Blog

An Introduction, by Hanna Greenberg “In Israel, where I come from, there are two “Sudbury” schools, and both are thriving.  One is in the heart of the city of Jerusalem, and the other, Kanaf (which means “wings”) is in the Golan Heights,… Read more ›

A Fall Apple Picking Excursion Hanna Greenberg New England has the perfect climate for growing apples. There are several orchards in the school’s vicinity where people can pick their own fruit. You pay an entrance fee, get a bag and you… Read more ›

When talking about the school, we all find others confused about what we believe, and about what we do. As with most confusion, much of the confusion can be reduced to language. People casually use certain terms loosely and interchangeably as a… Read more ›

In many ways, it is nothing short of miraculous that Sudbury Valley has reached the 50th year of its operation. For all the talk of reform in the world of education, those parents who feel comfortable allowing their small and large children autonomy… Read more ›

Ever since I heard about SVS, I began thinking of ways to develop an awareness of the Sudbury model in France. Founding Ecole Dynamique, in Paris, was a fascinating adventure that reached well beyond the circle of the families involved in the school… Read more ›

It is the first question parents ask once they try to wrap their minds around the fact that students at Sudbury Valley are, in fact, free to use their time in the ways that appeal to them. And even after we have gone through the whole bit; after one… Read more ›

There was a Separation and Transition Workshop for parents at my son’s college orientation that I went to, and I don’t regret going, even though I thought I would. Convinced that the last thing my SVS educated son needed on his first day of college… Read more ›

Through a series of coincidences involving shelving books at school, I recently found myself spending a weekend reading through Cynthia Voigt’s “young adult” cycle of books about the Tillerman family, starting with volume number two called Dicey’s… Read more ›

Children are born with one overriding drive. They seek to grow up and to gain mastery over their own lives. Any child who grows up in a wider culture that values freedom is naturally jealous of what s/he feels to be her/his right to pursue happiness… Read more ›

… all I can do is read a book to stay awake, And it rips my life away, But it’s a great escape … BLind MeLoN, “No Rain” (1992) Recently, I did something very unhealthy. It started innocently enough with picking up a book a student had pointed out… Read more ›

It’s funny how things happen at SVS. Conversation is always a huge part of how students and staff members spend their time. People of all ages are talking about interests, hobbies, and ideas. It flows without interruption. During one of these… Read more ›

Especially at the beginning of the school year, a new student, or somebody who has just not gotten around to it before, might ask about what’s the deal with the books at school. They might want to know if you can borrow them, and how that would work… Read more ›

It is hard not to think that the passing of Alan White this winter marks the passing of an era. Alan has been the voice of calm, the voice of reason, the voice of gentleness, and the voice of steel as Sudbury Valley has gone through 49 of its first… Read more ›

An Open Mic is a scary thing to organize. After all, the success of the endeavor depends not on who says they want to sing, or play a song, or dance, or do an act, beforehand, but who actually steps up and does it at the time it is happening. In a… Read more ›

From my teaching days, there is a particular moment I remember with special sadness: It’s the moment in the semester when everything kind of closes up, and it happened without fail just a few weeks into the school year, coinciding directly with the… Read more ›