Looking To the Future

The Sudbury Start-up group that I’m with has made lots of progress in the last two years since it’s creation.  We have a name – The Sudbury Schoool of Kentuckiana – we have a website- sudburykentuckiana.org – we are incorporated in the state of Indiana (because the original start-up group was based in Indiana, though now most interest is across the river in Louisville, Kentucky.)  We are on Wikipedia, we have bought a start-up kit from Sudbury Valley School – this amazing kit has books, audio recordings of speeches, videos of presentations, and a collection of articles ALL about the Sudbury model of education, and how to implement a school anywhere in the world.  This kit is essential to any group thinking of opening a Sudbury School in their area.  The idea of 100% student-directed learning is so unfamiliar a concept to people that these resources are vital to helping parents and other potential founders/staff members in understanding the Sudbury ideal.

All of the above had come to fruition before I even discovered this group.  Since September, when I joined the party, we’ve been searching for a location, looking into applying for 501c3 status, and talking to the Commonwealth of Kentucky to see what steps we’ll need to take to open a new school in this district.  We’re holding monthly Information Meetings, and trying to pick up enough interested families to feel confident opening our doors this fall.

My Happy Thought for today has come about thanks to an email I received from another Start-up group that’s forming in Gainesville, Florida.  They complimented our website and asked to borrow from our enrollment questionnaire.  I am so thankful to the Universe that so many people around the world are becoming aware of this model, and wanting to open schools of their own.  Children deserve freedom.  The freedom to make choices for themselves, their education, and their future.

My Happy Thought is that more and more of these schools will open around the world, and more and more families will choose a Sudbury education for their children, and eventually a school of empowered, playful, creative, and joyous students will be the norm instead of the “alternative.”

Here’s to a future of happiness!  And to Happy Thoughts for all Children of the World!

A Whole New Happy Thought

My new Happy Thought concerns educational freedom for children.  For as long as I can remember, I knew that if I was ever blessed with children, I would not send them to public school.  Nor would I subject them to traditional private schools either, especially not a religious school.  No shoving of doctrine for me please.  Public and traditional Private schools are so completely structured and obsessed with grades, standardized test scores, sports programs, and attendance policies.  The prevalence of cliques, the overuse of behavioral medication, and the rise in anxiety and depression amongst young children makes me want to run away from traditional education screaming and begging everyone to follow me.  “Help our children escape the jails that we’ve forced them into!!!”

Once I got married and knew that children were on the horizon, I began looking into alternative education options.  But for years, I found a reason to dismiss every school I looked into.  Waldorf schools don’t allow elementary age students any access to computers or media, and I’m sorry, but this is 2015.  Computers, and the knowledge of how to use them efficiently and creatively, are essential to the future of our society.  Montessori schools seem too structured, and I don’t love the idea of a kids being with the same teacher for several years.  I think having a variety of adult role models, sharing different perspectives and unique teaching styles, gives kids an opportunity to learn in the way they prefer, and if a child happens to butt heads with a teacher, they are not stuck with that same adult for years.

I had finally decided that the only option would be to start my own school.  Once my own kids were school-age, I would begin homeschooling, and would invite other kids in the community to join us.  I figured a “cottage-school,” as they are sometimes called, would be better than any of the alternatives.  And as I became more experienced, my school could grow into a whole new educational option.

But then last September, I got the urge to type “alternative education” in to Google, and Wikipedia showed me a list of alternative school options where I discovered a word that would change my life, introduce me to a whole new way of thinking about education, and lead me towards a path of no return.  That word was “Sudbury.”

If you have never heard of a Sudbury school, you are not alone.  This wonderfully unique approach to education has only become a movement in the last twenty years.  The original Sudbury school, The Sudbury Valley School, opened in 1968 in a town outside of Boston, Massachusetts.  Please visit their website sudval.org to learn more.

I’m not going to go into all the details of what a Sudbury School is here.  Suffice it to say, learning is 100% student-directed, and the school is run democratically by the School Meeting, made up of all students and staff members, each having one equal vote on all aspects of running the school, including approving all financial expenditures, hiring/firing staff, and maintaining the school building and grounds.

In my 7 months of delving into this educational model, I have not found a single reason to say, “No, this is not for me or my kids.”  Everything they do is what I wanted for my own school, and they’ve actually implemented it, and their graduates are succeeding.  Discovering that I don’t have to start from scratch to start a school, that there is a model to follow, and a support system of other emerging schools, has been a joyous relief.

I found a group that is starting a new Sudbury school here is Louisville, Kentucky, and I have joined them wholeheartedly.  I plan to keep a record of our progress here.  If you have any interest at all in this educational idea, please stay-tuned as I work on opening this delightfully new school.

All of this to say: My current Happy Thought is a new school for the children and teens of Louisville, Kentucky.  A new school for my own children.  And a new school for me, where I can make a living helping support kids’ rights.  The right to play, the right to talk, the right to be responsible for their choices, the right to choose freely what they would like to focus on each day, and the right to have a say in how their school is structured.  Happy thoughts indeed.

