Tagged:

Trust

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Summer vacation is over and on the way to school I make my now predictable joke. “Did you complete your assigned summer reading? How about that social studies diorama for Danny?” My kids smile and roll their eyes. My mind drifts back to when my… Read more ›
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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 ›
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This blog was originally published as an article in our journal, May 1, 1994. Somewhere I read this quote by Lotte Bailin: "Instant availability without continuous presence is the best role a mother could play." A lovely quote, I thought, and I let… Read more ›
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Strewing is one of the latest techniques used by educators and parents to lure children to learn things that the adults want them to learn at a time of the adult’s choosing. It has become especially popular among “unschooling” homeschoolers.… Read more ›
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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 ›
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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 ›
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Last week I found an example of “life imitating life”. Or more specifically life at SVS was imitating life in Washington. I am fascinated by the quirky details of democratic institutions. So, I got a little thrill when the 50-50 vote in the Senate… Read more ›
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Recently I was struggling with ideas on how to get the kids to help out more around the house. I found myself pondering what leverage I had over the kids. We have chosen not to make their allowance dependent on chores and I don’t want to regulate or… Read more ›
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As is well known, our rules require students to attend school at least five hours a day throughout the school year. In order to see to it that this rule is being observed, we have to keep an accurate log of each student’s attendance. This presented… Read more ›
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There are so many ways that SVS challenges the way we think about school and education. Some are deep and profound others are just strange. Recently my daughter asked if she could sleep over at a friend’s house. It was mid-week and my first thought… Read more ›
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Today I was engrossed in contemplating how difficult it is to tell the “bad guys” from the “good guys”. I have had that trouble since I was a little girl watching cowboy movies. It wasn’t that I didn’t have some clue that Roy Rogers, or the Lone… Read more ›
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When I was in Israel (the country of my birth) this summer, I visited two thriving schools inspired by Sudbury Valley. Both are filled to capacity and growing fast, with a current total of over 200 students between them. What was especially… Read more ›
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The one and only “best class’‘ I have ever attended is the Judicial Committee at Sudbury Valley. Basically, the JC is the organ of the school which keeps the school safe, deals with interpersonal conflicts, and ensures that the physical plant is not… Read more ›
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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 ›
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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 ›