Off-Trail Learning

What’s the sense and science behind giving kids more control over their lives? Why do they deserve autonomy? Ned Johnson answers these questions in his wonderful 2018 book, The Self-Driven Child (coauthored with Bill Stixrud). In the interview Ned discusses his life as a Washington D.C. test prep tutor, the deleterious effects of stress, why kids need a sense of control in their lives, shifting fr...

If you’re in love with the principles of self-directed learning but don’t want to abandon the public school system, how can you still make an impact? Kate Friedman (katefriedman.co) has figured out one way to do this. A former kindergarten special ed teacher who has also worked at the Brooklyn Free School, Kate now nudges classroom teachers in the direction of self-directed learning with the hopes...

North Star (northstarteens.org) is an alternative to middle school and high school in Western Massachusetts, and it's a highly inspiring model of supporting self-directed learning at the teenage level. In Fall 2018, I took a break from my speaking tour to spend 9 days at North Star and immerse myself in the model and its community. In this special episode, you'll get a brief introduction to North...

What are the best and worst arguments for going to 4-year college today? On today’s episode I debate this question with T.K. Coleman, the Education Director of an alternative-to-college program, Praxis (discoverpraxis.com). What’s the value of a stimulating academic environment? Access to social life? Developing a “life of the mind?” Signaling your value in the marketplace? If you have a young per...

If you’re a teenager who (1) doesn’t go to conventional school and (2) wants to make new, open-minded friends — then get yourself to Not Back to School Camp, the preeminent gathering place for teenage unschoolers and self-directed learners. In this episode I interview Matt Sanderson, who recently finished directing two sessions of camp. Some of the questions we address include: What is day-to-day...

If you want to get involved in alternative education in your twenties, what steps can you take to make it possible? Cassidy Younghans, age 27, is currently in the middle of answering this question. After teaching in Texas public schools for 5 years, Cassidy jumped ship and is now interning at the Houston Sudbury School. She dreams of starting her own school or center some day , but she’s not quite...

What was it like to start an alternative school—especially one that supports “homeschoolers”, a hitherto unknown term—back in the sixties and seventies? Pat Montgomery did just that. She fought the hard fights, secured protections for home educators and self-directed learners, and even sued the Michigan State Board of Education. The school she founded, Clonlara (clonlara.org), now supports familie...

In this special episode, Zen Zenith interviews Blake Boles about the past, present, and future of Unschool Adventures (unschooladventures.com), including a sneak preview of Blake’s big new program for 17- to 20-year-olds that’s launching in 2019: Independent Adventures. They also discuss Blake’s videos, articles, speaking tour, podcast, and future projects. Visit blakeboles.com to find the blog po...

After a decade of teaching at public and private schools, Joel Hammon quit. Despite being on track to earning a six-figure salary with full benefits, he couldn’t take it anymore. But he still wanted to work with young people, so he co-founded Princeton Learning Cooperative (princetonlearningcooperative.org): a center based on the North Star model. In this episode we talk about how Joel struggled w...

Does self-directed education really “work,” and how can we prove it? In this episode I speak with Peter Gray, Ph. D., about the evidence (and lack thereof) for the effectiveness of unschooling and democratic free schools. Topics include: How does one measure the "effectiveness" of education in the first place? What does Peter's research say? How might a skeptical parent critique it? Why is it hard...

Gifted, twice-exceptional, autistic, ADD, dyslexic: each of these labels falls under the umbrella of “neurodivergence”, and each has served to inspire thousands of families to consider self-directed learning options. Today I speak with Jade Rivera (jadeannrivera.com), the founder of Sunnyside Micro-School, a place she built to serve neurodivergent young people who don't thrive in school. We discus...

Many dream of combining the principles of unschooling with the resources of public school — and Gabe Cooper is one of those few who has actually done it. In this episode Gabe discusses “Unschool” (sanjuan.edu/unschool), the program he founded in the San Juan Unified School District of Sacramento, California. We talk about his disillusionment as a public school teacher and administrator, what inspi...

How much of school is about skill-building and how much is about signaling, i.e., proving to employers that you’re intelligent, diligent, and can conform to societal norms? In this episode, economist Bryan Caplan (bcaplan.com) discusses his new book, The Case Against Education. Caplan argues that diplomas remain powerful marketplace signals, despite the fact that schools don't teach much. We discu...

