A typical day

Someone asked me what a typical day is like at Sudbury.

the school is open from 8:30 to 4:30. My kids usually get there by 10. Every kid has to sign in as soon as they get there. There is a large refigerator in the near the entrance where lunches are stored. There are also cubbies where the kids can keep other stuff, coats, backpacks,etc. Once they are there, the day is theirs to spend. There is a playroom, a computer room, a library, an art room, a kitchen, a music room, and a couple of other rooms and lounges that are multipurpose.

Everydayat 11:00 is JC. The Judicial Committee meets, looks at the write ups from the day before and calls people in to discuss them and mete out justice. Both staff and students serve on the committee and both staff and students can be written up.

At some point in the afternoon cleaning assignments are handed out. They involve sweeping, vacuuming, emptying out garbages,stuff like that. The staff cleans the bathrooms.

Every thursday at 1:00 is the school meeting. This is democracy in action! An agenda is posted and during the meeting votes are taken on various motions that are brought before the group. A staff member told me that at the first meeting of this year, the staff was outnumbered by the five year olds.

When the kids leave for the day they have to sign out.

When is lunch? When they are hungry.
When do they spend time on academics? When and if they feel like it.
What do they do all day? Whatever they want. That's not exactly true. Sudbury is very unstructured in terms of content. The kids are encouraged to follow their own interests. However it is highly structured in terms of what behavior is expected and allowed. They hold the kids responsible for their choices but not with abstract threats like "how will you get into a good college or how do you expect to get a good job if you don't do your homework?" but in a very concrete way by having immediate consequences for their actions. It can be as harsh as getting suspended or as simple as missing out on an activity because they didn't sign up or having to do a cleaning job when they littered. Its really funny when you walk into this school that is basically set up like a house with no bedrooms and has the reputation of "the kids can do whatever they want" and one of the first things I noticed were all the signs and lists and rules that are posted everywhere.
What does the staff do? I'm not sure. the administrative stuff definitely. I think their role is to help the kids achieve their goals. So if a kid comes and says, I want to play the guitar, they might show them where the music room is. If a kid comes and says "i'm bored" they will probably say "Well, you should try and think of something to do. Would you like a suggestion?"

I'll tell ya, its not easy to send your kid to a sudbury school. It takes a real leap of faith.