I’ve been working on this book (in one fashion or another) since late 2010 when I started the Zero Tuition College blog. In summer 2011 I began working in earnest on the manuscript, and earlier this year I asked 20 friends and associates to give me feedback on the current draft. (They did, and it was excellent.)

Currently I’m working with an editor to tighten up the manuscript, and I’ve begun experimenting with cover design possibilities. (That’s one possibility on the right.) Because professional editing and design services are pricey, I’m raising funds to help cover the up-front costs of the book while giving backers an awesome pre-order deal. Please check out my campaign on IndieGoGo to learn more and contribute!

Thank you for your support, and look forward to more book updates on this blog!

Hi, I’m Blake. 

I work with teen unschoolers and write about self-directed learning.

I also speak at conferences, staff at Not Back to School Camp, and pursue many other goals.

Join the mailing list for my new book!

2011 was a big year for articles that intelligently criticized the college-for-all idea; below you’ll find the top 10 must-reads and a little blurb about each. But first, ZTC news!

I’m offering a new “ZTC Camp” program for young adults ages 16-21! It has a different name (“The Asheville Intensive”) but the purpose and activities are highly similar to 2011′s ZTC Camp. Check out The Asheville Intensive over at Unschool Adventures.

November and December didn’t see any new ZTC blog posts because I was busy with two high-energy projects. First was the Unschool Adventures Writing Retreat, a program that brought together 19 teenage unschoolers from across the USA & Canada for a month of intensive, self-paced writing. The group produced an excellent Tumblr blog documenting day-to-day life at the retreat, and I wrote about my experience leading the program.

The other project I’ve been focusing heavily on is the ZTC book manuscript, currently undergoing peer review.

Finally, on the ZTC website we have some new features: a red flag icon for students who are currently seeking MAGE assistance (browse the student directory to see), and photos now included in both the student & MAGE directories.

And now, without further ado…

The Top 10 Must-Read College Articles from 2011

(All articles were previously listed on ZTCollege.com, the ZTC Scoop.it news page, or our Facebook page.)

 10. Money Lessons for Every High School Graduate

More like: life lessons for every 17-year-old. Zac Bissonnette, the author of Debt-Free U, makes five excellent points: Debt is slavery, College debt takes its toll, Rich friends may be broke, Materialism is misery, and TV makes you feel poor.

 9. Eight Alternatives to College

James Altucher weaves endless wisdom against college orthodoxy. Here he lays out a few concrete suggestions for what to do instead of college, including Start a Business, Travel the World, Create Art, Make People Laugh, Write a Book, Work in a Charity, Master a Game, and Master a Sport.

8. We’re in a Bubble and It’s Not the Internet. It’s Higher Education.

As the founder of the Thiel Fellowship that offers teenagers $100,000 to “stop out of college” and start a business instead, Peter Thiel puts his money where his mouth is.

7. Buying an Education or Buying a Brand?

Seth Godin asks simple questions with razor-sharp insight: “Does a $40,000 a year education that comes with an elite degree deliver ten times the education of a cheaper but no less rigorous self-generated approach assembled from less famous institutions and free or inexpensive resources?”

 6. The Dwindling Power of a College Degree

A strong analysis from an economic and historical perspective. “A bachelor’s degree on its own no longer conveys intelligence and capability. To get a good job, you have to have some special skill — charm, by the way, counts — that employers value. But there’s also a pretty good chance that by some point in the next few years, your boss will find that some new technology or some worker overseas can replace you.”

5. How Blogging for HuffPost is Like College

Katherine von Jan explains how—college or not—success is all about self-directed learning.

4. Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here?

A long article that’s worth your time. “Education is about finding out what form of work for you is close to being play—work you do so easily that it restores you as you go.” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi couldn’t have put it better himself.

3. Will Dropouts Save America?

Michael Ellsberg, author of The Education of Millionaires, argues: “It’s time that we as a nation accepted a basic — and seldom-mentioned — fact. You don’t need a degree (and certainly not an M.B.A.) to start a business and create jobs, nor is it even that helpful, compared with cheaper, faster alternatives.”

2. College Has Been Oversold

Why do we subsidize liberal arts degrees equally as much as science, technology, engineering, and math? An economist’s perspective.