Live in This moment, and Breathe

I’m ready for life to get going.  I’m ready to use my gifts to help life become itself.  I’m ready for joy.  I’m ready for abundance.  I was so inspired and joyous just a couple weeks ago, and then I lost steam.  I don’t know where the steam went.  I don’t know where my joy went.  I guess it doesn’t matter.  In truth it didn’t go anywhere, right?  There is no where but here, so there is nowhere for my joy, inspiration, or anything else to have gone.  There is only Here.  Only Now.  I am happy to be Here and Now.  I am a joyous creator and I use my Happiness to help lift up others.  I am joy.  I am life.  I am me.  And it is good.   

There’s so much noise out here in Internet world.  How does one make her voice heard?  How does my point of view get out there and make any sort of difference?  I know, as Seth Godin says – get one person.  One person who is a true fan, who will spread the word to 10 other people who will spread the word to more, and on and on it goes from there.  One person is all it takes.  But I tend to be such an idealist.  I don’t look at little pictures, I look at the BIG picture where everything is already done, and everything is “perfect” and life is complete.  What a waste of time that picture truly is.  There is no such thing as a “perfect” life.  There is no such thing as having it all done and complete.  Life is ever changing and ever evolving and ever growing.  Even the “grand finale” of death is not actually final, because then we just go on to the next adventure beyond this current Earthly incarnation.  Life is continuous and ever expanding.  I don’t need to worry about what tomorrow will bring, or how people will view, criticize, or critique my thoughts.  All I have to do is live in This moment, and Breathe.  

 

 

Joy is why we’re here

Today has been a wonderful day.  The clouds were so white and puffy, and the sky so blue; my absolute favorite way for the sky to look.  I drove home with the windows completely down and my hair flying  around in the breeze.  I was just so perfectly content and so thankful for Springtime!  There’s nothing more hopeful than the world coming back to life after the cold of winter.  I am joyously thankful for life today.  It’s good to feel so blessed.

I wish we could all open our eyes to the little things in life that inspire such happiness: the clouds in the sky; the budding flowers outside my living room window; my 8-month-old’s face first thing in the morning, bright and shiny and ready for the day.  She helps me remember that every moment is a new experience.  Every day is exciting and fresh; something to look forward to.  Instead of waking up and thinking, “bleh, another day at work.”  It’s lovely to wake up and say, “Yipee! A new day!  I get to go work with lovely people, and help brighten the day of those around me.  And then I get to come home after work to my sweet family and bring my happiness to them too.”

No, I don’t do that every moment of every day.  Sometimes I’m grouchy, and nothing seems to go right all day long.  However, if I can stop, and breathe, and remember that my thoughts are creating my day, I can usually turn it around.  I can remember that Life is supposed to be good.  We are here to enjoy the experience of our Lives.  We did not come here to work hard and make lots of money, and get all we can get, and squash anyone who gets in our way.  That will not lead to a joyous, creative Life Experience.  And Joy is why we’re here.  Joy and Peace, and, of course, Love.

I think that’s my Happy Thought for today: Joy is why we’re here.  What could be better?  What could lead to a happier life?  Joy!  Inner Joy.  It’s not something that is caused by any outside factor.  Joy is an Inner state of being.  A place from which to experience life.  A place of perfect contentment, and complete acceptance of whatever comes into your awareness; knowing that everything arrives into your life in accordance with divine timing.  Life can be consistently joyous when you do not judge the present moment.  When you let go of judgement entirely.  We cannot see the great picture.  We cannot know the answer to all the “Why’s?” in life.  All we can do is live every day as it comes to us, and try to find the happiness in and through each experience.  I wish that for all of us.

Think Happy Thoughts!

I’m beginning again.  A new blog.  A way to share my Happy Thoughts with you.

I am ready to be joyous.  I am ready to be a portal for all Good.  I am excited to have the opportunity to share my Happy Thoughts, and if even one person is lifted to a happier place, then I am truly blessed; especially if the “one person” who is lifted up is me.  That is the purpose of life, yes?  To raise our vibrations, and to consistently exist in a happy place.  By uplifting ourselves, we have more power to uplift others.

As many people before me have remembered/discovered and shared with the world, one of the Laws of Life is the Law of Attraction.  Like attracts like.  To bring all good into your life, you need to remain in a vibration of good.  It’s like tuning a radio; if you are tuned to 88.7, you hear whatever is being broadcast at that frequency.  You cannot hear what they are playing on 103.5 unless you turn the dial and get to the vibration of 103.5.  It’s that simple.  Just as simply, the frequencies/vibrations of Life work by the same principle.  If you are tuned to an angry vibration, life will bring you events which will lead you to more anger.  If you are tuned to depression, life will show you all kinds of depressing events and reasons to stay depressed.  If you are tuned to fear, life will prove itself to be a very scary place.  If you are tuned to hope, wonderful opportunities will present themselves, allowing you to feel more and more hopeful.  If you are tuned to joy, life will be a wonderful existence indeed, for you will be constantly shown more to be joyous about.  And the more consistent your vibration, the more consistent will be Life’s response.  Isn’t Life Good.  Life gives us exactly what we focus on, so focus on the Good.  Think Happy Thoughts!