Traditional schooling may not provide your son or daughter with a satisfactory or fulfilling education. In "Forging Paths: Beyond Traditional Schooling," you'll read the stories of nine young people who took varying, nontraditional educational paths and succeeded in their chosen endeavors and vocations. Wes Beach, director of an unusual private high school, speaker, and author, prompts you to reconsider the idea that any highly successful career path must involve piling up gold stars in high school to gain immediate admission to a prestigious university in order to earn a degree which can...

What guarantees success? Four years of high school? A college degree? A nine-to-five job? Perhaps, but many teens yearn for a different path. In his latest book, "Self-Directed Learning: Documentation and Life Stories," Wes Beach argues that people who recognize their genuine interests and talents need only their self-knowledge, confidence, enthusiasm, determination, ability to persevere, and sense of autonomy to carry them where they want to go. Wes shares stories of people whose needs were not met by traditional education, and thus created their own paths. Wes also includes transcripts and...