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Alternative Education Masterpost

Here it is, gentlepeople: an (attempted) comprehensive guide to alternative education and some of the best resources and schools of thought, sorted by subject. Hopefully this proves helpful to someone!

Information on Alternative Education:

The Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Education

Growing Without Schooling Back Issues

Coursera Courses on Education

The Unschooler’s Starter Kit

Three Free Books on Unschooling

An Excellent FAQ (unschooling)

Charlotte Mason and Classical Education

Free Charlotte Mason Curriculum and Introduction

Legendary Learning Now (articles, news, resources)

List of Democratic Schools

List of Homeschool Laws by US State

The Well-Trained Mind (Classical Education, also the book of the same name)

The Well-Educated Mind (Classical Education for adults)

General Resources:

Four Legal Ways to Get Free Textbooks

Khan Academy (free!)

Project Gutenberg (free books!)

LibriVox (free audiobooks!)

www.learner.org

Open Culture (free!)

Penelope Trunk’s Blog (excellent edit: Ms. Trunk has published some questionable at best opinions on sexual abuse in the workplace. Still, her material on unschooling is worth looking at.)

12X12 other places to educate yourself online (free!)

Self-Made Scholar

TED Talks

The Great Courses

Study for Possible College Credit:

Open Courseware Consortium (free!)

Education Portal (free!)

Coursera (free! possible verification!)

Edx (free! possible verification and/or college credit!)

Saylor.org (free! possible college credit!)

MOOC News and Reviews (about free college courseware)

CLEP

Advanced Placement (AP tests)

DSST Tests

Questions About College:

Unschool Graduation

Should You Take the SAT?

Applying to College as a self-taught teen, part 1

Applying to College part 2

Inspiration for the Road:

What I Gained from Quitting School

12 Reasons to Homeschool

Mathematics:

Games: “Tycoon” pc games on (seriously), Sudoku, Monopoly, ABCya (littler ones), Prodigy (~1st-8th, super cool).

Teach all of arithmetic in 20 hours

Why Use Video Games for Learning Math?

Sheppard Software: Math

Great “living books” on math

List of living math books for earlier readers

List of living math books for older readers

List of math computer games

How to study math

How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff

The Great Courses: Mathematics (expensive but awesome. Check the library and look for sales.)

Khan Academy: free, self-teaching videos from 3rd grade math to linear algebra and differential equations

All the Math You’ll Ever Need (book)

Open Source Textbook for College Calc I-III

MIT Open Courseware Mathematics (free, self paced college curriculum)

Coursera Math (free, taught online college courses)

Education Portal Math (free, self paced videos)

Science:

TV shows: Zaboomafu, WildKratz, Magic School Bus (also books), Bill Nye the Science Guy, Nova, Cosmos and Nature.

Joy Hakim’s History of Science books

Code.org (computer science)

scratch.mit.edu (programming)

Explorabook and Earthsearch, both by John Cassidy. Excellent, excellent books.

List of living science books by category

The New Way Things Work

Science: The Definitive Visual Guide

Good Science, Bad Science, Pseudoscience, and Just Plain Bunk: How to Tell the Difference by Peter A. Daempfle

A Short History of Nearly Everything

List of advanced living books on math and science

Teach Yourself Computer Science

Nerdy Day Trips map

Science Friday webcast

Science Fiction books are underrated as an education tool! Read Asimov, William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, H. G. Wells, and Ray Bradbury for some of the best. Refer to this list, too.

Books by Malcolm Gladwell (the softer sciences), Mary Roach (science history, a personal favorite), and the classic science writers like David Attenborough, Rachel Carson, Stephen Hawking, Rebecca Skloot, and Carl Zimmer. This is a good list to start out with, as is this.

Crash Course Channels: Chemistry, Ecology, Biology

Sci Show, The Brain Scoop, and Vsauce (excellent YouTube channels on various science topics)

Khan Academy (again, fantastic resource)

Reading, Writing, Literature:

TV shows: Reading Rainbow, Between the Lions.

Games: Boggle, Scrabble, Mad Libs (for the younger ones), Bananagrams.

