Learning Without Labels

The Many Flaws of No Child Left Behind

I’m not interested in my son attending a school that follows No Child Left Behind. And if you want a child who is able to problem solve and think creatively, you shouldn’t want your kid at a No Child Left Behind school either. In case you’re unclear about how No Child Left Behind works, or [...]

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Are you smarter than a 10th grader?

Well, or at least, are you smart enough to pass a typical public school standardized test tailor made for a 10th grader? Apparently not everyone is. According to an awesome Washington Post piece, When an adult took standardized tests forced on kids, a fella on the school board of one of the largest school systems [...]

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Parents Encouraged to Participate in American Education Week

In case you missed it, it’s officially American Education Week, an event sponsored by the National Education Association (NEA) November 14-19. The event’s goal is to celebrate and observe, “Students’ hard work to learn, the professionalism and dedication of teachers, support staff and other educators and the parents and members of the community who help [...]

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Jerry Mintz Discusses Democratic Education – Radio Interview

On October 31, Jerry Mintz, founder of AERO was featured on Lon Woodbury’s Internet Talk Radio Show “Parent Choices for Struggling Teens.” Mintz discusses, “What is Democratic Education?” Mintz notes: “When a child realizes they have choice, activities like bullying usually disappear since there is nobody that is seen as ‘at the bottom’. This alternative education [...]

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Alternative education options for kids with single parents

Wrapping your head around alternative education options, is already very hard. In this country, we’ve been well-programmed to think that public education is our best and only option. Even for parents and students who are dead-set against public school, transitioning into a different educational path can be a tough road. On top of that, if you’re a [...]

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What do public school students think of democratic education?

Turns out, many public school students don’t think democratic education is realistic or very beneficial. That’s contrary to research, which shows that democratic schools have many benefits for youth, but nevertheless, most public school students simply don’t seem to believe that democratic education could work. Which brings us to one of the biggest benefits of democratic [...]

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Blog Action Day 2011: school lunch waste is a real problem

Blog Action Day 2011 is today and this year’s topic is food. School lunch is all about food and is a huge part of any school, even smaller democratic schools. With that in mind, let’s look at the problems surrounding school lunch waste. There are two major components to school lunch waste – food waste and [...]

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How to afford private school tuition

If you’ve had it with public school, and you’re looking into private schools for your child, you’ve probably noticed a big down-side… cost. Private school can be extremely expensive. In fact, the National Association of Independent Schools(NAIS) notes that the average private school costs $19,075 annually. Some figures are lower, such as the annual $10,045 quoted in [...]

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Democratic education principals may lead to better mental health among youth

A few years back, The Learner-Centered Principles Work Group of the American Psychological Association (APA) created a guide about school reform and redesign. Their goal was to create systematically researched and evolving learner-centered principles that would result in effective schooling and positive mental health and productivity of our nation`s children. While the guide was clearly [...]

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Some people think my son is a big fake

According to some people, my son Cedar isn’t real. Not quite yet anyway. When I tell people that I don’t send Cedar to a public school but instead to a democratic school, often, people flip out. I can take it though. After 10 years of unschooling and democratic school, I’m way used to getting comments [...]

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