Now this is what I’m talking about! Student gets a college degree before graduating high school!

I do honestly believe that you can get a high quality education by focusing on your obsession, on something you care about. But high quality doesn’t mean that I have to sound like a boring old professor with cobwebs hanging out his ears.

So.

So I’m working on being more true to myself, even if that means writing in a much more casual voice here. It’ll be more fun to write that way, anyway, and I think much more fun to read.

What do you think? Will writing in a casual voice detract from the idea that a high quality “Cozy Sweater” education is possible?

• Use “Mine! Gaming and Copyright” as part of your government course
• Follow the rise and fall of video game companies as a measure of their marketing and business skills
• Use the whole series as an illustration of how to study history

http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/you-can-do-that/

If he can do that with a bike, what can you do with your education if you rise above the limitations the education system has placed on you?

Limitations like:

• limited classes to take
• narrow view of what an education consists of
• pigeon holes: “smart” and “dumb” don’t mean the same thing in school as in reality
• “learning” in school refers to a specific aspect of the word–but there are so many other ways to learn

Unless you’re ridiculously rich, one of the biggest concerns parents have with a custom education is the cost. The first alternative school people tend to think of is private school, which probably is more expensive than some college education. The second is homeschool, which requires you to buy all your own textbooks and supplies and private tutors and all that.

The thing is, if you work it right, a custom education can be completely free. FREE.

Free School

You have options like taking classes from Harvard through iTunes U or other opencourseware, which cost NOTHING.

Dual credit classes are usually free. So are the classes you might take at your own high school, if you go there part-time.

Unschooling, if you work it right, can also be free.

If your school offers virtual school, they’ll usually pay for the program they’re offering.

And, of course, creating your own homeschool program can be free, if you make use of free information like the library and the internet.

Change the focus

If the education you want costs some money–like trips to the museum or a French tutor–you can try a different approach. Compare the cost of your current public education to your estimated cost of a custom education.

Costs of a public education (besides mandatory taxes): lunches, supplies (notebooks, paper, pencils, pens, highlighters, book covers, locker gear, lunchboxes, you name it), gas and time to get you to and from school, uniforms or school clothes, sports programs, clubs… anything you might not otherwise use or have if you weren’t in public school.

Compare that list to your custom education estimated costs. Include admission to museums or programs you want to pursue. List all the free aspects of your education here, too, like resources from the library and volunteer mentors.

Your comments

What do you think? What would convince your parents that the cost is worth every dollar, or that a free education can still be valuable? In designing your own custom education, what would you include that costs money? Is there any way to replace that with a free option?

Hacking Higher Education:  back door to Harvard

7 Steps to Playing a much bigger game:
http://www.thelaunchcoach.com/workbook1

“Nothing works until you do.”

“FAILURES AREN’T LOSSES. They’re investments.”

“Those aren’t the fires of hell come for your soul (and reputation!) – they’re a refiner’s fire, burning off the dross and helping get to the gold inside that you’re really after.”

“Intimidation is for suckers.”

The best way to help your parents overcome their worries is by knowing what those fears are and tackling them directly. Here is a list of common parental fears, concerns, and worries. I’ll update the list with links to posts on each topic as I write the articles.

• Cost
• Time
• College admissions
• Motivation
• Academics
• Social life
• Sports/clubs
• Accreditation
• Quitting
• Parental insecurities

Add what you think your parents would worry about in the comments!

Yes, indeed, it does. If you’re customizing your education, your NaNoWriMo novel is the perfect English assignment. Not only do you get the experience of writing 50,000 words under your belt, you start to see the dynamics of writing a novel and sustaining a story over such a long word count.

Plus, it’s awesome to say you’ve written a novel. 85% of Americans believe they have a novel waiting inside them somewhere…but most never get around to writing it. NaNoWriMo is that extra push you might need to actually start and finish the Big One.

Visit the National Novel Writing Month site for details.

NaNoWriMo participant 2009

The question reflects the fact that there is a narrow method of teaching and learning at school, and that people who excel in this specific method are considered “smart,” while people who don’t do well are considered “dumb.”

At one point, my younger sister was failing elementary school. So she did homeschool for a few years. When she went back to regular school in junior high, she was at the top of her classes.

Was she failing because she was stupid? No. Did she do well later because she’d somehow grown her brain in the intervening years? No. Elementary school was not taught in a way that suited her learning style and ability. That’s it. When she was given the opportunity to learn in a way that suited her, namely homeschool, she simply soared.

You can, too. Whether or not you’re currently doing well in school is completely irrelevant.

Another example: I did very well in school and the learning style suited me just fine, but I hated it. I loved learning, but hated the social pressure, the feeling that school was just a place to teach us how to conform and be good little workers, stuff like that. And then the easy classes were so immensely boring, I couldn’t force myself to do the homework. Result: I got a D one quarter in Spanish because it was too easy. So I graduated early and went to a community college, where I thrived.

The moral of the story? Doing well or poorly in school, good or bad grades and all that, does not reflect your ability to learn.