Ready to Grow Up
Have you ever known someone with Peter Pan tendencies (that is, someone who never wants to grow up)? I know quite a lot of people like this: right after high school they were not going to go to...
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A Community for a Reason
As many people in the AVS community know, I became a grandmother five months ago, and it has been a joy to share in my grandson’s life on a daily basis. My daughter, Missa, a graduate and staff member...
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Testing Madness
What do all these people have in common? They’re either serving or facing twenty years in prison. What was the heinous offense of the woman in the upper left corner? Inflating test scores in a public...
View ArticleFreedom Fighters
As a staff member at Alpine Valley School sometimes I find it challenging to explain to other people what I do for a living. I’ll meet someone at a party and be stymied by small talk, unable to put my...
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Soundbite Wisdom
These days it’s getting so you can’t go online without being fairly bombarded by inspirational quotes, often dressed up in pretty images. But I’ll tell you, as sketchy as the wisdom of sound bites may...
View ArticleDivergent Thinking
In this blog post, my colleague Bruce asked us to “reflect on the rapid pace of change in today’s world, the veritable tsunami of information out there, and the need for our children to retain the...
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Letting Nature Take Its Course
I have recently come across a couple of Sudbury perspectives on how and when children start reading. This got me thinking about the difference between a child discovering they can read and a child...
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Give Me Liberty
Twenty-one years ago, I went to the Colorado Libertarian convention to promote the then-nascent Alpine Valley School. Libertarians, I figured, would greatly appreciate the freedom of our school, and so...
View ArticleOver Exposure
It’s one of the most frequent of frequently asked questions: I lost track long ago of how many times we’ve fielded concerns about exposure over the years. In general, there are two different types of...
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Repost: Stop Trying to Make Everything Educational
We don’t often repost from external blogs, but this recent entry from Happiness is Here is exceptionally straightforward and insightful. An Australian homeschooler, Sara’s post speaks directly to what...
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