Books About Alternative Education (25 books)

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This list features books about unschooling, homeschooling, autodidactism, and the broader sociological and ethnographic underpinnings that often inform the decision to pursue a non-institutional education.

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1	The Way It Spozed to Be (Innovators in Education) by Jack Herndon really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 112 ratings score: 185, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
2	The Priceless Gift of a Rich Cultural Education by Cornelius Hirschberg 4.27 avg rating — 30 ratings score: 184, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
3	Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey Through The Dark World of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto 4.22 avg rating — 3,625 ratings score: 100, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
3	The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education by Grace Llewellyn 4.22 avg rating — 1,369 ratings score: 100, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
3	The Next Learning System: and why home-schoolers are trailblazers by Roland Meighan really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating score: 100, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
6	The Passion to Learn: An Inquiry into Autodidactism by Joan Solomon (Editor) 3.17 avg rating — 6 ratings score: 99, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
6	How Two Gerbils, Twenty Goldfish, Two Hundred Games, Two Thousand Books, and I Taught Them How to Read by Steven Daniels 4.43 avg rating — 7 ratings score: 99, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
8	Growing Up Absurd: Problems of Youth in the Organized System by Paul Goodman 3.75 avg rating — 559 ratings score: 98, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
8	Making schools work: A reporter's journey through some of America's most remarkable classrooms by Robert Benjamin it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating score: 98, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
10	The Continuum Concept: In Search of Happiness Lost by Jean Liedloff 4.01 avg rating — 3,643 ratings score: 97, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
10	The Queen of Education: Rules for Making School Work by LouAnne Johnson (Goodreads Author) 3.83 avg rating — 30 ratings score: 97, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
12	The Day I Became an Autodidact and the Advice, Adventures, and Acrimonies That Befell Me Thereafter by Kendall Hailey 4.01 avg rating — 270 ratings score: 96, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
12	Making Schools Work: A Revolutionary Plan to Get Your Children the Education They Need by William G. Ouchi 3.79 avg rating — 14 ratings score: 96, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
14	The Passion to Learn: An Inquiry into Autodidactism by Joan Solomon (Editor) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings score: 95, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
14	Schools That Work: Where All Children Read and Write by Richard L. Allington 4.21 avg rating — 72 ratings score: 95, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
16	AUTODIDACT AND I DARE TO BE DIFFERENT: Dare to be different by Julio Hernandez it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating score: 94, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
16	Schools That Work: America's Most Innovative Public Education Programs by George H. Wood 3.84 avg rating — 25 ratings score: 94, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
18	Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses by Richard Arum 3.42 avg rating — 914 ratings score: 93, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
19	DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education by Anya Kamenetz 3.63 avg rating — 579 ratings score: 92, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
20	Developing Talent in Young People by Benjamin S. Bloom 4.13 avg rating — 45 ratings score: 91, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
21	Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich 3.98 avg rating — 3,599 ratings score: 90, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
22	Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book Of Homeschooling by John C. Holt 4.09 avg rating — 1,745 ratings score: 89, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
23	Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life by Peter O. Gray 4.24 avg rating — 4,416 ratings score: 88, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
24	Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts With Worry by Lenore Skenazy 3.88 avg rating — 8,236 ratings score: 87, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
25	Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom by Daniel T. Willingham 4.04 avg rating — 6,027 ratings score: 86, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars