Self-Teaching Essentials

Special occasion! Brian Huskie is a public school teacher in New York. He joins me to discuss his discoveries about public school over ten years of teaching, his process of coming to terms with those discoveries, and the solutions he is working to develop. Brian founded a self-directed learning program called Huskie's Heros that we'll discuss in detail in this episode. His website is titled School Is A Choice. He is also the founder of the Albany High/Capital District Refugee Scholarship Endowment, an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran, and author of A White Rose: A Soldier’s Story of Love, War, and School Please Support School Sucks We do cool things! Thanks to your support. School Sucks is one of the longest ...

(#SchoolSucksAcrossAmerica - DAY SIXTEEN - OCT 30 - WICHITA, KS) This podcast has two parts. The first is an interview with Julie Price, the founder and owner of Sparks Academy. The second is a very informal living room discussion with many of the young learners who attend Sparks. Julie and I talked about the founding, mission and daily activity of her alternative education setting, and Sparks students describe how they direct their own learning. Huge thanks to Shawna and Jerrod Hein for hosting me in Kansas and for setting up this great event! View all shows from School Sucks Across America Please Support School Sucks Our Amazon Wish List Donate With Bitcoin Or Join the A/V Club Support Us On ...

(#SchoolSucksAcrossAmerica - DAY TEN - OCT 24 - Touring the Columbus Learning Co-Op in Columbus, OH) This great connection might have never happened without the SSAA tour. Devin Fraze is the founder and director of the Columbus Learning Co-Op. He was once on track to become a certified public school math teacher, but he chose to opt out of college and pursue his own path. This story is amazing. Devin and I discuss our similar paths away from classroom teaching, John Taylor Gatto, religion, stoicism, problems with math instruction, overcoming self-doubt, and the future of self-directed learning. Our conversation also includes the 2 questions: - What is your "school sucks" story? In other words, how did you come to realize ...

Brett and Jeff share two different approaches to confronting and recovering from depression and addiction. Plus travel tips! Learn more about School Sucks Across America A Weekend With Thaddeus Russell Anarchapulco Anarchast Please Support "School Sucks Across America" Our Amazon Wish List Donate With Bitcoin Or Join the A/V Club Support Us On Patreon Shop With Us At Amazon Your continued support keeps the show going and growing, which keeps us at the top of the options for education podcasts and leads to new people discovering this message. This subscription also grants you access to the A/V Club, a bonus content section with 200+ hours of exclusive audio and video. If you are a regular consumer of our media, please ...

(FreeCoast Fest - Day 2 - Dover, NH) Diane Murphy taught in public schools for 30 years before she retired early to build BigFish, an innovative self-directed learning community in Dover, NH. I had the pleasure of speaking with Diane at the FreeCoast Festival and of hearing her presentation on BigFish. We sat down to discuss her past experience, current efforts and passion for self-directed learning and integrating teens into the real world. Discussion: - Diane's path out of public school - properties of natural learning - physical costs of school - A new model for a self-directed learning center - Cooperation and competition can work together - Community networking for real-world education and training - How teens move from ...

(FreeCoast Fest, Day 1, Newmarket, NH) James Davis is a long-time School Sucks listener and supporter. He promotes and exemplifies peaceful parenting, self-directed learning and entrepreneurship in the NH seacoast liberty community. He is the co-founder at Daily Fantasy Sports Rankings and the co-founder at Camp Stomping Ground. Discussion: - who is going to help your kids gain context for the things they see in the world - children are targets for political manipulation - sailboat children: basic literacy without critical thinking - how James and his wife moved from preparing to be public school teachers to embracing self-directed education - why most teachers and parents aren't experimenting, learning and seeking best practices - Be a Sherpa, not a sculptor ...

Today's guest is among the increasing number of bright young people who have come to view the traditional college path as an opportunity cost. Emily Hirsh opted out of college at age 19 to pursue her first online business full time. Just three years later, Emily has built multiple six-figure-a-year ventures. In addition to running Virtual Assistant Academy and KettlebellMovement.com, Emily works as a Sales Funnel Strategist helping entrepreneurs to grow their business and generate revenue and leads using sales funnels and Facebook Ads. As a very busy young mother, she also actively promotes the freedom of working from home and controlling your schedule. Learn more about Emily's work at emilyhirsh.com. She joins me today to discuss - dealing with ...

