Writing by:
Mimsy Sadofsky
Essay post |
(edited from a presentation to the Cascade Valley School Assembly)
Over the years, we found that the parents who choose to send their children to Sudbury Valley School very few things in common. They don’t seem to come from the same socio-economic… Read more ›
Blog post |
In May, the Sudbury schools in Europe usually get together at one of their schools for a few days of deep conversing and even deeper collegiality building. Mostly staff attend these conferences, but some students who are particularly interested in… Read more ›
Essay post |
November is the time of year that I always feel is least adventuresome, so I tried to add a little challenge to mine this year.
Dan and I are studying the judicial system at SVS, something some of us have been calling “the heart of the school” for… Read more ›
Blog post |
The school has had few friends in its 47 years to rival Rick Burns. Actually, you can’t rival Rick – he is too much of an individual! Nominally, Rick is our roofer. That's how we met him. We were looking for a skilled slate roofer. Even over 30… Read more ›
Essay post |
From a speech delivered at Spring Valley School’s Fifteenth Anniversary Celebration, in February 2012.
Strangers coming to our campus often say, “When I got out of my car in the parking lot, I could feel that this was a joyous or a beautiful or a… Read more ›
Blog post |
Aren’t they adorable, all those little munchkins, big munchkins, bigger than munchkins, playing in the snow? Isn’t it nice that the school has so many good sliding places? One can even slide right onto the middle of the pond—not usually an option,… Read more ›
Blog post |
Each year, the approach of December fills me with both eager anticipation and . . . dread. It is hard to make it through the Thanksgiving break without worrying about the coming month. Then December comes, and dough in quantities large enough to… Read more ›
Essay post |
We have a lot to muse about as we struggle to make ourselves comfortable in a world that seems to be mainly for people whose brains are more advanced than ours.
Who is we? Well, it is my generation, for sure. It is in no sense today's generation,… Read more ›
Blog post |
Welcome to the new school year. We are more excited than ever about starting school this year and about (okay, I admit it) the incredible quality of the student body. Yes, we have new and visiting students, and yes they may only make it better, but… Read more ›
Blog post |
This year we had a three-week summer session at Sudbury Valley, open to those who were regular students during the school year. It is hard to explain how lovely it was. I don’t think there were more than 15 or 16 kids for any of the three weeks, and… Read more ›
Essay post |
(What Does That Mean Anyway?)
Note: I was asked to speak, in a plenary session, at the International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC), in August, in Vancouver, Canada. This article is adapted from that talk.
The topic that I was asked to speak… Read more ›
Blog post |
Maybe my memory is foggy but never do I remember the ice on our pond being as perfect as it was the week of January 6. On Tuesday, we were all, young and old, stuck inside as the “polar vortex” kept the wind chill dangerous.
The next day was still… Read more ›
Blog post |
Yes, they can break bones. But sticks and stones, are more importantly, the life blood of a great deal of imaginative play here and indeed not used to wound at Sudbury Valley at all.
People sometimes look around the our campus, outside and in, and… Read more ›
Blog post |
Not so many of us are here at 8:30. Just enough for a gentle but lively start to the day. But when I retreat to the office to pick up some tasks from the day before, or tackle some new ones, there is Dana playing magically on the piano. Kyle, Hanna… Read more ›
Blog post |
I often ask myself why I am so enamored of the December ritual of making gingerbread houses (and trees) at Sudbury Valley. It is a big deal! Everyone has to put a lot of work into it. Not everyone in the school, but a much wider cross-section than… Read more ›