Starfall–free phonics games

Phonics Pathways (for early readers, remedial readers, LD students, and ESL students. I learned to read from this.)

How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster

How to Read a Book by Adler and Doren

On Writing Well by William Zisner

NYT’s Hundred Greatest Books

Suggested Lit from k-12

Crash Course Literature

Grammar Girl Podcast

Sheppard Software: English (really great for the SAT)

MIT Open Courseware: Literature

National Novel Writing Month for adults and kids

History and Social Studies:

Watch documentaries. Ken Burns’ are spectacular. Cave of Forgotten Dreams is another favorite. Check here for some ideas, and also Netflix. Old History Channel stuff is usually pretty good.

History for the Classical Child series by Susan Wise Bauer

A Little History of the World by E. H. Gombrich

The Teaching Company: History

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard Maybury (economics)

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt (economics)

Foundation for Economic Education Education Modules

Historical Fiction Books like Mara, Daughter of the Nile, The Help, etc. Lots listed here. NPR also has good lists.

Historical Fiction Films like Les Miserables, the John Adams miniseries, Ben Hur, Casablanca, etc. Some good picks here.

Non-fiction books by writers like David McCullough, Jared Diamond, and Thomas Cahill. Also check here and here.

Foreign Language:

Duolingo (beginner, free, dozens of languages)

Mango (paid, but available for free with lots of US library memberships, dozens of languages)

Yabala (intermediate, paid subscription, excellent videos)

Lang8 (beginner - advanced, free, feedback from native speakers on writing)

There’s honestly so much material available that I’ll just point you at this masterpost and you can have at it.

Fine Arts:

I suggest getting a private teacher or signing up for a quality class if you’re interested in the fine arts. If that’s out of the picture, try YouTube tutorials, theory books, and lots of practice.

Private lessons locator

Find Dance Schools

List of Art Museums

Top 10 Skills You Can Learn from Art

Ambleside Education

Alternative Camps and Summer Programs:

Marlboro Pre-College Summer

Not Back To School Camp

East Tennessee Unschool Camp

‘Fun’ problems can lead to striking, unexpected discoveries.

#brain

Grammar matters, especially when textbooks tackle the subject of slavery.

New York Times: Defrauded and In Debt

From The New York Times, "For-Profit Colleges Accused of Fraud Still Receive U.S. Funds:

Corinthian Colleges declared bankruptcy amid widespread allegations of fraud. Now two dozen other for-profit colleges are under investigation. What will happen to students’ loans if they close, too?

The School of Life: What's Education For?

Investing heavily in school computers and classroom technology does not improve pupils' performance, according to a global study from the OECD.

Investing heavily in school computers and classroom technology does not improve pupils' performance, says a global study from the OECD. The think tank says frequent use of computers in schools is more likely to be associated with lower results. The OECD's education director Andreas Schleicher says school technology had raised "too many false hopes". Tom Bennett, the government's expert on pupil behaviour, said teachers had been "dazzled" by school computers.

The report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development examines the impact of school technology on international test results, such as the Pisa tests taken in more than 70 countries and tests measuring digital skills. It says education systems which have invested heavily in information and communications technology have seen "no noticeable improvement" in Pisa test results for reading, mathematics or science.

…

The report says:

Students who use computers very frequently at school get worse results

Students who use computers moderately at school, such as once or twice a week, have "somewhat better learning outcomes" than students who use computers rarely

The results show "no appreciable improvements" in reading, mathematics or science in the countries that had invested heavily in information technology

High achieving school systems such as South Korea and Shanghai in China have lower levels of computer use in school

Singapore, with only a moderate use of technology in school, is top for digital skills

"One of the most disappointing findings of the report is that the socio-economic divide between students is not narrowed by technology, perhaps even amplified," said Mr Schleicher.