Kerry McDonald holds an M.Ed. from Harvard University, where she studied education administration, planning, and social policy. She is a writer for Natural Mother Magazine, the Foundation for Economic Education, and Intellectual Takeout. She is a founding member of AlternativesToSchool.com, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Self-Directed Education. Her blog is Whole Family Learning. She joins me today to discuss - her professional/academic education background - how she learned about and embraced self-directed learning - her current online projects - how education works in her home (and beyond), for each of her 4 children - promoting self-directed education - Benefits of Self-Directed Learning - her article "Cultivating An Unenclosed Childhood" Please Support School Sucks ...

Lior Gantz is entrepreneur, world traveler, financial researcher, and advisor in many forms to many different types of investors. He currently serves as President of Wealth Research Group. Lior's You Tube Channel: Discussion: - Mindset, protecting your mind from bad influences - Lior started working at 13, and investing at 16 - High School: Surprisingly the ideal time in life to fail - Commitment - Finding A Niche; complete uniqueness is not retired - "Solopreneurship" vs. forming a partnership - How to find the right partners - Stoicism and self-discipline in investing - Crisis preparation: cash, precious metals, chaos hedges, foreign real estate - Silver market price manipulation, silver bullion holders vs silver stock investor - The future of marijuana ...

Please check out Zak and Jeff's entire 8-part Deschooling series at deschoolyourself.com. introduction -What are the personal, professional and motivational problems school helps to create? Deschooling Discussion: -The disowned self -Nathaniel Branden's Six Pillars of self-esteem as an answer to John Taylor Gatto's Seven Lesson Schoolteacher -Provisional self-esteem -Why parents avoid examinations of school and how that avoidance perpetuates the damage -The self-improvement gurus need to address schooling -New 21st century challenges to Ivan Illich's Deschooling Society model from 1971 -How to use school's means - accountability and measurement - to aid in the deschooling process -Growth through Stoic "what ifs" -How a lack of self knowledge can lead to self sabotage -Creating a support support system for self-examination and ...

Connor Boyack is a home-educating parent and the founder of the Libertas Institute. He joins me today to discuss his book Passion-Driven Education, which is definitely a nice companion piece for the School Sucks Podcast. Discussed: -Tell me your public school origin story... -school is a tool for social transformation -Structure, "assessment" and protection in the home-ed environment -Inquiry over information? -Mitra's Hole In the Wall; Minimally Invasive Education -"hackschooling" -a Star Wars story The Book: HERE Look Closer: Connor's Site - connorboyack.com/blog/ Passion-Driven Education - passiondriveneducation.com/ Libertas Institute - libertasutah.org/ Please Support School Sucks Our Amazon Wish List Donate With Bitcoin Or Join the A/V Club Your continued support keeps the show going and growing, which keeps us at ...

This episode is what The School Sucks Project is all about! Nick Hazelton, the seventeen-year-old creator of The Anarch-Yakitalist Podcast, is back to share his new self-education plan. Nick first reached out to me in early 2014 to discuss the possibility of leaving school (he was a freshman at the time)and becoming a farming entrepreneur. You can watch a clip of that conversation here: Nick left school this September to pursue this venture on a full-basis. He is still very committed to his education, and he asked me for some guidance on taking it into his own hands. Discussed: -Rethinking Education: Self-Directed Learning Fits the Digital Age (Wired.com) -questions for potential autodidacts -identifying strengths and how to use them -selecting ...

A fake celebration of a show that is not even our 250th. Recorded live. Voices include long-time supporters and friends, Osborne and Brian. Osborne discusses his initial challenges with GTD implementation. Tony Myers calls in to discuss GTD principles, as well as integrating Evernote and Outlook. Lister Cameron also joins the conversation at the end. Discussed Today: -The Secret Weapon -The importance of a capture device -email overload eating mental RAM? -Evernote and MS Outlook -Our professional organizational histories -dealing with unplanned meetings, interuptions -finding serenity in what might seem like chaos -Observation and identification -Your mind, the computer: what programs are running in the background? The GTD Flowchart: Look Closer: David Allen, Getting Things Done - http://www.davidco.com/ The Trivium ...

