In episode 59 of the Alpine Valley School podcast, we share an insightful interview with Addison Ault, a former special education teacher who has transitioned to a staff role at Alpine Valley School, a self-directed democratic school located in

Parenting Self-Directed Kids

May 11th, 2022 15m 41s

In this episode of the Alpine Valley School podcast, host Marc Gallivan talks with conscious parenting coach Angela Young about how to set clear boundaries with your children while still supporting their independence. This episode is a great li

Challenges and Opportunities

Mar 11th, 2022 19m 32s

Staff Members at self-directed democratic schools like Alpine Valley School are often asked what sorts of unique challenges students experience at places like this. While our students are free from the tests and grades that are imposed on other

The Role of Staff

1 Sep 12th, 2021 29m 28s

Most people involved in self-directed education know that staff are the adult members of the school community, but what is the actual role staff members play in the day-to-day running of the school? What sorts of tasks do staff members do? And

School Wounds

1 Apr 9th, 2021 20m 41s

What are school wounds? How do they develop, and who do they affect? This is a topic we explore on episode 55 of the Alpine Valley School podcast, along with Akilah S. Richards, a podcaster, author, and self-directed parent. Want more? Lea

Good Students & Bad Students

1 Feb 15th, 2021 13m 37s

In mainstream education, parents and teachers are continually breaking down children into two separate groups: good students and bad students. In this episode, we hear from Tay Arrow and Marc Gallivan, two Sudbury School graduates who self-iden

Back to School

Aug 13th, 2020 6m 51s

It’s been a while, but Alpine Valley School is still here! In this episode Marc provides an update about what life at our school is going to look like moving forward, as well as the future of this podcast. He’ll also share some of the most popu

Introducing: Lockdown Learning

Apr 28th, 2020 16m 29s

Introducing a new podcast from Alpine Valley School - Lockdown Learning As COVID-19 swept the globe from east to west this year, so has home education. Millions of children woke up one morning to find their schools closed and their new teachers

Staying Home, Together

Apr 10th, 2020 15m 3s

Like many schools around the world, Alpine Valley School is currently closed. Without a physical space where we can congregate, our self-directed learning community is figuring out how to come together virtually. In this episode we talk about h

Parent Interview: The Shannon’s

Mar 9th, 2020 14m 32s

In this episode, we sit down with the parents of three currently enrolled students. The Shannon family shares what brought them to Alpine Valley School, and what they’ve noticed after being involved for a few years. You might be surprised by wh

Favorite Stories From Around the USA

Feb 24th, 2020 18m 52s

Episode 50: Favorite Stories From Around the USA To celebrate the milestone of our 50th episode, the Alpine Valley School podcast collected favorite stories from Sudbury Schools all over the USA. These stories - funny, insightful, and thought-p

Unschooling

Jan 27th, 2020 12m 3s

Episode 49: Unschooling Sudbury schools and Unschoolers have always had quite a bit of overlap in their philosophies, but how do unschooled students manage the transition to a self-directed school environment with a lot more structure, particul

Elections

Jan 13th, 2020 10m 26s

Episode 48: Elections Important decisions at our school are made, not by a central authority figure, but by the democratic process of voting. All students and staff at the school cast their vote on critical issues including the election of key

Chores

Dec 23rd, 2019 9m 43s

Episode 47: Chores Everyone at Alpine Valley School (students and staff alike) participate in doing cleaning chores twice a week. On this episode, we follow a Chore-Checker (the student responsible for making sure chores are done, and to the ap

Founding Stories: Arts & Ideas

Dec 9th, 2019 10m 22s

Episode 46: Founding Stories - Arts & Ideas Sudbury School This is the third part of our special series called Founding Stories, in which we interview founders of other self-directed democratic schools around the world. On this episode, we are

Founding Stories: The Open School

Nov 25th, 2019 11m 38s

Episode 45: Founding Stories - The Open School This is the second part of our special series called Founding Stories, in which we interview founders of other self-directed democratic schools around the world. This episode takes us to sunny Cali

Founding Stories: EKSS

Nov 11th, 2019 10m 37s

Episode 44: Founding Stories - East Kent Sudbury School This is the first in our series of special episodes called Founding Stories, in which we interview founders of other self-directed democratic schools around the world. On this episode, we

Hard Lessons

Oct 27th, 2019 8m 30s

Episode 43: Hard Lessons The notion that self-directed schools, like Alpine Valley School, involve students only pursuing the subjects they find interesting is partially true, but it’s not the whole story. There are other lessons, too - harder

I Can Do What I Want

Oct 7th, 2019 25m 35s

Episode 42: I Can Do What I Want Students at self-directed democratic schools like Alpine Valley School and others, have significant freedom. In many ways they can “do what they want” all day long. However, that freedom must be balanced with re

Starting a School

Sep 23rd, 2019 8m 20s

Episode 41: Starting a School “How do I start a self-directed democratic school in my area?” On this episode, staff and founder Larry Welshon lends his twenty-plus years of experience to tackling this question and provides concrete guidance for

Favorite Stories

Sep 9th, 2019 16m 16s

Episode 40: Favorite Stories Funny, insightful, and unexpected, this episode of the Alpine Valley School podcast features our graduate’s favorite stories. Hear about surprising adventures to the mall, the Asteroid Game, becoming School Meeting

Give Kids Real Jobs

Aug 26th, 2019 7m 56s

Just like the grown ups who love them, children are hungry for meaningful work. They want to take on jobs that have real meaning and make a significant contribution. Learn how self-directed democratic education, like we practice at Alpine Valle

Learning Math

Jul 29th, 2019 17m 23s

Episode 38: Learning Math In this final episode of our Core Learning podcast series, our guest Bruce Smith talks about how students at self-directed democratic schools learn math. Bruce has decades of experience as a staff member in self-direct

Going To Work

Jul 16th, 2019 8m 46s

What sorts of careers do the students of self-directed democratic education have? How do they stand out in a competitive job market without grades or transcripts? These are the questions we tackle on episode 37 of the Alpine Valley School podca

Learning to Write

Jun 29th, 2019 14m 8s

We’re continuing our “core skills” series (which we started with Learning to Read) by discussing how students at a self-directed democratic school learn the essential skill of writing. We’re joined on this episode by AVS graduates Jesse and Van