Pat Montgomery who founded
Clonlara School and Home-Based Education Program 50 years ago was celebrated last week. She wrote to us:
Isn't life a glorious gift?
Your ears may have been burning over the weekend. Pat Farenga was here to speak at our Sunday celebration. He wrote the foreword to my book, The School That's Inside You. It is on Amazon and was on sale for our Saturday celebrations this past weekend. Kageki came from Japan, many flowers from Ireland, greetings from from Bermuda, Germany, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, France, Thailand, India, and all over the U.S. Former and present staff, students, and parents gathered at the school. It was an exhilerating time. I cannot stop smiling, and this cloud walk will last for days to come.
Thank you for your words and wishes. There is NOTHING like having a kindred spirit
|
 Too Late to Enroll in the School Starter Course but Auditing for Half Price is Now an Option
|
|
The annual AERO Online School Starters Course began on September 25th. The discussions and interactions so far have been fantastic. We've even had former school starters join us to talk about the schools and organizations they have started and how they have done it. For example Nancy Tilton is contributing to the course as a resource person, Originally a school starter class member, she has been talking about how the school she started evolved into an Agile Learning Center.
It is probably too late to join the course this year as a full participant. But we are now offering the possibility to audit the course at half price. You will have access to all of the resources of the course and can follow along. This might be a good option if you are not quite ready to start your new alternative but want to explore the possibility. If you do take the course later you'll be able to enroll at a discount.
The course is not in real time so you access it when you can. You see the resources and posts in each section as we open them up.
When you register we give you a code to get into the dedicated website
Students in the course over the years have created at least 100 new alternatives.
Register to audit this year's course now here
You can also rregister for the course by clicking the image below.
Reply to this e news if you have specific questions.
|
|
| AERO Makes Big Change to Membership Program |
We are taking an exciting new approach to AERO
membership. Theoretically, if you are reading this you could be an AERO member with all the perks of membership. For you to be an individual member you no longer have to pay $40 a year. You can pay whatever you are able to pay at this time as a donation. You can then have free job ads, join our discussion groups, get 10% discount on books and conference registration, get a certificate of membership, get access to our video library, etc.! You should be aware that as a member you may get special mailings with offers or request for help from us. You can even donate just a few dollars to get all this. Make your donation
here to become a member. As a member you will also get a free download of a talk of your choice from the recent AERO conference.
If you are a school or organization the membership is still only $75. As a member organization you get a link to your website and a spot on our member map. This is worth a lot to those schools that want more parents and teachers to find them, as the AERO website is #1 on Google for alternative education.
As a member organization you also get a 10% discount on books, audios, videos and the AERO conference. You also get free job ads and all your school community members get these discounts and can join our discussion lists. You can also get a member banner for your website and a certificate of membership. So please become a member or renew your membership here.
As usual, if for some reason you can't afford to become a member or renew but would like to be a member we'll subscribe you or continue your membership free if you let us know.
Jerry and the AERO Team
|
| Sudbury School Ammersee Under Attack |
|
Dear partner schools and friends,
The Sudbury School Ammersee asks you for urgent assistance!
This situation affects not only us, but the entire democratic school movement in Bavaria:
This has been suppressed and
thwarted for
years by the Bavarian government. The Sudbury School Ammersee was closed down by the authorities in September 2016. School initiatives in Ingolstadt, Augsburg, Munich, Regensburg and Nuremberg cannot start up, despite a great deal of interest being shown and many applicants, because they are being systematically prevented from doing so by the State of Bavaria. This is nothing new in this country: In earlier days, the first Montessori and Waldorf schools also experienced massive opposition.
The court case in which the Sudbury School Ammersee is taking action against the Free State of Bavaria will probably be heard in November or December. This case is of strategic importance: If we win it, it would represent a major breakthrough for the democratic schools movement here and it would open the gates for a large number of initiatives. The big problem: After 1½ years in which we have been able to keep our heads above water with donations, the money is running out! That means: We need financial support urgently! About 30,000 euros are needed for legal costs and to enable us to marshal our forces in the most effective way. We needed it now or lately at the end of Oktober 2017. Without this, we will not be able to pursue the legal battle - and the authorities would get their way purely through being able to sit it out! We can't allow this to happen!
|
| A Great School, Against the Grain: A Warm, Diverse, Child-Focused Place Where Tests Don't Matter Much |
Every year, I take my family to Finland so my 9-year-old child can spend some time going to school in an education system that was recently ranked first in the world in quality by UNICEF.
Little did I know that there is a Finnish-style public school right in my own backyard, a few blocks from where I grew up. And if you see what goes on there, you might catch a glimpse of the future of children's education.
My child now goes to PS 364, also known as the Earth School, a little-known gem of a public K-5 elementary in the East Village.
The student population is some 50% black and Latino children. Half the students qualify for free and reduced priced lunch, and 23% of students receive special education services.
Read the rest here. |
| These SC School Districts Won Big Bucks To Offer Innovative Learning |
By Tim Dominick
Three Midlands school districts are among four statewide that have received $49 million in federal grants to bolster programs that offer public-school students more choice.
Over five years, Richland 1 will receive $14.9 million, Richland 2 will receive $11.2 million and Lexington-Richland 5 will receive $13.7 million. Outside the Midlands, Florence 3 was awarded $9.1 million.
"South Carolina continues to strive to expand our school choice offerings for students and parents," said S.C. Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman.
"This federal grant award is testament to our goal to expand choice programs for all students and will go a long way in ensuring that students have access to programs that will engage them and prepare them for the next step after graduation."
Read the rest here. |
Pono at Harlem Harvest Festival: Meet the Earthsavers! Get Free Daffodils!
|
The event is on St. Nicholas Avenue, between 117th and 118th Streets.
Meet our Earthsavers, who will be selling copies of their comic book! And pick up free daffodil bulbs as part of The Daffodil Project!
We look forward to celebrating the fall season with our Harlem friends and neighbors.
More information here. |
The Highland School Open House Harvest Festival
|
The Highland School in West Virginia is having an open house organized by one of its students. Details:
|
New Episode Of The Education Revolution Podcast
|
In this episode, Peter Berg interviews several students from democratic schools at the 2017 AERO Conference. The Students are from The Highland School and Liberated learners.
They discuss how they came to be at their schools, democratic process, how democratic education has benefited them, and why people should look into this type of education.
Listen here. |
| New SelfDesign Graduate Seminars! |
Self Design is one of AERO's regular advertisers. You can see them all at the right. Director David Marshak recently said,
"
The SelfDesign Graduate Institute advertises in AERO's online publications because we know that AERO members care deeply about learning founded in curiosity and enthusiasm. We offer graduate programs for adults who want to design their own learning and author their own lives-and we know that many folks who have these aspirations belong to AERO."
October 8, 4-5 PM PDT
Josette Luvmour:
How Adults Grow Together with Children
Josette's presentation will draw on her new book, Grow Together: Parenting as a Path to Well-Being, Wisdom, and Joy (https://luvmourconsulting.com/new-page/).
See the rest here. |
Links and Calendar
|
| Links
Ongoing
Calendar
Please send us feedback on this issue. also, we would like to have more articles written by AERO members and about AERO school and organizations.
Thank you for your ongoing support. With
your help
, we will make learner-centered alternatives available to everyone!
In Service,
Jerry Mintz
Executive Director
Alternative Education Resource Organization
|
|
Please consider making a donation to AERO to help support our work. Thanks!
|
|
|
