By Debbie Ayala Typically when adults think of work, they think of hard things and when they think of play they think of easy things. Additionally, adults work because they have to, and play when they have free or leisure Read more…
Won’t they need to be exposed to many different things so they don’t become too narrow? Don’t we need to make sure children to learn a little about a lot of things? By Debbie Ayala “Not a single aspect of this Read more…
What about math? These are essential things to learn! Will any child really choose to learn them on their own? By Debbie Ayala Of course they will! We are surrounded by experiences that require us to know these skills. Children Read more…
By Debbie Ayala The answer is YES. There are absolutely things that most of us, not just children, will never choose to learn on our own. Beverli spends a significant amount of time studying Chinese. I have no desire to learn Chinese. Read more…
By Debbie Ayala This is a great question! And my answer is… DON’T. Please don’t ever send your child to a place where they would learn nothing, and certainly don’t pay for it!So why do parents send their kids to AVA and other Sudbury Read more…
By Debbie Ayala I recently had a conversation with someone about what role adults play or ought to play, in a Sudbury School. In most educational settings, adults are in charge. Adults take responsibility for the environment and education of Read more…
By Jared Bean In my previous blog post, I wrote briefly about how in coercive schooling environments, students, while certainly being exposed to some valuable lessons and material, will also have ample opportunity to learn counterproductive and even harmful habits Read more…
By Beverli Haroldsen Once upon a wintertime, visions of baby chicks popped into the imagination of a sixteen-year-old student. These visions grew into ideas, which grew into conversations. Conversations transformed into plans which generated research and physical labor. The student Read more…
By Debbie Ayala One question I am frequently asked about Self Directed Education is how children/students will learn to do hard things if they are never pushed or asked to do things which they don’t want to do? As adults Read more…
By Megan Bean Back in February, I came across an interesting article titled “The Busy Trap.” In it, the author, Tim Kreidal, expresses his opinion on how everyone here in America seems to have this innate desire to be busy, Read more…
