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Albany
Free School - The
Free School is a process which must be experienced to be fully appreciated.
The kids themselves make the choice to join us, after a week's visit (we do
not leave that decision to parents alone) and since the changes they may
want and need to make occur only over time and the space to discover for
themselves who they really are, we ask parents for a commitment to allow
their children to stay in the school for at least a year, so that the value
we have for them can be fully realized.
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Alpine
Valley School- Based on the Sudbury Valley School (see below),
Alpine Valley is a place dedicated to freedom, respect and the joy of
learning. Here, learning occurs as that magical state of being fully engaged
and freely exploring your interests, gifts and talents. True freedom and
responsibility emerge from trust and respect. Every student is a part of all
school decisions and stands on equal footing with the staff and each other.
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Alternative
Community School (Ithaca, NY) - ACS is a small middle school/high
school, grades 6 through 12. There are about 260 students, who are accepted
to ACS through random draw from the applicant pool. ACS is a public school,
and there are no fees or tuition. We are an alternative to traditional
schools, in our curricular and school governance philosophies. We believe in
being both a community within our school and being part of the larger Ithaca
community.
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Australian
Correspondance School - "Established in 1979, ACS has educated
thousands of full and part-time students, many of whom have gone onto
successful employment, both in industry or in their own businesses. Others
have used their courses to develop a hobby, or simply broaden their general
education. We currently have over 2500 students enrolled from Australia and
around the world." (quoted fromtheir web site).
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Blue
Mountain School - Blue Mountain School is a democratic learning
community - an innovative environment designed to foster the education and
development of free and responsible citizens. At BMS, students have the
right to grow naturally and learn in a non-coercive environment. We're a
publicly funded, non-profit school open to students age 5 to 19; we're
located near Cottage Grove, Oregon, in a beautiful rural setting.
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Brazos
Valley Sudbury School Group (Houston, TX) - a group of families and
individuals in Northwest and West Houston who are using the Sudbury Valley
School in Massachusetts as a model on which to base an alternative learning
community to open in fall 2002.
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Brockwood
Park School " A school is a place where one learns about
the totality, the wholeness of life." Founded by educator and
philosopher J.Krishnamurti in 1969, Brockwood Park is an international
community residential school, situated on a large English country estate,
with 60 students aged 15 -19 the school has the feel of a large family.
Students and teachers live, work, play and inquire together, caring for the
estate and each other.
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Burke
Mountain Academy - BMA is a pioneer in developing scholar athletes.
Started in 1972 by educational visionary Warren Witherall, the school seeks
to combine a rigorous ski racing program and college preparatory curriculum
to develop well-rounded students that have achieved healthy bodies, sound
minds and lively spirits. The school currently enrolls around 65 student
athletes in its four year 9-12 grade program.
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The
Circle School - From their philosophy statement, "We believe in
the wisdom of each person to know what's best for him or her. We believe
that in maturing we grow toward that wisdom discovering, accepting, and
becoming ourselves. When we talk of 'wholeness' we mean the fullest
expression of that wisdom inour lives. We believe that we can best support
the maturing of persons by modeling the highest values we know, and offering
exposure, resources, and guidance in the exercise of body, mind, and
spirit."
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Christa
McAulliffe Academy - Christa McAuliffe Academy is an accredited
global private school, dedicated to bringing first-class learning
experiences to learners of all ages, backgrounds, abilities, and
circumstances through innovative use of technology
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Clearwater
School - What happens when children direct their own learning?
They become creative confident capable people. The Seattle Sudbury Valley
School for ages 4-19 years old.
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The
Community School - The Community School has been approved as a
Private Secondary School by the Department of Educational and Cultural
Services since 1974. The school is located in the small town of Camden,
Maine (USA). The school has two main programs: The Residential Program,
which focuses on high school dropouts between the ages of 16 and 20, and the
Passages Program, which focuses on parents between the ages of 15 and 20 who
have not yet completed their highschool education.
