Unconventional ideas for teaching and learning.

Patrick Farenga worked closely with the author and teacher John Holt until Holt’s death in 1985. He is the President of Holt Associates Inc. and was the Publisher of Growing Without Schooling magazine (GWS) from 1985 until it stopped publishing in Nov. 2001. GWS was the nation’s first periodical about homeschooling, started by Holt in 1977.

Farenga and his wife have unschooled their three girls, now ages 21, 18, and 14. In addition to writing for GWS for twenty years, he has written many articles and book chapters for publications as diverse as Mothering magazine, Paths of Learning magazine, Home Education Magazine, The Bulletin of Science, Technology, and Society and The Encyclopedia of School Administration. He has also published and edited several popular books about homeschooling including his own book, The Beginner’s Guide To Homeschooling. Farenga’s recent work includes a cassette tape, A History of Homeschooling and How You Can Become Part of It (Tape one of The Singing Turtle Homeschool Starter Kit, 2002) and a chapter in A Parent’s Guide To Homeschooling (Mars Publishing, 2002). His latest book is Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling (Perseus, May 2003).

Farenga also appears on local and national television and radio shows as a homeschooling expert; he has appeared on The Today Show, The Voice of America, NPR's The Merrow Report, Fox Across America, Geraldo-At-Large, and CNN's Parenting Today. Farenga has been quoted as an expert on homeschooling many times in the national media. Farenga addresses audiences about homeschooling and the work of John Holt throughout the United States, and he has also done so in Ireland, Canada, England, and Italy.

Farenga also works as a freelance writer, editor, and education consultant.

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