by Aaron Browder, Open School staff
February 22, 2021
Sometimes, you don’t realize how important something is until it’s gone. That’s definitely true of social interaction in the era of COVID-19. In the “old normal,” people were just there, saturating our environment. It wasn’t until we were forced to shut ourselves away for many, many months that we realized we could get sick from […]
by Aaron Browder, Open School OC staff
June 22, 2020
You may have heard about children being bullied at school. Or having their phones confiscated by teachers. Or being punished for expressing themselves with their clothing or hair. Maybe you’ve wondered whether these things are violations of children’s rights. The answer is yes — but the violations go much deeper than that, in ways you […]
by Tay Arrow, Open School TV staff
May 23, 2020
When The Open School of Temecula Valley decided to pinpoint the location of our future “forever campus” at Zephyr Mountain Grove in Wildomar, we started to think about where the avocado farm would end and our campus would begin. There was a natural boundary created by the edge of the current orchard, and a sense […]
by Aaron Browder, Open School OC staff
May 16, 2020
The writer Blake Boles has long been a luminary in the world of Self-Directed Education, having published books such as College Without High School and Better Than College. Now he’s published a new book: Why Are You Still Sending Your Kids to School?, which is a sure upgrade for the arsenals of SDE advocates. College […]
by Aaron Browder, Open School OC staff
May 12, 2020
Teachers (as in those who help others learn, not as in classroom managers or childcare workers) are often helpful. But not nearly to the extent that most people think they are. My first experiences with teaching were, like so many people’s, in the context of mandatory education with grades and tests. And, like so many […]
May 5, 2020
People who work closely with children have always know that children learn primarily through play, rather than instruction or disciplined study. More recently, the scientific establishment has come to agree that free play is an essential and integral part of how children learn. Following are a few quotes from wise men and women who were […]
by Tay Arrow, Open School TV staff
March 28, 2020
Why would kids want to have a say in what they’re learning? Why would they want to define their own learning style? Why would they want to have input into the rules of their school? Why would they want to be a part of a restorative justice system that upholds those rules? Why would kids […]
by Aaron Browder, Open School OC staff
March 11, 2020
Character skills have become a hot topic among educators in recent years. The modern character education movement kicked off with Carol Dweck’s Mindset in 2006, followed by Paul Tough’s How Children Succeed in 2012 and Angela Duckworth’s Grit in 2016. All three topped the bestseller lists, and continue to inspire countless school programs aimed at […]
by Aaron Browder, Open School OC staff
March 2, 2020
No, I don’t mean educational video games, like the ones your local public school lets their students play in math class, in which players have to solve multiplication problems to help some frog get across the road or something. I mean the kinds of video games your kids are always begging you to buy for […]
by Tay Arrow, Open School TV staff
February 24, 2020
We walked up the northern road to an undeveloped portion of the land, where native grasses and manzanita are speckled with inviting granite boulders. I climbed a cluster of boulders with my 6 year old. The rocks were warm in the afternoon sun, and the hills smelled of white sage and orange flowers. The other […]