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Keystone
High School - Keystone High School is an independent, innovative
fully accredited and privately licensed online and correspondence high
school.
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Heartlight
DFW (Arlington, TX) - incorporates CWG philosophies into the Sudbury
School model. Our environment fosters the innate love and independence
children naturally hold and supports numerous spiritual community activities
for the CWG Center in Arlington.
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The
Hoboken Charter School - "a preK-12 school deeply committed to
community building and democratic citizenship through its program of service
learning." Located in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA.
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Hudson
Valley Sudbury School (West Hurley, NY) - The Hudson Valley Sudbury
School will open September 2002 in Woodstock, NY, based on Sudbury Valley
School in Massachusetts.
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Jefferson
County Open School (Lakewood, CO) - Jefferson County Open School is
an alternative school available to students pre-kindergarten through twelfth
grades from throughout the district. The Open School is a school of choice
by students, parents, and teachers who want an emphasis on self-directed
learning and active participation in the learning process in and out of the
school setting.
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Laurel
Springs School
Independent Study Program K-12, Nationally Accredited.
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The
Learning Center An at-risk alternative in North Platte, Nebraska.
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The
Learning Exchange (Greenfield, MA) - The purpose of The Learning
Exchange in Greenfield, Massachusetts, is to provide a center for youth and
families who choose not to participate in formal schooling; public or
private. It is our belief that each of us is endowed with a natural born
curiosity and an ability to nurture those interests in a manner conductive
to personal development and sense of collective identity.
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Liberty
School - The Liberty School of Blue Hill, Maine, offers students in
grades 9-12 a diverse and innovative educational program that merges
challenging academic skills with artistic work and other educational
opportunities that will enable young people to meet the demands of the 21st
century.
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The
Meeting School (Rindge, NH) - The Meeting School is an alternative
boarding school for high school aged students with a Quaker philosophy.
Located in Rindge, New Hampshire, USA.
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The
Met (Providence, RI) - A small high school in which each student has
an individualized curriculum and all students are involved in internships in
the real world. There are several Met Schools located through Providence.
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Moo
Baan Dek (Kanchanaburi, Thailand) – Moo Baan Dek is a living
alternative education and a community. Its environment is arranged to help
poor children from even the most difficult backgrounds to learn to love
themselves and society. They grow up in a warm and loving atmosphere in
which they find understanding and freedom plentiful. The school's underlying
philosophy is very close to that of A.S. Neill's Summerhill School in
England, although Buddhist elements are incorporated.
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New
Dimensions School (Burke County, North Carolina) - A community based
charter school which uses children's interests and assets to promote a
"love of learning" in every student. Our curriculum builds on the
curriculum that was developed and evaluated by Project Spectrum and is based
on Howard Gardner's theory of Mulitiple Intelligence. We also offer students
the option of participating in English/Spanish immersion classes. There are
four locations, building to pre K-5.
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The
New School (Newark, DE) - Education for the courageous, inquisitive,
and independent-minded. The New School is a coeducational, private, day
school in Newark, Delaware, USA, enrolling children ages 6 to 19 who are
willing to take responsibility for their own actions and education. The New
School is a liberty-based school democratically governed by its students and
staff. Learning is self directed, animated by interest and grounded in
personal responsibility.
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The
New School of Monmouth County is a small, private, ungraded
elementary school in Holmdel, New Jersey. It is a family school with
innovative teachers and much parent involvement. Up to 20 students are
enrolled in each of three "family" age groups: with sometimes a 4
year age range. The emphasis is on each child as an individual learning how
to learn, and how to be a responsible member of the group in an informal,
non-competitive atmosphere.
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The
New School of Northern Virginia - They write, "The New School
of Northern Virginia is a small, holistic school that seeks to educate the
whole child for the twenty-first century. The New School's student body is
inclusive, co-educational,and reflective of the diversity and richness of
the Northern Virginia community.Our school seeks students and families who
support our philosophy, who feel that the school can make a significant
contribution to their child's growth, and who can contribute to the life of
the school.
