Sudbury might be right for your family if…

• You believe children can and should be trusted.

• You value consent.

• You believe the things that make your child different are strengths, not weaknesses.

• You are concerned about the lack of free time children have once they start school.

• Your family wants the freedom to travel, take days off, or otherwise diverge from a traditional school calendar without negative consequences.

• Your family values problem solving and critical thinking.

• You love your child’s free spirit and feel worried about it being shut down in a traditional school environment.

• Your family recognizes that human energy naturally ebbs and flows and would love a school environment that allows for low-key days, high-energy days, and everything in between.

• You wholeheartedly believe in welcoming the authentic emotions your child experiences – even the uncomfortable ones.

• You want your child to develop relationships with and learn from people of all ages.

• You value whole-person wellness above academic achievement or other mainstream measures of success.

• You believe that children (and all people) do best when they are excited and inspired, not when they are coerced and pushed.Your child has a particular talent, skill, or passion, and you want that spark to be supported and nurtured.

• You feel concerned about the stress, pressure, and harsh judgment that exists in many mainstream educational settings.

• You want the school experience to be a delight, not a drudge, for your child and yourself.

• You understand and celebrate the fact that children learn through play.

• You seriously question the necessity of things like homework, standardized testing, grades, and other fixtures of mainstream education.

• You are fascinated by the way your child learns so many things without being explicitly taught, and you want to foster this type of organic, independent learning as much as possible.

• You have a deep sense that there has to be a better way to approach education than what currently exists, and you are open to a paradigm shift.

Author: Joy Tanksley