Blog
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
October 2, 2019 was a very rainy day, just the kind of day to stay indoors and be cozy.
Not so at SVS. At least half of the student body was outside, either disregarding the rain altogether, or carrying out their activities as if it wasn’t wet… Read more ›
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
People often say to me, “What you're doing at Sudbury Valley School is really amazing. There are so many things that are wonderful about it. How can we incorporate some of the more important aspects of what you do into our school?” Usually these… Read more ›
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Being a Sudbury Valley School parent presents unique challenges. For one, when there’s no honor roll, varsity team, or Gifted & Talented Program, it takes awhile for you to figure out how to brag about your child. “Sally got down from Big Rock… Read more ›
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Our son recently spent two weeks visiting his grandmother in Paris by himself. It was a wonderful adventure that allowed him to explore his independence and experience the world in a new way. He had an amazing time and came back with a lot of great… Read more ›
Monday, February 3, 2020
Ever since I started teaching music composition at a conservatory, I’ve been comparing the progress of the college students with the Sudbury Valley School kids I’ve observed in my time as a staff member. In each case, they are trying to work out… Read more ›
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Here's a real puzzle: when I was growing up, there were no such things as “learning disabilities” in our classrooms. There were kids of all kinds of different abilities and interests, and we were just plain different from each other. Nobody said… Read more ›
Monday, January 6, 2020
The over-riding fear that parents express when they approach this model of education is that kids aren’t learning anything. Of course, when confronted, they will admit that kids do learn things all the time without the vaguest coercion, but it… Read more ›
Monday, December 23, 2019
It’s no secret that doing art is usually a messy affair. People cut and paste, use liquid paints, clay and glazes, water colors and beads, make collages with images cut from magazines, and so on. At SVS, the art room is open to all our students,… Read more ›
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
If I had to choose one topic to place at the very core of every child's educational experience, I would have no trouble identifying it: how to deal with failure. Yet this is a subject carefully avoided in traditional mainstream schools. On the… Read more ›
Monday, November 18, 2019
On the radio a couple of weeks ago, I heard a man talking about educational reform, and what they consider progress made with young children’s education in Illinois in recent years. He talked about a goal, which he called “agency”. The word… Read more ›
Monday, November 4, 2019
After so many years of learning about Sudbury schooling, and starting several similar schools in the Netherlands, as well as helping others in Europe start schools, I finally visited Sudbury Valley during its regular school year. I have been… Read more ›
Monday, October 21, 2019
A few months ago, my kids were planning a big sleepover of SVS students at our house. Besides the usual suspects, there was one new name. I immediately start asking what I thought were the key sleepover questions: Did they like frozen pizza? Were… Read more ›
Monday, October 7, 2019
“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” – the three cornerstones of this country, and the reason it was founded in the first place. These were the “unalienable rights” that our founders declared belonged to every person – rights that could… Read more ›
Monday, September 23, 2019
Lisa Dolliver, a professional ceramicist (and also a professional musician), has been teaching kids all things pottery for quite a few years here. She is an amazing inspiration and teacher. I always wish I could spend every minute she is in school… Read more ›
Monday, September 9, 2019
One of the prevalent myths about the evil wrought upon today’s young generation by “screen time” is that computers discourage their users from social interactions. The claim is that when people use computers, they cut themselves off from direct… Read more ›