More to Explore
Social Media
Slideshows
Selected Blog Posts
What Cool Things Outside means to me
My name is Lily Compton and I started the Cool Things Outside Corporation at The Circle School five years ago, and I'm still the chair of the corporation today. [“Corporations” at The Circle School are like clubs or interest groups. -Editor] I didn't have a plan back...
Planned Giving: “It feels good”
“It feels good to think that someday we’ll be making a gift to a place that is so special to us.” These are the words of Stacy Kuyk-White, parent of alumn Taylor Kuyk-White ’06. Stacy and her husband, Trustee Rob White, recently included The Circle School in their...
Grow up, America! Polarized politics and democratic schools
I’m disappointed by America’s dysfunctional politics. And I bet you are, too. What really gets to me is the hyper-polarization and aggressive non-cooperation. I want to yell “Grow up, America!” -- but that might be insulting to the kids I work with. For me it’s...
Circle School mornings again
Over the past six years I’ve spent on staff, I’ve grown to love my Circle School mornings. When the doors open at 8am, a few kids are usually already waiting on the stone bench out front. The rest follow in waves, on school buses, or trickling in by car. From the...
Silver Linings: What the pandemic is teaching us about schooling
The Meadow Campaign Five Years Later
After 10 years of working waking dreams, The Circle School broke ground in fall 2016 to build our forever home on the Meadow Campus -- where I'm sitting now, writing this. Recently the school published a final project report for more than 175 alumni, parents, and...
I walked into my new life
When I first heard about The Circle School, I didn't know what to think of this strange place where there's hardly anything resembling “normal school.” I was petrified, and thought I wouldn’t be able to get anything done without a strict schedule. However, keeping an...
I dreaded telling him school is closed
I dreaded having to tell my son that school would be closed for quarantine. He loves school, which is saying a lot considering how our journey to The Circle School began. It was a very long road that I never imagined we would travel. When Dayton was very young, his...
Community near and far away
Coronavirus. Quarantine. Social isolation. This time has been difficult, to say the least, but I’m proud that I’ve been more or less using this time to catch up on education, spend time with family, and get a much needed mental health break. Don’t get me wrong. I have...
Kids taking the lead
When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. How many times have you heard this? How many times have you been able to make lemonade? What we are experiencing right now in the world is something we will always remember. One moment our children are going to school. The...
Cool Things Outside / Dreams of Flying
I’m Lily C, and I am the chair and founder of Cool Things Outside Corporation. [“Corporations” at The Circle School are like clubs or interest groups. -Editor] I created this corporation four years ago, when the school was still at its old campus. I wanted to...
Explaining The Circle School Made Easy (or Less Hard)
Even now, after 35 years as a founding staff member, I half dread being asked by a newcomer to explain The Circle School. It could be a neighbor, the friend of a friend, or recently my dental hygienist just before she asked me to open wide. My anxiety arises not from...
Other Writings
What Kind of School?
The Learning Edge
Focusing on the latter, The Learning Edge offers thoughts about how and why self–direction is important and effective in education, proposing a framework of ideas supporting the practice of self–directed schooling.
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Selected Newsletters
Circle School mornings again
Over the past six years I’ve spent on staff, I’ve grown to love my Circle School mornings. When the doors open at 8am, a few kids are usually already waiting on the stone bench out front. The rest follow in waves, on school buses, or trickling in by car. From the...
Silver Linings: What the pandemic is teaching us about schooling
The Meadow Campaign Five Years Later
After 10 years of working waking dreams, The Circle School broke ground in fall 2016 to build our forever home on the Meadow Campus -- where I'm sitting now, writing this. Recently the school published a final project report for more than 175 alumni, parents, and...
I walked into my new life
When I first heard about The Circle School, I didn't know what to think of this strange place where there's hardly anything resembling “normal school.” I was petrified, and thought I wouldn’t be able to get anything done without a strict schedule. However, keeping an...
I dreaded telling him school is closed
I dreaded having to tell my son that school would be closed for quarantine. He loves school, which is saying a lot considering how our journey to The Circle School began. It was a very long road that I never imagined we would travel. When Dayton was very young, his...
Community near and far away
Coronavirus. Quarantine. Social isolation. This time has been difficult, to say the least, but I’m proud that I’ve been more or less using this time to catch up on education, spend time with family, and get a much needed mental health break. Don’t get me wrong. I have...
Kids taking the lead
When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. How many times have you heard this? How many times have you been able to make lemonade? What we are experiencing right now in the world is something we will always remember. One moment our children are going to school. The...
Cool Things Outside / Dreams of Flying
I’m Lily C, and I am the chair and founder of Cool Things Outside Corporation. [“Corporations” at The Circle School are like clubs or interest groups. -Editor] I created this corporation four years ago, when the school was still at its old campus. I wanted to...
Explaining The Circle School Made Easy (or Less Hard)
Even now, after 35 years as a founding staff member, I half dread being asked by a newcomer to explain The Circle School. It could be a neighbor, the friend of a friend, or recently my dental hygienist just before she asked me to open wide. My anxiety arises not from...
Trained at 12, saved a life at 15
2019My aunt and uncle are so cute! I was at the kitchen sink dying my hair, while they ate dinner at the kitchen table. He was holding a fork near her mouth, trying to get her to try the chicken parmesan he had made. She doesn’t need to be fed; he was just being...
Curious, playful, sociable, willful, planful
Last week I traveled to Philadelphia to hear a talk by research psychologist Peter Gray, founder of the Alliance for Self-Directed Education. Dr Gray spoke at Philly Free School, which is, like The Circle School, a self-directed democratic school. Dr Gray starts from...
Groundbreaking!
We did it! Today, with builder Pyramid Construction's vehicles and earth-movers in the background, Circle Schoolers ranging in age from 5 to 50+ (and then some) donned hardhats, picked up golden shovels, and broke ground on The Circle School's new home. Construction...
Camping in the Schoolyard
I’ve gone on many field trips this year, but week before last was the first time I went on a "field trip" without leaving the campus. It was in the school’s backyard, with ten students ages eight to fourteen, and two staff members. Planning began in February, when...
Field Trip to Another Democratic School
Last week I went on a school field trip. Unlike the majority of field trips this year, the planning for this trip didn’t unfold over the course of a few hours or days. This trip was weeks in the planning. Also, unlike most other trips this year, which have been within...
The Noble, Humble Rag
I am inspired to write a bit about the noble, humble Circle School rag. Rags at The Circle School get used for everything from sanitizing doorknobs to soothing minor burns. They are implements of routine cleaning, but then they are also sporting goods (for Capture The...