William Deresiewicz: Excellent Sheep

From William Deresiewicz, “Don't Send Your Kid to the Ivy League: The nation's top colleges are turning our kids into zombies,” The New Republic, July 21, 2014:

“Super People,” the writer James Atlas has called them—the stereotypical ultra-high-achieving elite college students of today. A double major, a sport, a musical instrument, a couple of foreign languages, service work in distant corners of the globe, a few hobbies thrown in for good measure: They have mastered them all, and with a serene self-assurance that leaves adults and peers alike in awe. A friend who teaches at a top university once asked her class to memorize 30 lines of the eighteenth-century poet Alexander Pope. Nearly every single kid got every single line correct. It was a thing of wonder, she said, like watching thoroughbreds circle a track.

These enviable youngsters appear to be the winners in the race we have made of childhood. But the reality is very different, as I have witnessed in many of my own students and heard from the hundreds of young people whom I have spoken with on campuses or who have written to me over the last few years. Our system of elite education manufactures young people who are smart and talented and driven, yes, but also anxious, timid, and lost, with little intellectual curiosity and a stunted sense of purpose: trapped in a bubble of privilege, heading meekly in the same direction, great at what they’re doing but with no idea why they’re doing it.

When I speak of elite education, I mean prestigious institutions like Harvard or Stanford or Williams as well as the larger universe of second-tier selective schools, but I also mean everything that leads up to and away from them—the private and affluent public high schools; the ever-growing industry of tutors and consultants and test-prep courses; the admissions process itself, squatting like a dragon at the entrance to adulthood; the brand-name graduate schools and employment opportunities that come after the B.A.; and the parents and communities, largely upper-middle class, who push their children into the maw of this machine. In short, our entire system of elite education.

I should say that this subject is very personal for me. Like so many kids today, I went off to college like a sleepwalker. You chose the most prestigious place that let you in; up ahead were vaguely understood objectives: status, wealth—“success.” What it meant to actually get an education and why you might want one—all this was off the table. It was only after 24 years in the Ivy League—college and a Ph.D. at Columbia, ten years on the faculty at Yale—that I started to think about what this system does to kids and how they can escape from it, what it does to our society and how we can dismantle it.

Check out the book, Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite & The Way To A Meaningful Life, by William Deresiewicz.

WIRED By Design: Radical Ideas For Reinventing College

Stanford d.school Executive Director, Sarah Stein Greenberg, speaking about redesigning college and the Stanford 2025 project, at WIRED By Design in 2014:

Discover thousands of free online courses, audio books, movies, textbooks, eBooks, language lessons, and more.

AJ+: Where Have All The Teachers Gone?

XQ: The Super School Project

From XQ: The Super School Project:

The Super School Project is an open call to reimagine and design the next American high school. In towns and cities far and wide, teams will unite and take on this important work of our time: Rethinking and building schools that deeply prepare our students for the rigorous challenges of college, jobs, and life. This is a challenge to empower all of America to change high school. Together, we can transform communities and build schools that inspire new possibilities.

DISCOVER: EXPLORE THE LANDSCAPE OF EDUCATION AND THE REALITIES OF THE COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO SERVE.

To embark on the journey of creating a Super School that’s innovative, and engaging, and prepares students for a thriving future, you have to start by understanding young people. Ask about their needs, aspirations, and dreams for the future; study the latest science on how people learn; and learn more about the community your school will serve.

Students in the 21st Century

Youth Experience & Aspirations

The Science of Adolescent Learning

What do young people need to learn today in order to succeed in the future?

What can we learn from adolescents?

How do teenagers learn and grow?

DESIGN: USE WHAT YOU DISCOVERED TO DESIGN A SUPER SCHOOL FOR THE COMMUNITY.

Take what you’ve learned and use it to come up with audacious, unconventional, unconstrained ideas to reinvent the American high school. Look at your ideas through several different lenses to make sure you’ve taken every opportunity to innovate.

School Mission & Culture

Teaching & Learning

Student Agency & Engagement

Networks & Partnerships

What’s the mission of the school you want to build?

What’s essential for effective learning today?

How do you empower young people to contribute to their own learning?

How do you expand the boundaries of learning beyond school?

DEVELOP: MAP OUT A FORMIDABLE PLAN FOR TURNING YOUR SUPER SCHOOL IDEA INTO REALITY.

