Off-Trail Learning

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 asked about our goals, often we say things that sound good but that then can trap us into feeling like we need to follow through and compete our goals in order to be valued and worthy and loved in our eyes and others. We then can live with a sense of oppression and 'should', even if it was 'our goal' to begin with (i.e. most of us quickly revert into acting like it was somebody else's goal for us). Goal setting can help us to see and move through this pattern if we have the relationships and self-awareness and communication skills to keep talking about it and being honest with ourselves. If we don't, goal setting can just heighten our incentive to avoid all these things."

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 podcast.

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.