Off-Trail Learning

29-year-old grown unschooler Sean Ritchey talks about his discussion to skip college in favor of starting his own design/build company. We discuss the challenges of building community and exposing yourself to new areas of knowledge, working to learn, and what a young person needs to successfully skip college. * * * Love the podcast? Show it by contributing as little as $1 per episode: www.offtrail...

18-year-old Milla Von Tauber talks with Blake about explaining yourself as a teenage unschooler, missing high school rites of passage, defining your own version of success, and fitting into the so-called “normal world.” * * * 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 your...

Xander Macswan, a 19-year-old grown unschooler, talks about growing up with unrestricted video game access. When do games hurt us, and when do they serve us? Are parents right to restrict gaming time? How does someone who looks like a gaming “addict” on the outside transform, without coercion, into someone with a wide variety of interests and skills beyond gaming? Do violent games make us more vio...

Nikiah Childs grew up in elementary school, unschooled for 6 years, went back to a performance arts charter school, and then left school again to unschool her senior year. Now 23 and graduating from college, Nikiah and I discuss: - the motivations behind her transitions - pursuing her passion for dance - her fear of having fallen behind in math due to unschooling - the pros and cons of high school...

22-year-old Steve Krouse, co-founder of The Coding Space in New York City (thecodingspace.com), talks about his decision to leave his Computer Science major at the University of Pennsylvania to enter the world of tech and startups. We discuss why this path worked for Steve, whether it works for other young people, the role of privilege in quitting school, and practical advice for convincing parent...

Lifelong unschooler Liam Nilsen talks with Blake about the habits and mindset required for successful unschooling in the teenage years. And Liam asks Blake whether he wishes he were unschooled!

23-year-old grown unschooler Emma McCann talks about making the decision to attend Buxton School, a progressive boarding school, instead of continuing her lifelong unschooling career.

Grace Llewellyn, author of The Teenage Liberation Handbook and executive director of Not Back to School Camp (nbtsc.org), talks with Blake about her camp for teenage unschoolers, why she started it, and how it has evolved over two decades. We recorded the episode live at Not Back to School Camp 2016, Oregon Session 1.

To be an effective self-directed learner, you have to be really good at setting goals...right? Maybe. Maybe not. In episode 21 of the Off-Trail Learning podcast, Dev Carey (devcarey.com) talks with Blake about the dangers and unexpected benefits of goal-setting. In Dev's own words: "Most of us don't know what we really want, or aren't willing to admit it to ourselves or others, and when we're aske...

Grown unschooler and recent college graduate Seraphina talks with Blake about deciding what to focus on after college, balancing money and meaning, getting out of your comfort zone, and not losing sight of what’s important—a conversation relevant to self-directed learners of all ages. Also: Blake talks about his new website, Off-Trail Learning (offtraillearning.com), and the relaunching of the pod...

Patrick Farenga, president of HoltGWS (johnholtgws.com), talks with host Blake Boles about homeschooling vs. unschooling vs. self-directed learning, how he got involved with John Holt, why self-directed learning is relevant to the modern working world, and how those with non-traditional paths can prove their worth to institutions and employers.

Tomis Parker and Nancy Tilton talk with host Blake Boles about the Agile Learning Center framework (agilelearningcenters.org), Nancy’s school in Charlotte, NC (alcmosaic.org), the ups and downs of democratic free schools, what “agile” means, Kanban boards, creating a culture of respect and trust, and their vision for building a “teacher’s college for self-directed learners.”

Liam Nilsen, founder of the Endor Initiative (endorinitiative.com), talks with host Blake Boles about his innovative program for self-directed teenagers in Asheville, North Carolina, how it’s different from a “school”, how the program has evolved with input from participants, the politics of video games in group spaces, and the mysterious origin of the name.

Japhy Dhungana, program director at Where There Be Dragons (wheretherebedragons.com), talks with host Blake Boles about international semester programs and what young people gain from them, his own path from growing up in Nepal to becoming a climbing bum in Yosemite to biking across the Americas, and how to gain a global perspective even if you’re not able to travel.

Amy and Maya Milstein, mother and 14-year-old daughter of a New York City unschooling family, and Maddy Platt, their 16-year-old friend from Canada, talk with host Blake Boles about their day-to-day lives as unschoolers, the advantages and disadvantages of unschooling in New York City, and Maya’s and Maddy’s transformative experiences attending Not Back to School Camp.

William Deresiewicz, author of Excellent Sheep and former English professor at Yale University, talks with host Blake Boles about the reaction to his controversial book, helicopter parenting and overindulgent parenting, the meaning of a “real education,” the benefits of a small liberal arts college experience, how someone who doesn’t go to college might replicate the experience (or not), two lesse...

Lucas Isakowitz, a 24-year-old grown unschooler, college graduate, and part-time Alaskan fisherman, talks with host Blake Boles about his young life as an unschooler, not learning to read until age 11, his decision to join a large public high school at age 14, the virtues of social adversity, going to college at Penn, and his recent experiences working on a salmon fishing boat in Alaska. [Note to...

Ben Paul, founder of the German social movement Anti-Uni (anti-uni.com), talks with host Blake Boles about his decision to leave a prestigious law school at age 20 to travel in Latin America, his blog that encourages young people to build self-knowledge before starting college, the pluses and minuses of the free German higher education system, and building a social life without college.

Misha Golfman, founding director of Kroka Expeditions (kroka.org), talks with host Blake Boles about leading unconventional semester-long wilderness expeditions for teens, growing up in Soviet Russia, lessons learned as a public school teacher and Outward Bound instructor, and how extended time in nature enables deep personal transformations.

Sophia Pink, a high school senior in Washington, DC (sophiapink.com), talks with host Blake Boles about her decision to leave school for 10th grade to self-direct her learning, the ups and downs of online courses, creating a documentary film and mobile app, and staying true to yourself in a world of competitive academics.

Ivo Degn, co-founder of Knowmads Spain (knowmads.es), talks with host Blake Boles about what it means to be a “knowmad”, stories from his time at the Knowmads business school in Amsterdam, how this 1-year program is radically different from a traditional business school, and his efforts to start a new Knowmads in Sevilla, Spain.

Ethan Knight, executive director of the American Gap Association (americangap.org), talks with host Blake Boles about the value of taking intentional time off in the young adult years, his self-designed gap year in Asia at age 19, what’s missing in the traditional college experience, and tips for staying safe on your own global adventure.

Erik Werner, executive director of Global Works (globalworkstravel.com), talks with host Blake Boles about creating service-focused international experiences for teens, what goes into “authentic” volunteering, language immersion, the takeaways of travel, and the finer details of leading teen groups abroad (a.k.a. sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll).

Isaac Morehouse, founder of Praxis (discoverpraxis.com), talks with host Blake Boles about his 10-month program for 18- to 25-year-olds that combines real-world employment with an online liberal arts curriculum, the value of entrepreneurship, unschooling, and creating social change through building alternatives to mainstream institutions.

Alan Webb and Sarah Jane Bradley, organizers of the Open Master’s community (openmasters.org), talk with host Blake Boles about designing meaningful and affordable alternatives to traditional master’s degree programs and the stories of those who have done it.