1. Lessons From Famous College Dropouts

Squeaking in on December 31st, here’s the last must-read college article of 2011: A great list of accomplished people without college degrees.

Top photo: Flickr / Earlham College

I hope that 2011 treated you well. Back in 2009 I wrote an annual review of my life (The Blake Report Feb09) but haven’t done another since. It’s high time! Let’s see what I was up to this year…

January 2011: Guatemala

I started the new year sleeping in a tree. Really. For two weeks over New Year’s, my friends Julie, Vince, Jim, and I—all veterans of Deer Crossing Summer Camp—were adventuring in Northern Guatemala. With a hired guide we explored the ruins of El Mirador and climbed the biggest trees we could find with the tree climbing gear that we brought. Using hammocks specially designed for tree climbing, we slept in the trees for four nights. (Each of us had previously learned and taught tree climbing to kids at Deer Crossing.) But really, the best part was using an 8′ oversized slingshot to shoot weights & lines over 100′ tall branches. This was my first trip to Central America.

Julie and Blake in a tree!

(More Guatemala Trip Photos and stories from my travel blog)

 January-March 2011: South America

No sooner did I return from Guatemala than I departed for another adventure: the Unschool Adventures South America Trip. (Between the two, I enjoyed a fun little retreat with other Not Back to School Camp staff in Eugene, Oregon.)

In South America I led a group of 10 teenage unschoolers across Argentina, Chile, and Peru for 7 weeks (assisted by fellow trip staff Julie McPherson and Ingmar Nilsen). We learned to tango, spoke a ton of Spanish, surfed, saw epic geological formations, and explore Machu Picchu. Quite the epic trip. I blogged each day of the trip, which I really appreciate now. (There are also a ton of photos here.)

The Unschool Adventures South America group at...well, you know.

March-May 2011: India

As if I didn’t travel enough already this year, within a few weeks of returning from South America, I took off again—this time to India for 5 weeks with my girlfriend Brenna. (Directly before leaving I managed to squeeze in a few workshops at the InHome Conference in Chicago, where I’ll return in 2012.) This trip was ostensibly research for Unschool Adventures (conclusion: I’m not going to run a trip there), but honestly, I had a serious hankering for Asia and the Himalaya that needed to be filled. As with my other travels, I blogged each day. It’s too difficult to encapsulate a trip to India in a few sentences, so I’ll just say: I’m glad I went.

Blake and Brenna on a "sleeper" train in India

May-August 2011: South Lake Tahoe, California 

Exhausted from four solid months of international, I planted myself in beautiful South Lake Tahoe, CA, for the summer. I’d previously lived here two times, so I knew the place and had a few good friends close by. I rented a room and spent my summer swimming, trail running, writing, and cooking grass-fed/pasture-raised meats on the BBQ. I fund-raised $3000 to build a new website: Zero Tuition College; Brenna joined me for a month and we took a short-but-epic backpacking trip across Desolation Wilderness; I presented at the HSC Conference in nearby Sacramento; and I spent solid time with this year’s Deer Crossing instructors, former outdoor ed co-workers, my sister Liza, and my good friends Morgan and Aly.

Brenna, kicking Desolation Wilderness' proverbial ass

Blake, Aly, and Morgan in the South Lake Tahoe Chevy's

August-September 2011: Not Back to School Camp in Oregon

I love working at Not Back to School Camp…every year it somehow stays the same yet gets better. I worked the west coast sessions this year—3 total weeks of camp in southwest Oregon—as an advisor, workshop leader, and the first aid person. I chose not to lead a project (an intensive 5-day workshop) which freed up a lot of time for reflecting and Settlers of Catan.

The opening circle at NBTSC Camp Myrtlewood 2011

September 2011: Tahoe, San Diego, and Mammoth (all California)

After camp I flew down to San Diego to present at the Good Vibrations Unschooling Conference, popped back into South Lake Tahoe for a few weeks, and then took an epic backpacking trip in the Mammoth Lakes backcountry area. With such a huge snow load lingering from the winter, late September was the best time for snow-free hiking. My friend Vince joined me for a four day trip.

