When I was a kid, getting to school meant walking (a few miles, uphill both ways) or riding the bus (noisy, crowded, and filled with torment). And the worst part was that I had to endure these hardships to get to a place that I hated.

Sudbury Valley is different. It’s the antithesis of what most kids think about school. (#soboring #ihateschool #epicwasteoftime) Parents whose kids have recently enrolled are often astonished to hear them complaining about summer vacation and counting the days until school starts up again. Or raging on a snow day because they’re not having as much fun at home as they would if they were at SVS.

It’s no wonder that some kids withstand daily commutes that would make hardened Mass Pike commuters shudder, all for the chance to go to SVS. SVS has students who routinely spend 40 minutes to an hour in the car every morning and every afternoon– longer depending on traffic. They come from as far away as Attleboro, Shrewsbury, Gloucester, Rockport, Quincy, and Dedham.

Carpooling is one way to deal with all of the driving. We’ve been fortunate enough to participate in a carpool for most of our years at Sudbury Valley and this year we had kids from Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, West Roxbury, and Dedham. There are carpools that head out from Cambridge and Somerville, too.

Of course, if the driving really gets to you, you can always move to Framingham– from across the state or across the country. Some families move before their kids are even old enough to enroll, because they know they’d never even consider sending them to a traditional school.

Do me a favor. Google this: How to get out of going to school.

I got 2,300,000 results. Amazing isn’t it? So many ways to try to avoid something. Yet every day we see evidence of the superhuman commitment, dedication and energy it takes for many SVS parents and kids to make the opposite happen. #prettyamazing