LiberatED Podcast

What if help in running the business side of a school left more time for education? Lab Entrepreneur-In-Residence Kym Kent welcomes Brett Kopf, founder and CEO of Omella to LiberatED . Brett shares how his experiences as a student with learning disabilities inspired him to build tools that make educators' lives easier—from a school communication app that reached 30 million users to a payment platf...

What happens when education prioritizes mastery and real-world learning? The Lab's Denise Lever talks with Hannah Langdon of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) about her K–12 homeschool experience and how it shaped her work. They explore critical thinking, respectful disagreement, and FEE's resources and fellowships for educators—including homeschoolers and school founders. *** Check out...

Kym Kent, an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the FEE Education Entrepreneurship Lab, is joined today by Chris Stolte, founder of The Lemonade School , an online curriculum designed to teach children how to build real businesses from the ground up. Chris shares how his own entrepreneurial background and the experience of raising three young kids led him to create a program that takes children from bas...

Welcome to the Microschool Makers Series, a three-part September series in collaboration with KaiPod to equip aspiring school founders with the inspiration and information needed to launch a successful, sustainable school! Our first episode focused on Developing Your Vision , while our second centered around Building A Sustainable School . Be sure to check out those shows for strategies and advice...

What if recess isn't a break from learning, but an essential part of it? The Education Entrepreneurship Lab's Nasiyah Isra-Ul talks with health educator Dr. Cathy Ramstetter, co-author of the American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement on recess and author of the new book Why Recess Matters . They explore how unstructured, child-directed play supports social connection, cognitive performance,...

Welcome to the Microschool Makers Series, a three-part September series in collaboration with KaiPod to equip aspiring school founders with the inspiration and information needed to launch a successful, sustainable school! If you missed our first episode, Developing Your Vision , be sure to listen to that discussion featuring school founders from Arizona, Texas, and Georgia. In this second episode...

What does it take to turn more than 20 years in education—and one child's experience of not thriving in traditional school—into a new kind of learning environment? Host Kerry McDonald sits down with Mily Pérez, founder of  Athena Micro-Academy of Austin , a microschool serving students in grades 6–12 that just opened last month! Mily shares how her educational background shaped her calling as an e...

Welcome to the Microschool Makers Series, a three-part September series in collaboration with KaiPod to equip aspiring school founders with the inspiration and information needed to launch a successful, sustainable school! Every microschool starts with a clear vision — and the clearest ones sit at the intersection of what a founder is uniquely good at, what their community actually needs, and what...

What changes when the way we think about education starts to shift? The Education Entrepreneurship Lab's Nasiyah Isra-Ul speaks with Mickey Revenaugh, an author, innovator, and co-founder of Connections Academy, about her new book, School's Out: Why Families Are Choosing Unconventional Education , that discusses this very topic. From the early days of Connections Academy to the post-pandemic surge...

What does it take to build a learning community rooted in support, opportunity, and love? Entrepreneur-In-Residence Kym Kent speaks with educator and entrepreneur Tatiana Alexander about founding the SOL Learning Center , a small, mixed-age co-learning community operating from a backyard yurt in Clinton, Maryland. Tatiana shares how the center combines project-based learning, flexible academic opt...

After a decade in public education, Madeline Herrera reached a crossroads: compromise her vision for meaningful, project-based learning—or build a new kind of school. In this episode, Education Entrepreneurship Lab Senior Contributor Kelsy Achtenberg speaks with Madeline, founder and director of  Limestone Community School in Lawrence, Kansas. They explore how Limestone combines project-based lear...

Education Entrepreneurship Lab Entrepreneur-in-Residence Kym Kent talks with renowned education researcher and author Dr. James Tooley to explore the power of parent-driven, entrepreneurial education. In his acclaimed book The Beautiful Tree , Tooley chronicled his discovery of low-cost private schools serving families in some of the world's poorest communities—schools created by local entrepreneu...

LiberatED celebrates its 400th episode! Since launching in February 2022, the podcast has featured inspiring conversations with the entrpreneurial parents and teachers who are reimagining K-12 education and building new solutions. We mark this exciting milestone and preview Season 6, featuring a rotating cast of hosts from FEE's Education Entrepreneurship Lab who will bring fresh voices and perspe...

