For some kids, school offers a positive and engaging experience. For others, it's a boring, stressful, and frustrating waste of time. If your child is in the second category, why keep tormenting them? Instead, why not help them find an educational environment where they feel genuinely motivated, excited, and empowered? In this eye-opening book, Blake Boles makes the case for leaving conventional school and taking one of the many alternative paths through K-12 that exist today. He addresses...

The Art of Self-Directed Learning is a collection of 23 stories and insights that will help you become a more motivated and self-guided learner. Drawing on a decade of research, adventures, and interviews conducted by Blake Boles (author of College Without High School and Better Than College), this book will inspire you to craft your own unconventional education, no matter whether you're a young adult, recent graduate, parent, or simply someone who never wants to stop learning. Each chapte...

Some of us aren't cut out for "normal life."If you crave nature, freedom, adventure, and work that matters—rather than just paying the bills for a life you never chose—then you might be ready to become dirtbag rich.Drawing from the "dirtbag" tradition of pursuing outdoor bliss through creative self-sufficiency, this book charts an unconventional way of living that includes both security and flexibility, connection and independence, and service and self-actu...

Because the real world is the best education.High school can be boring. High school curriculum can be frustrating and out of touch.So what is the answer for young people whose creativity, bright ideas, and boundless energy are being stifled in that over-scheduled and grade-driven environment?What would you do if you could go to college without going to high school? Would you travel abroad, spend late nights writing a novel, volunteer in an emergency...

What would you do if you could go to college without going to high school? Would you travel abroad, spend late nights writing a novel, volunteer in an emergency room, or build your own company? What dreams would you be pursuing right now?It IS possible to skip High School to pursue your dreams, and still gain admission to any college of your choice! You don’t have to “put in your time” at High School to guarantee entrance to college. Blake Boles can show you how to fulfill college admissio...

Philosophy majors and GPA-challenged students, rejoice! According to career guru Donald Asher, what you major in or how well you do in college are not indicators of future career success. In HOW TO GET ANY JOB WITH ANY MAJOR, Asher debunks the myth that only brainy students with specialized majors find high-paying, visible careers after college. The truth is that plenty of average folks with general, liberal arts majors have gone on to find lucrative and fulfilling careers-and anyone can d...

Now a Netflix Film, Starring and Directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor of 12 Years a SlaveWilliam Kamkwamba was born in Malawi, a country where magic ruled and modern science was mystery. It was also a land withered by drought and hunger. But William had read about windmills, and he dreamed of building one that would bring to his small village a set of luxuries that only 2 percent of Malawians could enjoy: electricity and running water. His neighbors called him mis...

One day when re-reading A Dominie's Log, its author decided that a book is out of date five minutes after it is written. In other words, he was in doubt—terrible and perplexing doubt. Do I really understand children? he asked himself. Are my ideas upon education right or wrong ? He decided that he had not sufficiently studied the psychology of children and that, in consequence, he had been guilty of almost criminal neglect. In the same delightfully discursive and ...

“A journey through the lives of young Eastern European Jews that's not to be missed.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)How do we come to be who we are spiritually? How does our political and social environment influence our development of self?A young American author immerses herself in modern Jewish Hungary. The twenty-one stories she shares will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you want to be your own best self. Somehow I Am Di...

Did you know the first 'selfie' was taken way back in 1839 Who was the 'Phantom Barber'? Do you know where the flag placed on the moon came from? How about the car that can operate under water!  In the Middle East, they use robots as camel jockeys. Saudi Arabia expelled a young man for being too handsome! How about the Nigerian police arresting a goat for stealing! Australia warns tourists of a deadly threat lurking overhead....

First published in 1991, this work critically analyses the competing claims about alternative arrangements for schooling. It does so in light of major popularly understood agendas for social and political purpose, and of the troubled and much less clearly understood assumptions and issues behind them. The book examines closely four generic types of arrangements for schooling in light of a comprehensive framework for understanding the publicness or privateness of schools, and the relationsh...

If teachers can motivate pupils, their job is more than half done! Knowing how to interest and motivate pupils is a skill, which separates the "great" teacheres from the mediocre, This book will inform and inspire staff and give them confidence in dealing with pupils who are not naurally "teacher pleasers". This book examines:how personality affects learning stylesassessment tools and interventionshow to reach the hard to teach.