Forging Paths: Beyond Traditional Schooling

Learning can become frustrating for students who do not find traditional schooling fulfilling—or even satisfactory. And this discontent can leave parents and their children seeking alternatives. In Forging Paths: Beyond Traditional Schooling, you will read the stories of nine young people who took varying nontraditional educational routes and achieved success.In Forging Paths, Wes Beach—an educator, advocate, speaker, and author—invites you to reconsider the notion that successful career paths always involve the collection of accolades or immediate entrance to a prestigious university.By walking in their shoes, you will discover how passion, persistence, and creativity led to the nine young people featured in Beach’s book finding satisfaction while maybe even accumulating some traditional accomplishments along the way.

Wes Beach worked in public schools for 31 years, mostly in high schools, and in a private school for one year. He taught science, math, and English, and directed programs for gifted and "at-risk" kids. He wised up in 1993, left the system, and has since then directed Beach High School, which consists of a home office and an attitude-the attitude expressed in this book. He is at present the Teen Adviser for both the Gifted Homeschoolers Forum (GHF) and the HomeSchool Association of California (HSC); he served on HSC's board for two years. He has spoken at many conferences (especially at HSC's in Sacramento each year), written a number of articles, and authored another book, "Opportunities After High School: Thoughts, Documents, Resources." He is an outside consultant for the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, and in 2005 received a Distinguished Service Award from the California Association for the Gifted. For more articles by Wes, please check out the Articles page at www.giftedhomeschoolers.org.