Joyful Learning: How to Find Freedom, Happiness, and Success Beyond Conventional Schooling
By (Author) Kerry McDonald
PublicAffairs,U.S.
PublicAffairs,U.S.
28th October 2025
United States
Primary and Secondary Educational
Non Fiction
Educational strategies and policy
Hardback
336
Width 152mm, Height 235mm
From the bestselling author of Unschooled, an exploration of new, low-cost K-12 learning models that favor individualized, learner-centered education
Across the United States, parents, teachers, administrators, policymakers, and ordinary citizens are increasingly frustrated by the rigidity and standardization of modern schooling, and they are seeking alternatives. Openness to different learning models reached new heights during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to accelerate.Entrepreneurial parents and teachers are responding to the growing demand for learning models that challenge the status quo. They are creating micro schools, learning pods, homeschooling collaboratives, online learning networks, and other flexible educational models that provide specialized, individualized education, often at a lower cost than traditional private schools. Joyful Learning shares the experiences of these everyday entrepreneurs who are reimagining learning in their communities, showing parents what is possible for their children and encouraging aspiring school founders to take their own enterprising leaps. Blending fresh storytelling with straightforward advice, Joyful Learning is an inspiring, relevant, and timely book for parents looking for different education options for their children, as well as would-be education entrepreneurs hoping to launch their own creative learning solutions.Kerry McDonald is an internationally recognized journalist, speaker, podcaster, and education thought leader. Shespotlights innovative, affordable, student-centered K-12 learning models through her regular articles and dedicated columns atForbes.com and The 74, as well as her semiweekly LiberatED podcast.
McDonald is the author ofthe bestselling book Unschooled. Her articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal,the New York Post,NPR,and Newsweek, among many others. McDonald lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husbandand four children.