No matter what happens, the AERO regional at Earthlands in Massachusetts will be an intimate affair. It will be a chance to interact in depth in a way that may not be possible in bigger, more hectic venues. This will be particularly helpful for the schools starters who have already registered and others who may still come, as they will have AERO School Starter Course instructors Chris Mercogliano and Jerry Mintz to themselves for consultation on their projects. The same is true for the other workshop presenters. For example, anyone interested in Goddard College can find out all about it.

We have a new treat for attendees of this AEROx. When Jerry was in Colombia he had the pleasure of watching a new and original documentary about a fantastic treatment community in Ecuador that works with traumatized babies and toddlers. It is called Grandir. We probably have the only copy of this video in the United States.It has English subtitles.  It is a truly beautiful documentary. 

 

We've decided to keep the early bird rate for now, as many people still are making arrangements to participate. 

Meals are  vegetarian and vegan, provided by  Earthland's 

resident chef. People can also camp on the site.

 

We are still collecting workshop proposals. Send them to [email protected], or  [email protected].  You can also e mail us to hold the early bird price. 

Full Schedule and workshops list here.

Register Here

Hi Mr. Gatto,

I hope you will excuse the brashness of my title but I was hoping to catch your attention. I am sure you get thousands of emails a day, and hence my flashy email to try and grab your attention about my son.

 

Before I begin, may I say that it is an honor to be able to communicate with one of the greatest minds on education. I attribute a lot of my current situation with my son to your teachings. I have read most of your books and hence our reason for homeschooling.

YOU can increase the size of your muscles by pumping iron and improve your stamina with aerobic training. Can you get smarter by exercising - or altering - your brain?

This is hardly an idle question considering that cognitive decline is a nearly universal feature of aging. Starting at age 55, our hippocampus, a brain region critical to memory,  shrinks 1 to 2 percent every year, to say nothing of the fact that one in nine people age 65 and older  has Alzheimer's disease. The number afflicted is expected to grow rapidly as the baby boom generation ages. Given these grim statistics, it's no wonder that Americans are a captive market for anything, from supposed smart drugs and supplements to brain training, that promises to boost normal mental functioning or to stem its all-too-common decline.

Two weeks ago we announced that AERO will now have videos of its schools on our member site! We invited member schools and programs to send in their favorite video link for us to post by their name, that we've now linked to their site on our member list. Below are the new ones that just came in this week, followed by the ones from last week. We're impressed by the quality of these. If you are an AERO member school or organization, send us your video for us to feature and link:

New!

The Dynamic School

Freedom to Grow Unschool

Shimer College

Voyagers' Learning Center

Global Village School

Institute for Humane Education

South Jersey Sudbury School

Princeton Learning Cooperative

Longview School

Makarios Learning Community

Alderleaf Wilderness College

Take a look at these!

These videos give potential parents, teachers and students a glimpse into our schools and programs.

If you are an AERO member school just email the video link to us and we'll post it! You can contact us by replying to this email or writing to  [email protected]

 

If you are not a current AERO member school or organization you can join or renew here 

By  Alan Singer

Barack Obama is a pretty smart guy, so it is amazing that even his efforts to compromise on high-stakes standardized testing are so far off. On testing he keeps failing the test.

After six years of pushing high-stakes testing as part of his Race to the Top education initiative,  Obama decided there is now too much testing in American schools. This decision is a response to intense push back by parents and teachers against the testing regime.

It seems that the  average student in some United States big-city schools now takes over 100 hundred hours of mandatory standardized tests during their school career. Eighth grade students are the most tested. They sit through between 20 and 25 hours of standardized tests, which makes up about 2.3% of school time. The Obama Administration proposed that Congress cap standardized testing at 2% of instruction time when it votes on reauthorizing federal legislation governing elementary and secondary schools.

Ongoing

 

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