Blog

Last October, I traveled to Hong Kong to speak about SVS at a Conference dubbed EDiversity. Yes, you get it: diversity in education. I guess that’s one way for frustrated parents to address the high stakes, regimented curriculum, and aggressive… Read more ›

 I happen to love watching the NBA play, especially the finals, in which only the best of the best compete with each other. The skill, power and grace displayed in these games is amazing to me. The games at SVS are quite different, but oh so… Read more ›

As a new staff member, working at this school has been a wonderful learning experience. It has allowed me to notice certain patterns and common occurrences within the school community. Witnessing them first hand is nothing short of spectacular. My… Read more ›

On a beautiful fall day in October, Sudbury Valley was the scene of a long-awaited event: the arrival of a new baby grand piano. You see, for several years our trusty old baby grand had been bravely carrying on, kept alive by the loving… Read more ›

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 ›

   Last year Fall arrived on our campus with almost shocking force, with the trees, in particular, drawing attention to themselves. Though it was exhilarating to drive to school through showers of red and gold, it was also a bit sad,… Read more ›

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 ›

When my oldest daughter, Sarah, was three and a half, we had a 20-minute drive home from her nursery school, a special place where I believed Sarah had the freedom to grow and learn without imposed academic structure. On each drive home I would ask… Read more ›

The SVS library is making me so happy. I am much more of a reader than a collector of books, but libraries play a big role in my life. As a teenager, I skipped school a lot to go to the library to wander around the stacks. I was looking for… Read more ›

Our family moved to Framingham over six years ago, mostly so our children could attend Sudbury Valley School. When we were researching schools, my husband and I read every book we could find about SVS. My favorite is “Kingdom of Childhood,” the one… Read more ›

Parental involvement is a term that is used frequently in traditional education. It usually consists of things like volunteering in the classroom, participating in the PTO or chaperoning field trips. On a more insidious level, the involvement of… Read more ›

It’s much easier to explain why having a candy store at SVS is problematic than why, year after year, the School Meeting votes to keep it in operation. Think of how prospective parents feel when they walk into the main lounge on the way to the… Read more ›

People regularly ask me how Sudbury Valley is preparing my kids for adulthood, and what they’re learning there. Early on, I would try to explain some of the things I thought my sons were learning. I now respond by saying that none of us really knows… Read more ›

Last June, I attended the SVS Moving On Ceremony, which is when the community comes together to celebrate the students who are ending their Sudbury Valley education and continuing on to other endeavors. Many have gone through the process to obtain a… Read more ›

 Mar is a photographer who can paint and draw. The other day I was shown several photos Mar had taken. One of them was of the stump of a big old tree. Mar had arranged a tiny bouquet of dainty flowers in its center. The contrast between the… Read more ›