Respect

It isn't always easy to take the road less traveled. When my daughter first started attending Sudbury Valley School, she was five-years-old. Parents, friends and colleagues didn’t understand the school when I told them about it. Their questions… Read more ›

It is odd but true that the things we most value in our lives are things which are hard to quantify but easy to feel. We all want our epitaphs to say that we were good and decent folk, not that we were rich and thin and got all A's in school. So… Read more ›

(Part 1 in The Living Water School School's “Transparency” Series)  It is late. I have just fed my dogs. Everyone is asleep and like most nights, I am the last one up and I’m usually thinking about the school. Tonight, I am thinking… Read more ›

The last days of the fiftieth birthday year of Sudbury Valley were days of fun, of laughter, and also of tears. The fun part was greeting the 35 students returning from a five day camping trip to Nickerson State Park on Cape Cod. Despite having to… Read more ›

“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 – … Read more ›

For 50 years, Sudbury Valley Schools, and other schools inspired by its model, have been providing children with a place to grow like no other. Our starting point is treating children who enroll at school, from age four and up, as human beings… Read more ›

All too often parents, educators, and even students ask us why we are so adamant about not offering any courses at SVS, and why we only teach in response to the students’ initiatives. They wonder why we don’t just offer a few “required” subjects and… Read more ›

  Cori, my oldest daughter and Kali, one of her close friends at SVS, are having a good-humored debate about which one of them reads more books. This debate has been going on so long now that for Christmas their friends bought them each a… Read more ›

One of our particularly lovely and fascinating bankers was visiting recently. It was not her first time, but being here makes most people, if they are even a little bit open to the environment, feel very good. She said, “I love to come here. It is a… Read more ›

I can’t believe I even wrote such a sappy title. Me, the tell-it-like-it-is gal, who never exaggerates. But let me describe a bit of a very recent day. As I was walking down to school, on an absolutely perfect morning, a young boy (7), whom we will… Read more ›

This was published in our Janury 1998 Journal; a note from Jean and Rick Leif about what their daughter is up to now has been added. Quite a lot has been written about what it is like to be a student at Sudbury Valley School, but I would like to… Read more ›

Sudbury Valley has just begun the 2017-2018 school year – and an exciting one it is! This will be our 50th year of operation, the half century mark for what was once a “far-out” experiment. Born in the tumultuous 1960s, SVS was destined to outlive… Read more ›

The month of December always feels rushed, but in a good way. Students are more amped than usual. They are excited for Christmas, parties, and especially making gingerbread houses. Mimsy organizes a few days to make gingerbread houses before the… Read more ›

For many years now a Halloween dance has taken place in the barn. Wearing a costume is optional but most people come wearing something funky, beautiful or amusing. The dances are totally organized by students, while staff serve as chaperones who are… 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 ›