Vince, Blake, and the Mammoth Lakes backcountry

October 2011: Asheville, North Carolina

Sometime earlier this year I decided that I would move to Asheville to live closer to Brenna, so I visited for a few weeks in October. While there I organized and ran a short, totally new Unschool Adventures program based on the Zero Tuition College idea: ZTC Camp. (Don’t miss my blog post about it, too.) Tons of fun! Brenna and I then flew back to Tahoe and drove through Las Vegas, Zion National Park, and Four Corners en route to…

The ZTC Camp crew (plus Blake & helpers Brenna & Tara on the sides)

November 2011: Durango, Colorado

Two years ago I ran an Unschool Adventures Writing Retreat program on the Oregon Coast, and this year I decided to do it again in beautiful southwest Colorado. 19 teens from across the U.S. and Canada joined me and my four staff for a month of high-intensity writing. I mostly stayed out of the picture and let my staff run the show, which had been one of my goals for a while. (See my reflections on the retreat here.) While in Durango I scored some sweet runs on the trails behind our hostel.

The 2011 Unschool Adventures Writing Retreat students + staff, acting totally normal

December 2011: Driving Cross-Country, Asheville, and X-Mas with Family

I needed to get my car to Asheville, so Cameron (who staffed the Writing Retreat) and I drove Colorado to the Carolinas via Albuquerque, Austin, and New Orleans (the latter two I’d never visited). Back in Asheville I continued working on my Zero Tuition College book manuscript and produced a workable first draft, and then a quick trip up to Connecticut put me home for the holidays.

Blake and Cameron eat sweet-ass Mexican food in Austin, TX

Some of my east coast family, Christmas Eve

What’s Next?

Well, I signed my first lease! That puts me in Asheville at least through next summer…

Handing over the rent and deposit checks for my first house. (Baby not included in lease.)

More Unschool Adventures trips line the horizon…

I have another book deal lined up…

and who knows what else?

 BLAKE’S (SELF-ASSIGNED) AWARDS FOR 2011

Worst screw-up: Leaving my debit card in a Buenos Aires airport ATM, with the screen still active. (Thank you Wells Fargo fraud protection service.)

Top 3 overall trail runs: Bayview Trail (Lake Tahoe), Horse Gulch / Pautsky Point Trail (Durango), Shut-in Trail (Asheville)

Longest trail run: 16 miles around Emerald Bay (Lake Tahoe)

Most epic trail run: 8 miles from Hwy 89 to Hwy 88 via Carson Pass (Pacific Crest Trail / Tahoe Rim Trail)—on my birthday. Thank you Brenna for driving the shuttle!

Favorite household pet with which I lived: Frank, the 3-legged long-haired badass from Tahoe.

Closest I came to dying: While scrambling over hella-sketchy rocks in the Mammoth backcountry (with snow on the way)

Most unsolicited male hand-holding: Everywhere in India.

Favorite new word: “Guatever.” (Guatemala + Whatever)

Best cappuccino: It’s still Noble Coffee in Ashland, OR.

Runner-up cappuccinos: Ritual (San Francisco), Fuel (New Haven), Caffe Medici (Austin), Dripolater (Asheville), Confiteria Las Violetas (Buenos Aires)

Favorite new meat after 10 years of being a vegetarian: Grass-fed steak. Duh.

Fanciest dinner: Green’s Restaurant in S.F. for Brenna’s birthday

Best cheap-o meal: Tacos from the taco truck in the Ninth Ward, New Orleans

This November I spent a month in the beautiful mountain/college town of Durango, Colorado, at the Unschool Adventures Writing Retreat program. The purpose of the Writing Retreat is to create an environment in which ~20 teenage unschoolers can dedicate themselves to writing an entire novel (or memoir, or series of poems, etc.) in one month. I first designed and led this program in November 2009 (on the Oregon coast). This year I decided to remove myself from the leadership team and let other staff run the show. That led to some interesting observations which I’ll get to later.

