Imagination

A broken leg is no fun. However, since at SVS almost any new situation can become a window into what is going on in the minds of the kids, my broken leg led to many unexpected insights for me. My mobility was seriously curtailed by my inability to… Read more ›

There is a stigma against people who are perceived to be “doing nothing". The greatest fear that most adults have, vis-a-vis children enrolled in Sudbury Valley, is that those children will do nothing. These fears arise from the failure to see… Read more ›

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 ›

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 ›

We live in a country which is governed on the principle of individual liberty, where people have been able to grow up in a way that fosters imagination and inventiveness. This idea of the sovereignty of the individual underlies the… 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 ›

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 ›

The following two scenes were unfolding recently on the different ends of one of the low red tables in the playroom, around lunchtime. On the one end, close to me, Josie sat down with her tablet and a snack, joined in quick succession by Nell on one… Read more ›

During the last Open House, in October of 2015, there was a remarkable interaction. It didn't surprise me, but it greatly pleased me. Unfortunately, I don't think the guests who were with me had enough context for what they saw to appreciate it.… Read more ›

This post was written by our Office Manager, Jean Cote. Recently, I had the opportunity (privilege) to introduce a calculator in all its glory to a young, inquisitive student for (I don’t know it to be fact, but it seemed to be) her first time.… Read more ›

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 ›

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 ›

Sometimes when I’m explaining SVS to people who aren’t familiar with it, they’ll ask me how kids will be prepared for the real world if they can do whatever they want all day. It’s not easy to explain in words -- or at least not without a lot of… Read more ›