Parents' Corner
By Connie Reiss, Parent
From the Fall 2002 Newsletter

Our second year as a DVS family brings renewed gratitude for the freedom of self-determination.

The first time my thirteen-year-old son Sutton commented he was ready to return to school - halfway through summer vacation, no less - we were both taken aback by the sentiment. Never had he expressed such a notion! In years past he would - at best - start gearing up the week before school started with as positive an attitude as he could muster. Then we would both hold on to our optimism for as long as possible before settling resignedly into the routines associated with mainstream education.

Until we found our way to DVS, the public school system had us conditioned to do whatever was put before us. We had forgotten - except during summer vacation - the joy of being who we are, in our own time, according to our own determination.

I say "we" purposely since the Sudbury philosophy has changed my life at least as much as it has changed my son's. Here we have found permission to explore the world as we see it, and to participate in the pieces of that great puzzle we choose for ourselves. I feel as though we are returning to our true nature to step forward with a renewed sense of confidence in our ability to orchestrate our own realities - together and as individuals.

No more coming home from a long, hard day of work and school to engage in an equally long, hard night of current homework assignments, future projects planning, and scheduling everything else in our lives around Sutton's school. We weren't particularly good at it in those good ol' days, we didn't enjoy much of it - almost ever - and we were completely unable to make sense of why we kept doing it day after day. I tried to buy into the "it's the way of the world" belief system, and it just didn't work in our world.

When I finally understood, through much painful experience, that life centered on the public education system was a choice I was making, I simply made a different choice. It was not easy at first, but having turned that corner, Sutton and I are both finding our way quite nicely without so much direction from outside ourselves.

As a DVS family, our lives these days are centered on relationship, contribution, and the ever-shifting kaleidoscope of being - and becoming - who we are.

Diablo Valley School admits students of any race, color, sex, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin to all rights and privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students and staff at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan program, and athletic and other school administered programs.