The Learning Cooperatives specialize in helping teens discover what intrinsically motivates them and what their natural talents are. The priority is building strengths rather than repairing weaknesses.  However, we’re realistic and know that external motivation can be a practical and necessary […]

True story: A NJ public library cleared off one of their walls and invited the local elementary school and a homeschool learning co-op to display student artwork for the community.  On one side of the wall were the school students’ paintings, which were all slight variations of the exact same […]

When people first hear about self-directed learning it sounds like a crazy idea–everything is optional; young people have the freedom to follow their interests and decide how to spend their time; no grades, credits, or diplomas, just learning for learning’s sake. It sounds crazy, but it’s […]

On a typical morning drive to work, I pulled into the local gas station, still holding a conversation on my bluetooth. I turned off the car, transferred the call to speakerphone, and rolled down the window.  “Fill ‘er up, please.”   Next, purse.  But, no…no, no, no, noooo. “I can’t […]

Close your eyes. Imagine a high school, a real high school, one, perhaps, you’ve driven by many times. Picture the building and the grounds. What would you change? Pull up the editing tools in your mind. Cut. Crop. Sketch. What’s different now? Is the parking lot freshly paved? Are there more […]

“It Depends.” I say this alot.  I’m the staff member at Princeton Learning Cooperative who initially meets with interested families. They come with lots of questions about PLC and I almost always respond with some variation of, “it depends.” The reactions families have to hearing this […]

In the world of education, somewhere between “lecture” and “group project” is an overlooked, misunderstood, crudely-practiced, and often-omitted wonderful little learning method called “modeling.” It’s as simple as it sounds. A “model” of the work desired (a piece of writing, a […]

In my last post, I raised a question that has been asked of me many times over, “Why are we learning this?” It’s a question that I’ve had a hard time answering myself, leading me to ask why we study anything at all. After pondering this for many years, I was led to an answer well worth the […]

I’ve been teaching English-ish classes for eighteen years…and that statement pretty much sums up the sort of English teacher I am: the type who gets a kick out of adding the suffix “ish” to a word that already ends in “ish,” not the type who corrects your grammar at dinner parties. […]

Several years ago, when I was a high school teacher, one of my students was seriously injured in a field hockey game. She was a star player and would probably have earned a scholarship to play field hockey. Her season, and possibly her entire field hockey career, was over. Right around the same […]