agree with others, we stayed for the community and because our kids were happy. But this came at a cost: math and English tutoring and homework so they actually learned the common core. We got the tutor recommendations from other LAMB parents and most of our friends there had tutors too. Meaning: the academic results are in great part thanks to the tutors and work at home rather than the teachers. We could afford it so this worked for us, otherwise we would have left earlier in search of better academic programs.

Very longtime LAMB parent here. In all our time at LAMB, we can count on two fingers all the people we've known who've gotten outside tutoring. In our experience, it's rare.

Do you think people are advertising this? Perhaps you are unaware of how many kids are supplementing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My understanding of LAMB from former parents is that there is a very committed group of parents who refuse to ever say anything bad about it or Montessori, another group sticking it out because they want DCI and can't fathom public school, and then there's a faction that does leave regardless of what a PP claims.

The community frankly seems kind of toxic and I can't imagine sending my kid to a charter school to supplement that much of their academic learning, especially at critical ages. But there is a lingering Ward 4 fear of DCPS in certain cohorts and so I don't see LAMB's popularity changing any time soon and thus the issues are unlikely to be addressed either.

Sorry, what do you mean by “can’t fathom public school”? LAMB is a public school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former LAMB parent here with two kids now at DCI. I agree with others, we stayed for the community and because our kids were happy. But this came at a cost: math and English tutoring and homework so they actually learned the common core. We got the tutor recommendations from other LAMB parents and most of our friends there had tutors too. Meaning: the academic results are in great part thanks to the tutors and work at home rather than the teachers. We could afford it so this worked for us, otherwise we would have left earlier in search of better academic programs.

Very longtime LAMB parent here. In all our time at LAMB, we can count on two fingers all the people we've known who've gotten outside tutoring. In our experience, it's rare.

Do you think people are advertising this? Perhaps you are unaware of how many kids are supplementing.

You obviously have no connection to LAMB, and know literally nothing about the school, so maybe do us all a favor and shut the fkcu up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking to hear from families with recent experience in the more academic years at LAMB (1st-5th), and also for feedback on what the current leadership and staff are like. Tell me the good and the bad. What do you like? What do you think could be much better?

We have a sense of what Montessori preschool experiences are like but aren’t familiar with later on. Do kids at LAMB really stay with same teacher for 1st-3rd or are there opportunities to switch if it’s not quite a good fit?

You can expect to have at least one teacher stay constant from grade 1 through grade 3.

We moved our kid out of classroom between grades due to a bad fit. One talk with the principal and it was done. We had a conversation about changing mid-year; while the administration was not as supportive for that option, it would have happened if we pushed for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former LAMB parent here with two kids now at DCI. I agree with others, we stayed for the community and because our kids were happy. But this came at a cost: math and English tutoring and homework so they actually learned the common core. We got the tutor recommendations from other LAMB parents and most of our friends there had tutors too. Meaning: the academic results are in great part thanks to the tutors and work at home rather than the teachers. We could afford it so this worked for us, otherwise we would have left earlier in search of better academic programs.

Very longtime LAMB parent here. In all our time at LAMB, we can count on two fingers all the people we've known who've gotten outside tutoring. In our experience, it's rare.

Do you think people are advertising this? Perhaps you are unaware of how many kids are supplementing.

You obviously have no connection to LAMB, and know literally nothing about the school, so maybe do us all a favor and shut the fkcu up.

Touchy aren’t we. My youngest with a IEP goes to Mathnasium. There are 3 families that we know of there from LAMB. So again perhaps you are underestimating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LAMB is a lovely community. Your kid will get so good at Spanish. Montessori is so great for young children that I don't understand how young children go to schools that aren't Montessori. Behavioral issues are nonexistent. There are virtually no screens in the classroom. The building is beautiful. The downside to LAMB is that the shortcomings of Montessori become more apparent as the child ages. The kids can choose what they want to focus on, but what if they never want to learn math? They will be terrible at math. The school and some teachers recognize the issue, and have been working on it, but it's hit or miss. The school doesn't care at all about standardized tests and barely prepares for them, and opinions will vary about whether that's a good thing. There's a lot of turnover lately among teachers, and the quality varies widely, especially in the upper grades.

The other thing is LAMB is serious about Spanish, and the kids are learning math, science, etc. in a foreign language, which I think makes it hard to compare to English-only schools.

Longtime LAMB parent here, too. I was worried about whether kids would just be allowed to pick whatever they want to work on, but it’s not like that at all.

We are very happy with the academics and think that the Montessori method has allowed differentiation well to let kids work up to a higher level if appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former LAMB parent here with two kids now at DCI. I agree with others, we stayed for the community and because our kids were happy. But this came at a cost: math and English tutoring and homework so they actually learned the common core. We got the tutor recommendations from other LAMB parents and most of our friends there had tutors too. Meaning: the academic results are in great part thanks to the tutors and work at home rather than the teachers. We could afford it so this worked for us, otherwise we would have left earlier in search of better academic programs.

Thanks for being real. Can you give a sense of how the tutoring logistics worked? That’s interesting that the community has recs of good people to work with, but what does that look like — multiple times a week on week nights? Every weekend? Something else? Trying to get a sense of how that additional commitment fits into people’s lives to set expectations a bit.

Also is there any indication that this practice of supplementing with tutors is also part of the experience at other Spanish immersion schools? Thinking of DCB and Mundo Verde for example.

Several of our oldest’s and my oldest had tutoring with one of the sped teachers in math after hours. She was wonderful. And we got recommendations for English tutors from other families and went with one that did small group lessons. We did this in the evenings twice a week so sacrificed some other activities.

My youngest kid’s upper elementary teacher asked us at the first parent teacher conference if our child had a math tutor and said she recommends to all parents to supplement with tutoring if they can! She gave us a list of things to ask the tutor to practice with our child. This was helpful.

I don’t know what other charter parents did for elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former LAMB parent here with two kids now at DCI. I agree with others, we stayed for the community and because our kids were happy. But this came at a cost: math and English tutoring and homework so they actually learned the common core. We got the tutor recommendations from other LAMB parents and most of our friends there had tutors too. Meaning: the academic results are in great part thanks to the tutors and work at home rather than the teachers. We could afford it so this worked for us, otherwise we would have left earlier in search of better academic programs.

Thanks for being real. Can you give a sense of how the tutoring logistics worked? That’s interesting that the community has recs of good people to work with, but what does that look like — multiple times a week on week nights? Every weekend? Something else? Trying to get a sense of how that additional commitment fits into people’s lives to set expectations a bit.

Also is there any indication that this practice of supplementing with tutors is also part of the experience at other Spanish immersion schools? Thinking of DCB and Mundo Verde for example.

Several of our oldest’s and my oldest had tutoring with one of the sped teachers in math after hours. She was wonderful. And we got recommendations for English tutors from other families and went with one that did small group lessons. We did this in the evenings twice a week so sacrificed some other activities.

My youngest kid’s upper elementary teacher asked us at the first parent teacher conference if our child had a math tutor and said she recommends to all parents to supplement with tutoring if they can! She gave us a list of things to ask the tutor to practice with our child. This was helpful.

I don’t know what other charter parents did for elementary.

A teacher recommending a struggling student get a tutor is normal.

A teacher that recommends ALL their students get a supplemental tutor is a terrible sign of their own teaching practice.

[Anonymous]

Like at a lot of Montessoris, math is weak at LAMB. It's a high SES school so it would not be surprising if parents take matters into their own hands if their kids' test scores are not where they want them to be, but I don't think it's common.