Chagrin Valley Learning Collective

Have you ever observed children creating art side-by-side with no expected result? What if their educational environments allowed that kind of space every day?

Wikipedia explains, "Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around works utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, technical proficiency, or beauty"(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art).

So why do adults feel the need to interfere?

Our year is underway, and as always, we are partnering with local organizations that also value age-mixing, outdoor free play, and interest-driven activities.

When a broken toy truck needed to be fixed yesterday, these two teenagers brought their knowledge of mechanical systems to make sure one of our youth members was able to get back to work hauling dirt!

There's always a lot of projects to complete as one season comes to an end and another one begins. Stay tuned as we share more stories of project collaboration this fall!

Resilience Fair tomorrow!

The excitement and anticipation to start our year is building! During the first few weeks, our peer governance system will re-form by combining the framework of our program (Sudbury, Sociocracy, Permaculture) with the individual freedoms of our members. Thank you to the visionaries, guides, experimenters, and builders for paving the way!

On Sunday, the CVLC community plans to share stories with prospective families that are seeking a program rooted in trust; we trust children to know what they need to learn and to make choices that will support their education (https://www.alcmosaic.org/). At the foundation of our program is every child that has helped shape our community. To those that have been present for six years (or less) and to the children that have come and gone, we are thankful for your curiosity, adaptability, respect, responsibility, and play.

Meet & Greet August 23rd from 1:00-3:00!

As we gear up for our 6th year as a student centered-home education learning pod, CVLC gives thanks to those that inspire and guide us. Our first shout out goes to Akilah S. Richards and The Alliance for Self-Directed Education.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbKQGNE1nUo

Deschooling is crucial!

The "Curiosity Chemical" Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is commonly misunderstood as the "pleasure chemical." In modern slang, we talk of "dopam...

“The good news is that you can opt out of the race. An increasing number of colleges and employers are recognizing that academic credentials aren’t the best predictors of career success, including prominent companies like Google. And many schools, like ours, are providing an environment that’s designed to let students flourish in their own ways and in their own time.” - Aaron Browder

Photo Quote - The Open School

We are Plural: "The "genius" of play-based learning is that it's part and parcel of a cooperative community, one in which "success" isn't judged by an authoritative adult, but rather by how well the play sustains itself. In other words, the reward is that the game continues, moving from one thing to another as individuals adjust, adapt, compromise and negotiate. Too often adults show up in the context of play as the killjoys, as the ones who scuttle the ebb and flow the games, often intervening just when it was "getting good."" To read the post, click this link: https://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2026/08/we-are-plural.html

This is so important.

Play as an Act of Resistance If there is one lesson I have always wanted the children in my life to learn it is to question those in authority, like thei...