Guest host Denise Lever talks with Emma Rodriguez, a former public school teacher and founder of Lighthouse Christian Academy , a faith-based K–8 microschool in Frisco, Texas. Emma reflects on a remarkable first year in which enrollment grew from 2 to 20 students—and shares the story of one student whose academic progress, behavior, and confidence were transformed by the school's supportive enviro...

In this episode of LiberatED , host Kerry McDonald speaks with Melody Rider, president of ConnectED Polk , a Florida nonprofit helping build stronger connections between education and industry. Rather than creating programs in isolation, ConnectED Polk serves as a community intermediary—bringing together K–12 schools, higher education, employers, and civic organizations to better prepare students...

Starting a microschool or other innovative learning environment is about far more than curriculum and community. Founders also have to navigate a maze of zoning rules, fire codes, occupancy limits, licensing questions, and other regulatory hurdles that can make or break their schools. In this guest-hosted episode of the LiberatED Podcast , Education Entrepreneurship Lab senior contributor and Bake...

For years, Maysaa Bazna led Pono, an innovative outdoor democratic school in New York City, where children followed their curiosity and developed deep connections with the natural world. She saw an opportunity to bring those same experiences to many more children through partnerships with urban Title I public schools. Today, Maysaa is the founder and executive director of City to Sanctuary , a non...

Guest host Jennie Jones, an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at the Education Entrepreneurship Lab, interviews Tanner Bowman, founder of Optio , a quest-based learning platform that helps homeschoolers and microschools document and personalize student-directed learning. After teaching across public, private, charter, online, and microschool environments, Tanner concluded that traditional education's stan...

Special Summer Episode! Kym Kent, an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at the Education Entrepreneurship Lab, is the guest host for today's LiberatED Podcast ! Listen in as she interviews Catina Sweedy, a staff member at the Embark Center for Self-Directed Education in Leesburg, Virginia. Catina tells us about this unique, youth-led microschool for tweens and teens. *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly em...

When Niki Harris and her husband launched Farm School on their working farm in Northern California in 2018, they were simply looking for a better educational option for their own four children. What began as a part-time co-op quickly grew into a thriving place-based microschool serving dozens of students through multiple programs. But after nearly a decade of growth, unexpected circumstances force...

In this episode of LiberatED, Kerry McDonald talks with Peter Holmstrom, Head of School at Summit School in Waco, Texas. Peter shares his journey from social work to public school teaching to leading one of the fastest-growing learner-centered schools in the state. Since becoming head of school in 2023, Peter has helped grow Summit from fewer than 50 students to nearly 140 learners, while expandin...

On this episode of LiberatED , Kerry McDonald speaks with Colleen Hroncich , policy analyst at the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom, about her new report, Let 1,000 Flowers Bloom: Best Practices for Advancing Educational Freedom . With more than 70 school choice programs now operating across more than 30 states—and over a dozen states offering universal eligibility—educational freed...

In this episode of LiberatED, Kerry McDonald talks with Katelynn Stone, founder of EverRoot Academy , a new K-8 hybrid learning community set to launch in August 2026 in Crestview, Florida. After nearly two decades working across public and private education settings—including classrooms, leadership roles, and specialized learning environments—Katelynn is now building her own learner-centered educ...

On this episode of LiberatED, LaRae Hulsey tells host Kerry McDonald about her remarkable journey from enrolling her children in a Prenda microschool in rural Apache County, Arizona to launching her own program, LaRae's Learning Lab . Along the way, her family faced extraordinary challenges, including her husband's leukemia diagnosis, which required relocating for medical treatment. LaRae explains...

This week on the LiberatED podcast, Kerry McDonald talks with Serena Wilkie Gifford and Kate Walker of the Birches School , a nature-based K–8 independent school in the Boston area that began in 2012 with just five students and now serves about 75 learners. Serena and Kate share the school's founding story, its progressive educational philosophy, and how nature is woven throughout the curriculum—f...