Unconventional ideas for teaching and learning.

North Star: Self-directed learning for teens

North Star "makes homeschooling possible for any interested teen in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts." Featured in TEACHER MAGAZINE, November 2006!

www.northstarteens.org/

Voyagers

"Voyagers is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization that seeks to provide resources and a sense of community to support homeschooling families in Eastern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire."

www.voyagersinc.org/wiki/bin/view/Public/WebHome

Open Connections

"The Open Connections vision is a world where all young people develop the foundation for a self-developed life of purpose and fulfillment. ...The core of our work consists of weekly programs for young people who range in age from four to eighteen." This is the first learning center I learned of, and still one of the best examples of a co-operative learning community that I have encountered.

www.openconnections org

Purple Thistle Learning Center

Matt Hern founded the Purple Thistle Centre in 2001 with seven teenage friends looking to start an alternative-to-school community institution for youth on the Eastside of Vancouver. Since then it has blossomed/exploded into a major and many tentacled thing. It really is a piece of work. There's plenty of it to explain, but to check it out please go to: www.purplethistle.ca

Fab Lab

"The Fab Lab program has strong connections with the technical outreach activities of a number of partner organizations, around the emerging possibility for ordinary people to not just learn about science and engineering but actually design machines and make measurements that are relevant to improving the quality of their lives." This place is an "after school" drop-in center, unlike all the others I list which can be attended in lieu of going to school. However, they have the funding and resources of MIT behind them, as well as the amazing "Personal Fabrication" machine, which makes this group one to watch.

www.fab.cba.mit.edu/labs/setc/

Learning Centers

I'm not talking about those "We'll increase your child's test scores or your money back" places. Rather, I'm refering to the trend of parents and teachers who, for any number of reasons, decide it is easier and more efficient to create drop-in centers for learners (and often their parents) than it is to create or change a school. These places are appearing in all sorts of interesting places; here are a few that I know about. Please send me information about any others you know about. I plan to write in more detail about these unique places that are neither home nor school, and how they point the way to new places for children and adults to learn and grow together. — PF

Teach Your Own

Learning Centers

Unschoolers of Note

Research About Alternatives TO School