Jim Wiltens is a modern-day Indiana Jones, an incredibly powerful teacher, and a huge figure in my life since age 11. I’m honored to finally get him on the podcast. As the founder and director of Deer Crossing Camp (deercrossingcamp.com), an off-grid wilderness summer camp in California, Jim helps kids develop serious outdoor skills and resilient attitudes. We discuss Deer Crossing's intensive tee...

Frustrated as a public high school teacher in Santa Cruz, California, Wes Beach started his own one-man high school, Beach High School (http://beachhigh.education). Over 25 years Wes has freed more than 1500 teenagers from compulsory schooling by rapidly graduating them and creating transcripts that allow them to immediately dive into college, career, or further self-directed learning. Wes and I r...

Lisa Betts-LaCroix, a homeschooling mother of two and co-founder of Bay Area Gifted Homeschoolers (sfbaghs.org), talks with Blake about the huge number of a la carte classes and activities now available to homeschoolers in the bay area. We discuss how micro-schooling differs from unschooling, the incredible opportunities that independent teachers have to sell their services, how much it all costs,...

On this special episode, I read from my new long-form article published by the Alliance for Self-Directed Learning (https://www.self-directed.org/tp/what-does-it-mean-to-be-educated/). In it I share my definition of "education", comment on the state of the self-directed learning movement, and tackle issues of privilege and school reform. Enjoy.

On this special episode, young adult participants on the Unschool Adventures Argentina Semester 2017 talk about the challenges of living and learning in Buenos Aires for 12 weeks: group apartments, language barriers, the blessings (and curses)of freedom, memorable moments, and Argentine comfort foods. Guests include Abby, Zane, Spencer, Leif, Grace, Erik, Sierra, Kay, Tucker, Karen, and Tom. More...

Tam Pham (tampham.co) is a 21-year-old college dropout, marketer in Silicon Valley, and author of How to Network and How to Land Your Dream Internship. We discuss why reaching out to strangers is important for self-directed learners, how to do it, and Tam's own story of leaving the conventional path.

Victor Saad (victorsaad.com) talks with host Blake Boles about the 12 apprenticeships that he did in 12 months instead of pursuing an MBA, the education company that he subsequently founded called Experience Institute (expinstitute.com), his thoughts on promoting innovation in the K-12 realm, and the magical $100,000/year school that he and I are going to start some day. Don’t miss this one. * * *...

Catherine Gobron, co-director of Lighthouse Holyoke (lighthouseholyoke.org), a self-directed learning center for teenagers in western Massachusetts, talks about serving an economically and racially diverse community that’s hungry for educational alternatives. Catherine describes her time working at North Star (which served as a model for Lighthouse), her decision to start her own center, and the “...

Nathen Lester, a long-time advisor at Not Back to School Camp and soon-to-be-licensed Couples and Family Therapist, discusses the challenges that people face when given large amounts of freedom at a young age. How do unschoolers and other liberated young people deal with perceived gaps in their knowledge? How do they motivate themselves? How do they tackle the unspoken obligation to “be amazing”?...

Mikala Streeter, founder and principal of The LIFE School (thelifeschool.co) in Atlanta, Georgia, talks about her ambitious new progressive school and the challenges of exposing teenagers to new areas of knowledge while also promoting interest-led learning. We focus on math specifically as an area that teenagers resist when taught directly, but they become receptive to when related to their intere...

23-year-old Kevin Snavely (skyping in from Bangkok) talks with Blake about being raised unschooled in Alaska, going back to public high school, the question of college, and traveling the world. * * * Love the podcast? Help it exist with a per-episode contribution: www.offtraillearning.com/support Provide feedback or suggest new topics/guests by emailing yourstruly@blakeboles.com.

15-year-old Caitlyn Scheel talks with Blake about being bored in middle school, wanting to homeschool, and the summer she spent convincing her parents to let her do it. * * * Love the podcast? Show it by contributing as little as $1 per episode: www.offtraillearning.com/support Provide feedback or suggest new topics/guests anytime by emailing yourstruly@blakeboles.com.