Blake Boles has worked extensively with teens outside of traditional high school. Blake designs and leads innovative trips for self-directed teens through his companies Unschool Adventures and Homeschool Leadership Retreats, and he is the author of College Without High School: A Teenager's Guide to Skipping High School and Going to College. He is the former assistant director and acting director of Deer Crossing Wilderness Summer Camp, through which he co-instructed a teen leadership program. Since 2006 he has served as an advisor to unschooling teens at Grace Llewellyn's Not Back to School Camp.
After a traditional public school upbringing and halfway through an astrophysics major at UC Berkeley, Blake read a John Taylor Gatto book and immediately rearranged his major to exclusively study the wide world of alternative education. He has worked as an outdoor science teacher, snowboarding marketing researcher, chef for groups of 50-100, freelance web designer, and windsurfing and tree climbing instructor. He spends time living in California and Oregon and travels widely.
Blake graduated cum laude with a self-designed B.A. in alternative schooling from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician and an instructor in Wilderness First Aid and Red Cross CPR. When not working with teens, Blake enjoys backpacking, ultimate frisbee, Argentine tango, international exploration, and never-ending reading & writing.