Building a New Reality

More Voice. More Choice. More Responsibility.

School Is Optional

A series of excerpts from Kenneth Danford’s book, “Learning is Natural, School is Optional: The North Star approach to giving teens a head start in life.” The book details Danford’s founding of the North Star Self-Directed Learning Center, and its evolution as a successful alternative for teens who want to learn but don’t thrive in a traditional classroom atmosphere.

1. Who Knew?

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An introduction to “Learning Is Natural, School Is Optional,” the new book by Kenneth Danford, co-founder and executive director of North Star Self-Directed Learning for Teens, a school alternative in Sunderland, MA

4. Alumni Outcomes

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Not everyone who has attended North Star Self-Directed Learning for Teens has “waltzed off into the sunset.” But alumni outcomes show they do amazingly well.

5. Liberated Learners

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Until recently North Star was unique. That is, until others wanted to emulate it and he created a way to do that — he calls it “Liberated Learners.”