My Sudbury Library
updated October 1, 2022
My oldest daughter attended the Fairhaven School, one of the few Sudbury schools in the United States,
for her first year of middle school. Unfortunately, we moved out of Maryland and she was unable to continue. I absolutely loved the model, however... particularly for the adolescent years.
 
Like Water:
The Extraordinary Approach to Education at Fairhaven School
by Mark McCaig
2008
Free to Learn:
Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life 
by Peter Gray
2015
Raising Free People:
Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Work
by Akilah Richards
2020
What Is Unschooling? blog post
Fare of the Free Child podcast
The American Journal of Play, a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary publication of The Strong,
occasionally carries articles about the Sudbury / democratic school model.
Peter Gray (Boston College) and Jay Feldman (Center for the Study of Culture and Education) wrote my favorite:
You may also like these articles:
 
How to Grow a School:
Starting and Sustaining Schools that Work
by Chris Mercogliano
2006
More information on democratic schools available online:
- Institute for Democratic Education in America (IDEA) - What is democratic education?
- Alliance for Self-Directed Education
- European Democratic Education Community (EUDEC)
- What They Need to Know:
A satire about learning in and out of school by Dr. Kevin Currie-Knight
fun and great for sharing with people who have qualms about self-directed education
- Lists of Democratic Schools, Co-ops and Resource Centers - GREAT resource!
- "No Teachers, No Class, No Homework; Would You Send Your Kids Here?"
article by Emily Chertoff, December 2012, The Atlantic
- The Most Democratic School of Them All:
Why the Sudbury Model of Education Should be Taken Seriously paper
- Fairhaven School, Upper Marlboro MD
- Tallgrass Sudbury School, Riverside IL
- The Boulder Sudbury School, Boulder CO
- Hudson Valley Sudbury School, Kingston NY
- Riverwind Sudbury School, northern suburbs of Chicago IL
- St. Louis Sudbury School, Glencoe MO
- Nashville Sudbury School, Nashville TN
Movie & Documentary Film list from the European Democratic Education Community (EUDEC):
Interesting Self-Directed Initiatives: Flying Squads & Junk Playgrounds
More links:
Something Else to Think About, Part I & Part II
Part I
The Paradox of Choice TED talk by Barry Schwartz
TEDGlobal 2005
My first thought upon watching Schwartz's talk was that unschooling is perhaps the worst thing we can do to a child.
Part II
On the other hand, it struck me recently that three of the key people who saved the lives of the Thai Soccer Team were self-taught.
Thanet Natisri is a self-taught groundwater expert. Rick Stanton and John Volanthen do cave diving as a hobby
yet are widely considered some of the best in the world. Being able to have the time to go deeply into what you're interested in,
instead of marching to the unaltering beat of a prescribed curriculum, is a precious gift.
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team
by Christina Soontornvat
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