This year’s Writing Retreat, like its predecessor, was a great success. (I based this on both my interpretation and the overwhelmingly positive response from the student feedback forms.) While designing and preparing for the program I tend to focus heavily on the writing aspect, and then when the program happens, I’m reminded of how much these programs are actually about making new friends, learning how to live with a group, exploring new personalities and lifestyles, and self-discovery in all its other forms. Of course, everyone did a ton of writing too. Many students undertaking NaNoWriMo hit the 50,000-word mark, and a few made it to 70,000-80,000. Other students “only” wrote 20-30,000 words of fiction and then decided to transition to poetry, memoir, or short stories. The most important thing (for me) was that everyone was working hard on some sort of self-assigned writing challenge on a regular basis. While a lot of socializing, exploring, and adventuring of the non-writing variety took place on the trip, everyone seemed to strike a healthy balance.

Students walking from the hostel to downtown Durango

A few new, unique challenges presented themselves on this trip, as they do on all trips. For example, one student wasn’t prepared for the level of swearing that teenage unschoolers (or should I say: many teenagers who aren’t closely policed by adults) do. This student wasn’t comfortable communicating this message directly to the group, so another student did it instead (in the nightly all-group meeting); our very courteous group then made a sincere effort to minimize their swearing. Of course, the swearing didn’t completely disappear. This made realize that I need to do a better job of communicating the specific “culture of unschooling” that we allow/encourage on Unschool Adventures trips; that way, parents and students won’t be shocked to discover that we let students roam around town unsupervised, go to bed whenever they want, or swear more than a typical high school teacher would allow. I added a newly expanded “FAQ” section to the Unschool Adventures website.

Halloween trick-or-treaters

My incredible staff included:

• Cameron Lovejoy: organizer of the unschooling conference “The Autodidact Symposium,” world-traveler, and staffer at my two Homeschool Leadership Retreat (HLR) programs
• Brenna McBroom: potter, HLR volunteer, India traveler, and certain special-someone
• Dev Carey: long-time adventurer, charter school founder, Ph.D. ecologist, and designer of sustainability/leadership programs
• Jessica Barker: former Writing Retreat student, HLR volunteer, and blogger

Most of the staff had previously worked at Not Back to School Camp, which prepared them excellently for managing a large group of unschoolers for an extended time. Each staffer brought unique gifts to the program: Cameron taught the group how to partner dance, Brenna managed the finances like a champ, Dev led hikes and took the group to harvest its own Thanksgiving turkey from a local farm, and Jessica ran well-attended writing workshops. All of the staff shared the ever-present duties of food buying, cooking, chore-managing, and running meetings each night. They kicked ass in each of these regards.

Cameron leading a writing "power hour"

For me as Director this was an eye-opening trip. Originally I planned to let the staff run the show themselves while I was off in New Zealand with another Unschool Adventures trip. But that trip didn’t fill up, and I had plenty of writing to do (on my ZTC manuscript)—so I decided to hang around Durango as the out-of-the-way-yet-still-present director. And honestly, I wasn’t ready to let other people run the show; this being the first UA trip which I wouldn’t be staffing made me nervous, and I wanted to be around “just in case.”

The verdict? I didn’t absolutely need to be there. The staff could have handled everything that came up on the trip. My presence may have actually confused the staff more than helped them, as I didn’t intend to manage the day-to-day affairs of the trip but couldn’t help myself sometimes. So my worries were allayed.

But by the end I learned an important lesson: I’m not interested in creating some large trip-leading empire in which other people run all the trips for me. I like leading trips, I’m good at it, and I feel that my direct leadership is necessary to create the type of Unschool Adventures that I want to see. Most significantly, I love being with the students on our trips. They’re the coolest, most down-to-earth, intelligent, and witty teenagers ever. They’re an absolute pleasure to be around, and they’re why I got into this business in the first place. The modern entrepreneur’s mantra of scale-leverage-outsource-delegate doesn’t apply here, because doing those things would decrease my enjoyment of the business. If I just wanted to organize trips, I could probably make a lot more money doing that for a larger trip-leading company. But I love supporting and participating in the unschooling community—that’s a huge non-monetary pay-off. The autonomy of designing my own programs also matters a lot. So for now, I plan to continue running ~2 programs per year, with me leading them.

The entire 2011 Writing Retreat group

Don’t miss the group blog from this year’s program, and keep your eyes peeled for next year’s Writing Retreat!