Hi, I’m Blake.

Welcome to my home on the web.

Me in 10 Seconds

I’m an advocate for self-directed learning.

I write, speak, podcast, and build things online.

Since 2008 I’ve taken teenagers on life-changing trips through my company Unschool Adventures.

California native. Heavily traveled. Mountain lover.

Me in 10 minutes? See my About page.

Email Newsletter

Each month I send one thoughtfully crafted newsletter to 4500+ followers, sharing my favorite education-related links. Browse the archives and sign up below.

Select Appearances

A few of my favorites:

Side Projects (all free)

The Way of Adventure (2017): a self-paced online course for budding adventurers

How to Live Nowhere (2017): an online book about nomadic living, written for twenty- and thirty-somethings

Off-Trail Learning (2016): a resource website for teenagers, young adults, and parents considering alternative education

What to Do Instead of School (2016): a PDF compilation of activity suggestions for young adults

The Unschool Adventures Guide to Online Travel Fundraising (2012): a guide to crowdfunding your next travel adventure as a young person

Writing

Recent Articles (all)

Agile Learning Centers, Liberated Learners, and Sudbury Schools: What’s the Difference? (Dec 2018)
Don’t Like High School? Then Quit. (Oct 2018)
Give Kids Control (Oct 2018)
How to Quit Parenting (June 2018)
Teens and Screens (May 2018)
You Can’t Ruin Your Kids (April 2018)
Hail the Almighty Diploma (March 2018)
What Does it Mean to Be Educated? (May 2017)

Published Books

The Art of Self-Directed Learning (2014)
Better Than College (2012)
College Without High School (2009)

Personal Posts (all)

Podcast

I interview fascinating people from the worlds of alternative and experiential education on my podcast, Off Trail Learning. Find new episodes on iTunes, Soundcloud, or your preferred app.

New Videos

In 2018 I published four short original videos about topics close to my heart. View them below or on Facebook.

How Can I Help?

High school is slowly sucking the life from me.

I’ve been there—forever waiting for that bell to ring. Here are a few ways I can help:

I’m not sure whether college is right for me.

Most young people only consider which colleges to apply to—but what if you’re unsure whether you should go to college at all? I’ve thought and written a lot about this issue, and here are my top suggestions:

Read my book, Better Than College, and William Deresiewicz’s book, Excellent Sheep (one of my favorites)
Watch these videos: Really Good Reasons to Skip College, What Could You Do With $20,000?, and my (awkward) appearance on Fox Business
Listen to my podcast interviews with young people who opted out of college
Drop me a line and tell me your story

I’m a parent researching alternatives to school.

If you’re new to the world of unschooling, alternative education, and self-directed learning, here are some good places to begin:

I’m a homeschooling or unschooling parent looking for resources.

I’ve spent a lot of time working with homeschooled, unschooled, and self-directed young people (especially teenagers), and here are a few insights I have to share:

Read my book The Art of Self-Directed Learning (or watch a bootleg copy of one my presentations about the book)
Check out Launchpad, my online course all about getting stuff done as a self-directed learner
Watch my commencement speech for graduating homeschoolers (transcript) and keynote talk for teen unschoolers

Appreciate My Work?

Send me a message using the form below, and include your mailing address.
I’ll do my best to respond with a handwritten letter or postcard.

A Few Kind Words

Blake Boles is open-minded, interested in everything, courageous, and passionately committed to individual development. I would expect good things to happen for young people who had the good fortune to hang out with Blake for a while.

John Taylor Gatto

New York State Teacher of the Year

Teenagers from all over Los Angeles came out of the woodwork to be a part of [Blake’s workshops] and left happy, inspired, and energized. Parents immediately started asking for him to come back to do workshops for them. We started plotting his return before he left.

Anna Smith & Brenna Gibson

Co-Founders, Urban Homeschoolers

Blake’s talk offered more than just great arguments for giving kids more control over their own education—he gave creative, inspiring, and practical advice for children and adults to exploit their strengths and pursue their passions. His talk is still reverberating through the Macomber community.

Ben Draper

Director, Macomber Center

Your work with my son has been paramount in his young adult growth and development. What stood out for me were the stories you shared of specific experiences that spoke directly to his own heart and life. The humor, lightness and laughter you weave into the support sessions you offer is also a great gift.

Laura Carpine

Unschooling Mom

Blake is an extraordinary figure and his presentation at Community Night was not only hilarious but exceptionally motivating for our students. . . I’ve talked to kids who were really impacted by Blake’s message and have taken steps to build some of his ideas into their own self-directed learning paths.

George Popham

Executive Director, Bay State Learning Center

I dropped out of high school, and now I’ve got a master’s degree and I work in higher education. I created an online college class for students with non-traditional educational backgrounds. I was looking for assigned texts for the class and found The Art of Self-Directed Learning. It is the only required text in the class.

anonymous

Visitor to BlakeBoles.com

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