by Ken Danford | Dec 20, 2021 | self-directed learning
Sometimes I meet teens who are miserable in the middle of their senior years. I am always cautious about how to talk with them. On the one hand, I’m confident of our approach and the pros and cons of opting out, even at such a late moment in a high school...
by Ken Danford | Dec 17, 2021 | Uncategorized
Sex Education is serious and funny, romantic and platonic, focused on sexual behavior and also interested in all sorts of social and emotional issues of the teens and their school. It’s quite a roller-coaster, and I found myself rooting for many of them to connect...
by Ken Danford | Nov 17, 2021 | self-directed learning
Steven Slaughter has recently returned to the Chicago area after teaching in Nairobi, Kenya for several years. He is interested in catching up on alterative models, and participated in the Another Way group this past year. Now he is traveling to various schools and...
by Ken Danford | Nov 1, 2021 | self-directed learning
We are sending out our Fall newsletter this week. Some of you will receive a hard copy in your mailbox (old style!), and here is a link to the digital version for all of you. The feature story is written by current North Star member Tove Schweitzer. Her story is...
by Ken Danford | Oct 20, 2021 | self-directed learning
By now, everyone reading this blog knows that Grace’s book changed my life. When Grace decided to open The Hive, a center modeled after North Star, and join our Liberated Learners network, I felt a unique moment of fulfillment. Our team at North Star had inspired our...
by Ken Danford | Oct 1, 2021 | self-directed learning
Joshua Hornick and I created North Star (then called Pathfinder) back in 1996, but we were not the first people to think these thoughts. Back in 1977, pioneer thinker Ted Wachtel wrote a blueprint for a different approach to learning called Beyond the Schoolhouse. It...
by Ken Danford | Sep 20, 2021 | self-directed learning
We’ve had two weeks of in-person activity at North Star! Teens are inside the building for the first time since March 2020: going to classes, sitting on couches, cooking in the kitchen! I am seeing my colleagues face-to-face on a daily basis. We are re-establishing...
by Ken Danford | Sep 10, 2021 | Uncategorized
At our final staff meeting of last year in mid-June, we felt quite optimistic about this coming fall in regards to Covid-19. The incidence of Covid-19 in western Massachusetts was very low, and across the country, cases seemed to be in decline. All of our staff and...
by Ken Danford | Sep 10, 2021 | self-directed learning
The past six weeks have been quite a fluid time at North Star, as we have been working to register members for the fall and update our Covid-19 policy in light of the Delta variant. With so much in flux, I have missed a few of my personal blog posting deadlines. Here...
