A 2024 study found that IQ scores are still rising, but much more slowly than before: 1.2 IQ points per decade rather than the expected 3. So kids are getting smarter, but just barely. Hooray.

This session TVS learners will step into the shoes of entrepreneurs, biologists, speechwriters, and make huge strides in their own journey as Trailblazers. Check out this session’s sneak peek!

In a post earlier this year, I shared about how middle school learners are more capable than the world gives them credit for. Recently, I was reminded of this truth while attending several Adventure learner-led presentations. Something I did not do until several years into my career, Adventure learners embraced with enthusiasm, professionalism, and poise.

When I taught in a public school that hosted parent-teacher conferences, I always had anxiety leading up to the conferences. I was instructed to bring up a student's low test scores, concerning attendance, or challenging behaviors. It felt so negative. And I began to dread parent-teacher conferences. Journey Reviews at The Village School showed me a different way.

The confidence built was inspiring to witness, and showed me that the key to finding success in learning a new skill isn’t always pushing yourself to your limits; it’s having a community around you that supports and encourages you. A circle that cheers you on when you fail is the norm here at TVS, and that in itself is a gift. 

The learners have taught me that being a boy today means navigating pressure to succeed, have “mad aura”, and be the “best” at something among their peers. There’s also pressure to keep it together emotionally. Most of the learners at TVS have shared that if they could change one thing about being a boy, it would be the freedom to share how they feel without the fear of being seen as weak.

The Session 4 Sneak Peek is here! Spark will dive into music making, Discovery will dive into Game Design and further hone their journalism skills in Writer’s Workshop. Adventure will continue their Biology focus through the lens of all things Biomimicry.

As you read these learners’ blogs, you will see spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. But we hope you can look past the writing and focus on the stories being shared by some brave young people. So please read on and enjoy Discovery Studios' takeover blog posts!

Over the past two weeks, Spark learners have engaged in a Survival-themed session that has helped them build real-world skills, resilience, and teamwork. We began by exploring what survival truly means: staying safe, healthy, and calm no matter what happens. The STOP method was introduced (Stop, Think, Observe, Plan) to guide learners through difficult situations, such as getting separated from family or friends at a theme park.

These intense moments are a release of emotion that has been pent up during the school day. Our children experience pressure in many forms at school. There is social pressure - a constant navigation for humans to figure out how to belong in a community of people. There is academic pressure to succeed which at TVS, comes in the form of meeting self-selected goals and daily pressure to master their badge plans. And then there is the hustle and bustle of the holiday season that we are currently experiencing, which puts our learners on a roller coaster of excitement until winter break.

There’s a lot of learning planned for Session 3 at TVS - Spark will learn about survival, Discovery will step into the shoes of musicians, and Adventure will begin their year-long study of Biology. We can’t wait to share our experiences with you during the end of session Exhibition! You won’t want to miss it!

What began as a Studio project evolved into something deeper. Many learners continued their research outside of school, determined to find the best deals and tax breaks, or even calculating expenses for their own futures. When reflecting on the experience, one learner commented, “I used to think it would be easy, but now I think that all the random stuff really adds up.” Another said, “I used to think budgets were not that helpful, but now I think you need them when you’re older.” These learners will enter adulthood with a foundation many of us never had. They’ll better understand the trade-offs, consequences, and yes, the actual cost of a Lambo.

Do TVS learners thrive in high school? The short answer: absolutely. Our alumni aren't just surviving the transition to conventional high schools—they're thriving. What matters more than excelling in their academic and extracurricular pursuits is that TVS graduates know who they are, understand what real learning looks like, and they're carrying skills that will serve them far beyond any test or transcript.

At The Village School, our learner-centered pedagogical approach invites us to see students not as passive recipients of knowledge, but as active architects of meaning, identity, and ideas. It’s a shift that engages the whole learner and what they bring to our community; their voice, emotions, character and individual experiences. 

We’ve had librarians question learners’ reading ability, museum docents assume poor listening skills, and other parkgoers show disdain at learners taking risks. But how can we blame them when this is what our society has trained us to believe that protection means limitation, rather than preparation. “Children should be seen and not heard,” right? Well, we choose something different: children should be seen, heard, believed in, valued, challenged, encouraged, and so much more.

[Podcast] That kind of laughter - that real, authentic laughter, the kind that bursts out without any hesitation or worry - that’s the sound of Health and Wellness at The Village School. It’s the sound of learners discovering who they are through play, movement, and connection.In those moments of loud, unrestrained laughter, something really honest comes through. It’s a time when a learner is being completely themselves. 

…if you ever find yourself having to convince your mom, dad, aunt, uncle, colleague or friend about the merit of our “no grades” school, my unsolicited advice is this: Explain that we focus first on nurturing a sense of safety in our learners– security in who they are, what they are capable of, where they belong, and why they matter. Ask them if, in our world today, that metric of security and belonging matters more than a grade or bumper sticker from an elite university. Watch them pause.

Session 2 at TVS is full of fall festivities, marine biology, personal finance, fables, and more! Read all about what’s in store for learners in this special Sneak Peek.

What happens when you give 28 middle schoolers complete control of a field trip to the zoo? They navigate the metro system, manage the schedule, and get everyone there safely—while adults at the station nervously shuffle away from the "scary" group of teens. In just six weeks, our learners at The Village School planned field trips, created a music video, wrote an AI guidebook, and proved what we already knew: middle schoolers are wildly more capable than the world gives them credit for.

What happens when, instead of warning “watch out” or “be careful,” we step back and let children discover the courage and problem-solving skills that come from taking risks?