Radical Learning Talks

There is a really clear idea in society of what skills have more value than others for our growing young people, and usually on top you will find reading, writing and math. But what happens when your kid (or even you) aren’t big readers and what are the feelings and fears around that?! In this episode we scratch the surface of this multilayered theme around hierarchy of skills and what lurks benea...

Limits? Boundaries? What's the difference? What are they about? In this episode, we dive into the deep waters of needs, emotions and what boundaries are really about: self-discovery and understanding ourselves, and how to learn how to honor our needs and develop empathy with ourselves and with others.

Ahhhh our kids want to quit something! What do we do? If they dont push through they will never learn..  These are thoughts old versions of ourselves can relate to and we see so common in parenting. We often fall into wanting to "support" by pushing our kids - or let's be honest - manipulate them.  We think there are so many benefits to sticking to whatever it is they're doing, a...

Does unschooling really work? Well, in this episode of Radical Learning Talks we chat with Alex Khost a long time unschooling father , facilitator & youth right’s advocate who shares how it’s not only possible, it’s in fact a reality for many. He shares stories from his 20+ years of advocating for & supporting youth on how to be present & build trusting relationships with kids and how...

“But Sari & Becka, how do you deschool without kids?” We were recently asked this question and it’s also one that we have been trying to find the words to speak to as we offer deschooling intensive training for both parents & adults supporting youth! The answer... deschooling actually has nothing to do with kids or school, it has to do with the many layers of conditioning that we peel back...

Unschooling can sound really wonderful, and in theory so many of us are totally on board with the concept. But then we start practicing it with our kids, and suddenly it no longer feels that amazing. Doubts and fears pop up and we wobble and wonder if this is really for us. Maybe it doesn't work? Should we just throw in the towel, or are there other options? In this episode we talk about all o...

There is so much talk in unschooling/ deschooling circles around supporting younger kids, but we seldom hear about what unschooling with tweens/ teens does or can look like. What we tend to hear most is lots of fear or assumptions around supporting these youth… they are gonna be lazy, rebellious, lost, unsuccessful, etc. etc.  In this episode we bust these and more myths and talk about what h...

Do you ever wonder what it's like to build trust with kids, or intentional culture, or what the role of the facilitator is in breaking habits to fully support ourselves and young people to thrive?  In this episode we are joined by Anthony Galloway, a professional facilitator and self-directed education practitioner with over 10 years of experience in building intentional culture, community an...

Deschooling is all about challenging oxidized beliefs and it extends past what we think about learning & education, encompassing how we view and treat ourselves and others.  In this episode, we specifically chat about the judgements society holds around body image & aging and as a result, the limiting beliefs that we are personally struggling with in our own deschooling process. ...

There is no one size-fits all approach to unschooling. What works for one young person/ family may not for another and we definitely do  our young people a disservice if we have unrealistic expectations of them or try to force them to adapt to circumstances that they may not be ready for. This is especially true in supporting neurodivergent kids and in this episode we share some of our discov...

Let’s talk about a hard side of unschooling… sitting with discomfort! As we dig into our deschooling work of looking at and shedding limiting beliefs around relationship, learning & community there are many times when it seems like our world gets flipped upside down and we want to try to remedy and fix things, falling back to old patterns.  In this episode, we share our perspective about...

In our last episode of the year, we chat with Bria Bloom, a born and raised unschooler, youth rights advocate and Executive Director of the Alliance for Self-Directed Education. Bria shares her perspective on the different flavors of unschooling, the intersectionality of deschooling and about her experience in the SDE world.

The biggest wound school inflicts on us is that it disconnects us from our unique configuration of interests and passions - and our ability to read our inner compass. As unschooling parents it’s never too late to heal!  In this  episode we talk about this, and how instead of "just" being an unschooling parent, we can become unschoolers ourselves.

Whether you come to unschooling focused only on liberated learning, social justice, conscious parenting or from an intersectional lens, the pathway is layered and complex and usually leads us to deep questioning and transformation. In this episode we share about our entryways into unschooling and our evolution through the never ending process of deschooling.

Can we tell you how much we love this episode with the amazing and courageous Domari Dickinson - a recovering educator, unschooling mother of 4, badass parent coach and leading voice in the SDE movement.  Domari openly shares about her deschooling journey of going from an approval chasing, controlling, punishing mom to a conscious, peaceful and revolutionary parent. We talk about what trips u...

What do you do when you realize your kid isn't like other kids? Are you trying to force them to behave in a more socially acceptable way? Or do you blame yourself for not being a good enough parent?  In this episode we share what it has been like for us to discover that our kids are neurodivergent, how we're navigating it and how unschooling is an amazing way of embracing your kids' unique se...

We often hear parents say that they treat their kids like adults - and believe us, we’ve done it ourselves! But why do we do that? And should we, really?  In this episode we talk about the pitfalls of treating kids like adults.

In this episode we are chatting with Alex Bretas, a Brazilian visionary, author, community organizer and a leading voice in the SDE movement. We talk about why it's so hard for adults to learn how to self-direct, what stands in the way that we need to unlearn, the importance of community and the difference between formal and informal studies. For Alex, there's no doubt: self-direction is the way h...

In this episode we share our perception of what our role as unschooling parents is.  For us, the most critical thing in unschooling is understanding that more than anything, what our kids need is for us to do some serious inner work on ourselves. That means it's not so much about “doing things right”, but rather focusing on the relationship we’re building with our kids. Why? Because relations...

What do you do when you realize that your dream project no longer matches how you want to feel or how you want to do things? Well, in our case, when it comes to our ALC Explora, we decided to deschool the whole project! What will it look like? Listen in and learn more about it!

In this episode, we dive deep with Chemay Morals-James, founder of My Reflection Matters Village and a social liberation & equity coach.  We talk about her virtual deschooling community and deschooling as decolonization work, what's wrong with the school system and the importance of learning - and unlearning - in community.

There are times in our lives when we just know something is off and needs to shift, but we don't exactly what or how. In this episode we talk about some signs that tell us that our lense needs to shift around learning, parenting, relationships and community.  We talk about how this is the initial spark of all deschooling work and why this is our focus in our upcoming training - The Shift!

One of the biggest fears of us parents is fucking up our kids. Therefore most of us are doing all we can to find a parenting style and an education that will guarantee that our kids turn into good, successful humans.  But is there really any foolproof method? Isn't it all a huge experiment? Unschooling for sure is, and instead of hiding it, in this episode we embrace the fact that yes, we are...

In this episode we have a blast with Lucy AitkenRead, a bad-ass unschooler and unschooling mom that works to support parents on their deschooling/unschooling journey.  We cover soooo many topics in this chat: how the unschooling movement is evolving, how we've all been wounded by school, how deschooling is deep healing work - and so much more!

Have you ever been in a situation with your kid where you suddenly feel the urge to teach them something you think is valuable and find yourself shoveling knowledge down their throats?  We call those teaching moments, and they're as yucky as they sound! In this episode we'll dissect what this very common phenomenon is about, why we dislike it so much and what to do instead.