This is part one of a series about the Trivium Method for self-teaching. Gene Odening will accompany us through the next three episodes. Covered today: -The Classical Trivium vs the Trivium Method -What is General Grammar? -The Lost Tools of Learning, by Dorothy Sayers -Examples of how General Grammar is applied to the study of a subject -What happened to the seven liberal arts? -the servile arts vs. the liberal arts -General Grammar vs. Special Grammar Look Closer: Trivium and Quadrivium Cliff Notes by Gene Odening by 8thestate Trivium Method of Critical Thinking and Creative Problem Solving by 8thestate Jan Irvin's Site, Trivium Education - http://www.triviumeducation.com/ T&H Trivium Resources - https://www.tragedyandhope.com/trivium/ The Lost Tools of Learning, by Dorothy Sayers - ...

Picture: From the most paranoid conspiracy theorists to the most patriotic and authority-worshiping main-streamers, people need to understand that history is not a cartoon Historian Kevin Cole joins me for a live discussion, recorded on August 16th. Kevin explains his waking up process, and then we examine the history of the study of history. We also look into some of Kevin's projects - an upcoming book about the trivium and a recent article about Carol Quigley - to provide examples. Discussed: -the creation of disciplines -historiography (different lenses for viewing the past) -historicity (accuracy and impact) -the dangers of biographical history -Organic Unity -The Society of the Elect -Neologisms -The founding fathers and the Illuminati -The Professor Who Knew Too ...

Paul and Richard have been using this software for years, with some impressive results. Recently I have come to understand its value for personal organization, creativity, and historical research. I highly recommend the full video version of the show, available here: Or the The Stand-Alone Brain Tutorial Look Closer: The Brain - http://www.thebrain.com/ Tragedy and Hope - http://www.tragedyandhope.com/ Correction: Listen to us live tonight, 8-14-13 at 7pm EST on 5 Live Radio. Stream it here. Related PostsFull Video - Podcast #233: Tools - The Brain Software71Paul and Richard have been using this software for years, with some impressive results. Recently I have come to understand its value for personal organization, creativity, and historical research. Look Closer: The Brain - http://www.thebrain.com/ ...

"...the truth is that you can't homeschool. You can't. Nobody can do school but school. However, the good news is that you are not supposed to do school. You are supposed to do life." - Laurette Lynn Topic: I join Laurette Lynn (Unplugged Mom) and Justin Arman (Parents For Liberty) to discuss the incorporation of the trivium into home education, flexibility in the learning environment, and how to coexist with people who don't seem to mind living in an authoritarian world. Laurette Lynn Justin Arman Look Closer: Laurette's Website - http://www.laurettelynn.com/ Gatto: The Underground History of American Education - http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm Don't Do Drugs, Stay Out of School - http://www.laurettelynn.com/book/DDDSOOS_Sample.pdf Parents For Liberty - http://parentsforliberty.org/ Trivium Education - http://www.triviumeducation.com/ Please Support ...

Topic: Jeremy Frandsen of Internet Business Mastery Academy joins me to explore how one can transform an intrinsically motivated pursuit into a livelihood. I was motivated to contact Jeremy after reading his blog post, The Secret to Endless Motivation. Discussion: -What is the the mission of Internet Business Mastery -Podcasting in the Beginning -The Single Motivating Purpose -The importance of Voluntary Value Exchange -Finding A Niche -Trail and Error -The $100 Start-Up -Ways you can tell that starting a business is an intrinsic pursuit -A checklist for taking action Bumper Music: "Woodstock" Crosby, Stills and Nash Look Closer: Internet Business Mastery Academy - http://internetbusinessmastery.com/ Complete Liberty Podcast - http://completeliberty.com/ Ayn Rand Lexicon - http://aynrandlexicon.com/ The $100 Start-Up - http://100startup.com/ Related ...