Once you have a design you believe in, it’s time to bring all your great ideas to life. Think thoroughly about who to staff your school with and how it will operate. Take advantage of every opportunity for improvement. And consider all the realities of what it will take to launch your school.

Human Capital & Training

Financial Model & Sustainability

Facilities, Technology, & Time

Governance

Performance Management & Evaluation

Implementation Capacity

How will we attract and support the staff we need?

How will we manage our budget?

What basic infrastructure will we need?

Who will be involved in decision-making?

How will we measure growth and identify problems?

How will we go from design to reality?

Learn more about The Super School Project at www.xqsuperschool.org

Parker J. Palmer: A Spirituality of Education

From Parker J. Palmer, To Know As We Are Known: A Spirituality of Education:

Most [educators] go into teaching not for fame or fortune but because of a passion to connect. We feel deep kinship with some subject; we want to bring students into that relationship, to link them with the knowledge that is so life-giving to us; we want to work in community with colleagues who share our values and our vocation. But when institutional conditions create more combat than community, when the life of the mind alienates more than it connects, the heart goes out of things, and there is little left to sustain us.

In the midst of such pain, the spiritual traditions offer hope that is hard to find elsewhere, for all of them are ultimately concerned with getting us reconnected. These traditions build on the great truth that beneath the broken surface of our lives there remains — in the words of Thomas Merton — “a hidden wholeness.” The hope of every wisdom tradition is to recall us to that wholeness in the midst of our torn world, to reweave us into the community that is so threadbare today.

Read more excerpts from the book, courtesy of Maria Popova on Brain Pickings

John Oliver: Back to School

Harpers: The Neoliberal Arts

From “The Neoliberal Arts: How college sold its soul to the market,” by William Deresiewicz:

Modernity is a condition of ever-increasing acceleration, but only, until recently, for adults. For the young, modernity means — or meant — something different. The modern age, in fact, invented the notion of youth as an interval between childhood and adulthood, and it invented it as a time of unique privileges and obligations. From the Romantics, at the dawn of modernity, all the way through the 1970s, youth was understood to have a special role: to step outside the world and question it. To change it, with whatever opposition from adults. (Hence the association of youth and revolution, another modern institution.) As college became common as a stage of life — one that coincides with the beginning of youth — it naturally incorporated that idea. It was the time to think about the world as it existed, and the world that you wanted to make.

But we no longer have youth as it was imagined by modernity. Now we have youth as it was imagined by postmodernity — in other words, by neoliberalism. Students rarely get the chance to question and reflect anymore — not about their own lives, and certainly not about the world. Modernity understood itself as a condition of constant flux, which is why the historical mission of youth in every generation was to imagine a way forward to a different state. But moving forward to a different state is a possibility that neoliberalism excludes. Neoliberalism believes that we have reached the end of history, a steady-state condition of free-market capitalism that will go on replicating itself forever. The historical mission of youth is no longer desirable or even conceivable. The world is not going to change, so we don’t need young people to imagine how it might.

All we need them to do, as Rothman rightly suggests, is to run faster and faster, so that by the time they finish college, they can make the leap into the rat race. Youth, now, is nothing more than a preliminary form of adulthood, and the quiet desperation of middle age has been imported backward into adolescence. (If Arthur Miller had been at work today, it would have been Death of a Senior.) And as everybody knows by now, it isn’t just postmodern youth; it is also postmodern childhood — for children, too, increasingly are miniature adults, chasing endlessly for rank and status.

This is not inevitable. It is the result of choices we have made, driven by an ideology that we have allowed to impose itself upon us. “So you decided to go for the big bucks,” “What are you going to do with that?”: the thing I find so striking about those kinds of comments is not that people make them but that they seem to feel compelled to make them. It’s as if we’ve all decided, by unspoken consent, to police our children’s aspirations. The attitude hangs in the air, exerting its pressure on students and grown-ups alike.

Is it supposed to train students, or transform them? Can these two perspectives be reconciled?

Against the corporate taming of the American college.

Readers discuss why about 200,000 New York students refused to take the state’s standardized tests.

#education (k-12)

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