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North
Star Center (Amherst, MA) – Supporting unschooling teens and their
families since 1995. North Star is a resource center open 5 days a week and
has helped hundreds of teenagers make the transition from schooling to
unschooling. North Star provides services for families and activities for
teens which help make teen unschooling a practical choice for any interested
family. Former North Star members can be found at Ivy League colleges,
running successful businesses, traveling the world, and involved in a
variety of other meaningful pursuits.
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Play
Mountain Place - Play Mountain Place was founded in Los Angeles by
Phyllis Fleishman in 1949, to further the philosophy of self-motivated
learning. For over fifty years, Play Mountain has encouraged children to
discover the joys of creativity and learning on their own schedule, at their
own pace.
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Puget
Sound Community School - The Puget Sound Community School's web page
is an example of how one school is making use of the World Wide Web. It not
only includes links to other educational resources, but includes links to
student and staff home pages, the school newsletter, and is used to
disseminate information to enrolled students and their families. PSCS
believes the best education ensures the freedom of students of all ages to
think for themselves and to control their own destinies, structuring their
time and activities as they best see fit.
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Sands
School (Ashburton, Devon, UK) - Sands is a day school for people
from 11 - 16 years old. It is governed by the school meeting of students and
staff, has very few rules and offers a varied programme of lessons and other
activities from which the students may take their pick.
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Schumacher
College - an international centre for ecological studies which
welcomes course participants from all over the world, from a wide range of
ages and backgrounds. The College runs short residential courses on
ecological issues, led by teachers and writers with an international
reputation. It also runs a one-year MSc in Holistic Science.
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Second
Foundation School Minneapolis, MN - A small, independent school
where students learn at their own pace in their own way.
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Stonesoup
School Crescent City, Florida - Accepting male students ages 10 to
18.
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Sudbury
Valley School - Sudbury Valley School is a private school in
Massachusetts where students (from age four on up) are free to do as they
wish during the day, as long as they follow the school rules. The campus is
"open" and people may come and go as they please, without having
to check with an office or other such nonsense. No one is required to attend
classes and, indeed, classes are rare and bear little resemblance to the
usual notion of a "class". There are no tests or grades of any
kind. Students and staff (teachers) are equal in every regard. The students
and staff refer to each other by first name, and the relationships between
students and staff can't easily be distinguished from the relations between
students.
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Summerhill
- Most are probably familiar with Summerhill. If not, here is a snippet
from the introduction on their homepage, "Summerhill School is unique.
It is a progressive, co-educational residential school, founded by A. S.
Neill in 1921; in his own words, it is a 'free school'. This does not mean,
alas, that it is state funded. The freedom Neill was referring to was the
personal freedom of the children in his charge. Summerhill is first and
foremost a place where children can be free."
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Tamariki
School (Christchurch, NZ) – Tamariki is a Special Character State
school, established in 1967, for children aged 5 to 13 based on the
Summerhill model. Children make the rules in the Whole School Meeting,
called whenever wanted, and have voluntary attendance at classes.
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The
Tutorial School (Santa Fe, NM) - We are devoted to three simple, but
important, concepts: freedom, respect, responsibility. Students from 7 to 19
years old pursue their interests in a comfortable, non-threatening
environment. As a community the students and staff cooperatively run the
school and implement the ideals and ideas that are generated. In this way
young people prepare for life as a whole.
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Waldorf
Schools Waldorf education was conceived by Rudolf Steiner. He
believed that modern Western society had placed too much emphasis on
external, matrialistic values, at the expense of the imaginative, creative
innermost spirit of the human being.
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Windsor
House (North Vancouver, BC, Canada) - for over 25 years, the Windsor
House Parent Involvement School has evolved as a public alternative,
learner-centered school for ages 5-18, with a plethora of activities and
academics for satisfying all levels and ranges of curiosity. Currently, it
is academically non-coercive and has democratic structures and committees
similar to those of Sudbury Valley.
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Youth
Initiative High School A Waldorf Initiative