Topic: Building on the previous conversation about learning theories, I cover the basics of learning styles and strategies, motivation, cognition, habits and environment. Also: -Self-Regulated Learning -The Index of Learning Styles Bumper Music: "Freedom" Wham Look Closer: Learning Styles: Appealing But Misleading - http://www.globalcognition.org/head-smart/learning-styles-appealing-misleading/ Paul Pintrich: Framework for self-regulated learning - http://www.globalcognition.org/head-smart/learning-about-learning-take-charge/ Overview of Learning Styles - http://www.learning-styles-online.com/overview/ Felder and Silverman's Index of Learning Styles - http://www.mindtools.com/mnemlsty.html The Nature of Educational Systems and Their Psychological Effects on the Learner, by Wes Bertrand, 2000 - http://logicallearning.net/learnerdrivened.html Self-regulated Learning - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-regulated_learning Harold Pashler's Work - http://laplab.ucsd.edu/publications Investazor One Hundred Ways to Motivate Yourself - http://books.google.com/books/about/One_Hundred_Ways_to_Motivate_Yourself.html?id=RFBsSKn_rNUC

Can we find a model for knowledge acquisition that respects the individual by combining aspects of the dominant learning theories, instead of discarding them entirely? Topics: 1. John, the Admin of the Libertarian Teachers Group at schoolsucksproject.com, posted an interesting piece in the forum called Learning Theories and their Subsequent Pedagogy – Which one is most Libertarian? 2. Osborne and I discuss this post on our 3-21-13 live show, and I read a paper I wrote in 2002 called "My Philosophy of Education", written for an Intro to Education class. 3. I provide more detail of the newest of the learning theories: connectivism 4. I try to answer the question, Which learning theory is most Libertarian? Objectivism (5 Branches of ...

Catallaxy describes a "self-organizing system of voluntary co-operation" -Friedrich Hayek Topic: A doctoral candidate named John, who currently teaches in Hawaii, calls in to the after-show to discuss education as a self-organizing system. He references a TED Talk by Sugata Mitra and some interesting outcomes from the One Laptop Per Child project in Ethiopia. Excerpt: "We left the boxes in the village. Closed. Taped shut. No instruction, no human being. I thought, the kids will play with the boxes! Within four minutes, one kid not only opened the box, but found the on/off switch. He'd never seen an on/off switch. He powered it up. Within five days, they were using 47 apps per child per day. Within two weeks, they ...

Topic: Wes Bertrand joins me to discuss Nathaniel Branden's book, Breaking Free. Wes is currently doing on series on this book on Complete Liberty Podcast. "Do you believe you're worthless? Ineffectual? Mediocre? Helpless? Nathaniel Branden, best selling author of The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem introduces a revolutionary method to show you how repressed feelings and forgotten past experiences may have shaped your current sense of self. Breaking Free introduces 22 key questions designed to break down repressive barriers. Questions such as: Were you taught to be an independent thinker, or encouraged to be obedient? Were you free to express your fears openly, without fear of punishment? Did your parents' behavior towards you make you feel guilty? Were you taught to ...

Co-Hosts: Alyson, Cory, Mandrik Topics: A seemingly comical entry-point into dark territory: Texas GOP Declares: "No More Teaching of 'Critical Thinking Skills' in Texas Public Schools" which quotes the party platform: "We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student's fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority." So what is Outcome-Based Education? John Taylor Gatto: A SHORT ANGRY HISTORY OF AMERICAN FORCED SCHOOLING The BEHAVIORAL TEACHER EDUCATIONAL PROJECT outlines specific teaching reforms to be forced on the country, unwillingly of course, after 1967. "According to the BEHAVIORAL TEACHER ...

Co-Hosts: Osborne, Cory Topics: We discuss the value of Khan Academy, and how it would fit into the larger picture of free, self-directed education in the future. This is the full 6-14-12 show. School Sucks is live on the Liberty Radio Network and UStream Thursdays at 10pm EST. Look CLoser: Khan Academy http://www.khanacademy.org/ Could You Modify It ‘To Stop Students From Becoming This Advanced?’ http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/could-you-modify-it-to-stop-students-from-becoming-this-advanced/

"In almost every act of our lives whether in the sphere of politics or business in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind." -Edward Bernays Topic: Richard Grove and Tony Myers from TragedyandHope.com join me for a general introduction to the series on logical fallacies. Our discussion covers how fallacies fit into the larger picture of critical thinking principles and the trivium (grammar, logic and rhetoric). We also talk about the recent Republican debates, identifying techniques used by certain candidates. And the primary benefits of learning logic: ...