For
Teens and their families exploring alternatives during secondary education years.
36 resources tagged for this audience
Digital infrastructure and a growing community of practice have made world schooling more accessible than ever. Meet three families who have been doing it for years.
More colleges are actively recruiting self-directed learners, but the path isn't always obvious. This guide explains portfolios, alternative transcripts, and which schools are most open.
Virtual academies, online co-ops, and hybrid programs have exploded since 2020. Here are the most reputable options at every grade level and price point.
Gap years are surging in popularity. This guide covers structured programs, DIY options, costs, visa considerations, and how to get college credit for your time away.
Most people know Montessori for early childhood, but Maria Montessori's vision extended through adolescence. Her 'Erdkinder' farm school model offers radical ideas for teen education.
When done well, PBL at the secondary level produces students who are better collaborators, more creative problem-solvers, and just as strong academically as their peers. Here's the evidence.
The Gap Year Association's research summary draws on national alumni surveys and education abroad studies to show that structured gap years are linked to higher college GPAs, increased job satisfaction, and development of workforce skills including cultural awareness, communication, and self-direction — skills the World Economic Forum identifies as critical for 2030 employment.
Author of The Teenage Liberation Handbook and founder of Not Back to School Camp, the premiere gathering for unschooled teens in North America.
Homeschool pioneer and founder of Brave Writer, the widely-used writing and language arts program. Julie Bogart homeschooled her five children for 17 years and has become one of the most trusted voices in the homeschooling community through her books, podcast, and online teaching.
Historian, educator, and homeschooling advocate best known as the co-author of The Well-Trained Mind, the definitive guide to classical home education. Bauer holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from William & Mary and homeschooled her own four children through high school.
A free, complete Charlotte Mason curriculum for K–12 developed by volunteers, widely used by homeschooling families who follow the Charlotte Mason method.
An online community of location-independent homeschooling families who travel and educate their children through real-world experiences. Includes meetup coordination, resources, and forums.
A comprehensive free learning platform covering math, science, history, and test prep for all ages. Widely used by homeschooling families and unschoolers as a self-paced, mastery-based supplement.
A community-based classical homeschool program operating in all 50 US states and 50+ countries. Families meet weekly in small class groups while parents serve as lead learners alongside their children.
A vast free library of media resources — videos, interactive tools, lesson plans, and primary sources — curated by PBS for educators and homeschooling families across all subject areas and grades K–12.
Julie Bogart's acclaimed writing and language arts program for homeschoolers, used by tens of thousands of families. Brave Writer teaches writing through relationship and enjoyment rather than correction, offering curriculum packages, an online community, and coaching for parents who find writing the hardest subject to teach.
The standards and accreditation body for the gap year industry in the US, offering a searchable directory of accredited gap year programs, research on gap year outcomes, guidance for families, and advocacy for recognizing structured gap years in college admissions.
A non-profit organization serving profoundly gifted students and their families, offering the Davidson Academy (free tuition public school for highly gifted students in Reno), the Davidson Fellows Scholarship, and a comprehensive online resource library for parents of highly gifted and twice-exceptional children.
A publisher of classical curriculum materials including Latin, logic, rhetoric, and history programs used widely by classical homeschoolers. Also publishes the well-regarded 'Teaching from Rest' and hosts the Scholé Academy for live online classical coursework.
The largest online network and forum specifically for secular (non-religious) homeschooling families, covering curriculum reviews, state-specific legal guidance, socialization strategies, and community support for families who want a rigorous, evidence-based education outside faith-based frameworks.
Natalie Minor Mack's TEDx talk on the real, measurable impact of homeschooling — drawing on both research and personal experience to address socialization concerns, academic outcomes, and how homeschooled graduates perform in college and careers.
Edutopia visits a high school chemistry class using performance-based assessment — students design and conduct their own experiments, demonstrating how project-driven, evidence-based learning builds deeper scientific understanding than traditional tests.
A TEDx talk making the case for worldschooling — using travel, cultural immersion, and real-world experiences as the primary vehicle for children's education — with evidence that learning through living produces confident, adaptable, globally aware young people.
Edutopia visits school-based makerspaces where students design and build their own projects — showing how maker education with 3D printers, electronics, and fabrication tools builds deep STEM understanding, problem-solving, and intrinsic motivation across grade levels.
A Psychology Today piece on the worldschooling movement explores how raising children in continuous travel cultivates cultural awareness, adaptability, language acquisition, and global perspective — while honestly examining the challenges of social continuity, college preparation, and the mental load on parents who are also their children's full-time educators.
A practical guide for high school graduates (and their families) on how to design a structured gap year — covering program types, budgeting, safety, how gap years affect college admissions, what to tell universities, and how to translate gap year experiences into compelling application stories and real skills.
A Vietnamese-American father's moving TEDx talk on pulling his son out of the conventional school system, the family's transition to unschooling, and the profound changes they witnessed in their child's joy, curiosity, and sense of self.
Education Next profiles the Classical Learning Test (CLT), a college admissions test designed around the Western canon and classical education values, examining whether it offers a genuine alternative to the SAT/ACT for classically educated students and the growing number of colleges aligned with classical or faith-based academic traditions.
A clear, substantive explanation of the classical trivium — grammar, logic, and rhetoric — and how these three stages map to different developmental periods in childhood. The video explains why classical educators prioritize narrative, memorization, and dialectic at different ages, and how this differs fundamentally from skill-and-drill approaches.
A clear, accessible introduction to the three-stage trivium model at the heart of classical education: the Grammar stage (knowledge absorption), the Logic stage (critical thinking and analysis), and the Rhetoric stage (persuasive expression) — with practical examples of how each maps to different developmental periods.
The Alliance for Self-Directed Education explains what self-directed education actually means — the distinction from unschooling, democratic schooling, and homeschooling — and why centering children's agency and intrinsic motivation is both philosophically grounded and practically achievable.
Neuropsychologist William Stixrud and educational consultant Ned Johnson argue that giving children more control over their own lives is the key to motivation, resilience, and wellbeing.
The definitive guide to classical home education by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. Drawing on the trivium — grammar, logic, and rhetoric — it lays out a complete K-12 curriculum framework organized by the three stages of childhood development, with detailed subject-by-subject guidance, book lists, and practical scheduling advice for homeschooling parents.
A hands-on science curriculum and kit supplier designed for homeschoolers, offering complete chemistry, biology, physics, and electronics lab materials bundled with step-by-step curricula.
Grace Llewellyn's cult classic guide for teenagers who want to leave school and design their own education — still the most widely read book on teen self-directed learning.
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