My Mission

I'm Blake Boles, and I believe that becoming a self-directed learner is the most important thing a teenager or young adult can do today.

Why? Because adventurous, passionately curious, and self-motivated people own the future. They're the ones exploring the world, tackling big problems, creating their own jobs, and crafting lives of meaningful contribution. (And they're simply more fun and interesting to be around!)

The problem is, as a society, we do a pretty bad job of nurturing self-directed learners. We've had our top-down, hyper-academic, testing-obsessed education system for so long that it's hard to imagine another way to operate.

Luckily, there are some brilliant people who have built innovative alternatives (and supplements) to traditional schooling. My mission is to find and interview the change-makers who are helping young people become self-directed learners and share their stories, insights, and strategies with the world.

The Podcast

The Real Education podcast is the online talk show distributed for free on iTunes where I'll interview a new guest each week.

Real Education will be a 100% free show, and I won't accept any advertisements or sponsorships. That's where you come in!

What's Patreon, and How Does It Work?

Patreon is a platform where you can support my podcast by donating each time I publish a new episode. It's a neat way to become a "patron of the arts" for projects like mine that take a lot of time and energy but don't charge for access.

It's pretty simple:

• Become a patron by clicking the big button above.
• Choose exactly how much you'd like to donate each time I publish an episode.
• I aim to publish 4 episodes per month, so if you pledge $2, that's $8 per month. (You can also set a "monthly cap" to ensure that you don't pay too much.)
• If I don't publish an episode for some reason, you don't pay.
• Cancel your patronage at any time.

Your Impact

When you become my patron, you transform the lonely act of researching guests, editing audio files, and troubleshooting iTunes into a more meaningful activity. You also enable me to afford the time and equipment necessary to produce a quality podcast.

If you believe in my mission, Patreon is a fantastic way to show your love. Of course, it's not the only way. If Patreon isn't for you, please know that I deeply appreciate every person who buys one of my books, joins an Unschool Adventures program, shares one of my articles with a friend, or writes me a nice e-mail. Even if you just listen to the show--thank you!