Last year, we visited and considered the Subbury Valley School in Framingham, Massachusetts (the original one). A friend's daughter goes there. What we learned is that there has been a shift in philosophy over the years. There used to be a role for adults as facilitators: they suggested activities that they thought the children would like and benefit from, and they helped bring them about. These days, there is a deep distrust of any idea coming from an adult. Even a suggestion is seen as compulsion. When children show interest in academic pursuits, it is often assumed that the parents have set them up to it. That is also seen as compulsion, and the activity is discouraged. As a result, the school is full of art and music, but the chemistry lab that was once there is gone, and the library is stale.

Instead, we ended up sending our daughter to Macomber Center for Self-Directed Learning, also in Framingham. It was started a couple of years ago as a response to what had happened at Sudbury Valley, and has kept the active role of the adults.

Interesting. Not that I have anything against art or music, but you outlined some of my initial fears of checking out a Sudbury-type school. Still, I'll look into my local chapter. Thank you for the anecdote.

Thank you for this comment, it probably changed my life.

Well, thanks—but how? You're close to 5000 miles away, right?

Hmm. One about 45 minutes away from my house. I have a 3 year old son and I am deeply troubled with the ideas of where to send him for school. I may look into this, thank you.

As someone who went to a Sudbury school as a child, I highly recommend at least giving it a look.

I will. It looks like my local chapter has been very successful and has had to move three times to larger accommodations. I have read their list of rules and it definitely reads as though children voted for them, but they are very sensible. I look forward to visiting next year!

Do you mind if I ask where you're from? That sounds like the one I went to. Also, my email is on my profile if you have any questions.

I'd prefer not to disclose publicly, but your email is not actually in your profile. You can email my throwaway, mike.anon at hotmail dot com.

There is a really good book that came out last year called Free to Learn [1]. The Sudbury Valley School model comes up frequently in the book. If it's something you're interested in, definitely check it out.

[1]: http://www.amazon.com/Free-Learn-Unleashing-Instinct-Self-Re...

We have a similar school in Portland, http://villagefreeschool.org/ -- I hope to check it out when my kids are a little older. However, I would prefer to find a free-style school specifically for gifted children.

At least one school--The Highland School in West Virginia--also boards students. So Summerhill is not the "only boarding school of its type in the world."

I went to one (not the one in MA, but one of the bigger ones) as a child and I highly recommend the model.