86. Beyond Drop-Off: What It Takes to Build Thriving SDE Communities

In this episode, we respond to our community’s questions from our recent survey. We talk about everything from navigating unsolicited advice, building family cultures rooted in mutual thriving, and supporting kids in burnout, to the complexities of screen time, finding offline community, and whether public schools can truly transform. As always, it’s not about having all the answers - it’s about being in the questions together. Tune in for heartfelt stories, practical reflections, and a peek into how we live, parent, and learn beyond the system.As mentioned in this episode:- You can find information on our Monthly Parent Support Circles here:https://radical-learning.thinkific.com/courses/support-circles- You can find information on The Shift experience here:https://radical-learning.thinkific.com/courses/the-shift-2025- Please consider making a donation to support the production of this podcast here: https://paypal.me/RadicalLearningLLC

What if I’m making the wrong decision for my kid?That question haunts so many of us - especially when we step away from the norm. In this episode, we dive into the fears and self-doubts that often surface when parents begin unschooling or embrace self-directed learning. What if this choice backfires? What if my child doesn’t thrive? What if they blame me later? Together, we explore the deeper roots of these fears - our longing for safety, our survival programming, our cultural conditioning - and we unpack what it means to make choices from alignment rather than fear. We reflect on how parenting, just like life, is a series of adaptations, not a one-and-done path.So if you’re sitting in that in-between space, questioning yourself or feeling overwhelmed by uncertainty, this episode is for you. You're not alone. And this isn't about perfection, it’s about presence, trust, and the willingness to grow.//As mentioned in this episode:- You can find information on The Shift experience here:https://radical-learning.thinkific.com/courses/the-shift-2025- You can find information on our Monthly Parent Support Circles here:https://radical-learning.thinkific.com/courses/support-circles- Please consider making a donation to support the production of this podcast here: https://paypal.me/RadicalLearningLLC

“Can I really do this unschooling thing?”So many parents ask this, and it makes sense. We’ve been conditioned to measure, assess, and perform our parenting. But what if the first step to unschooling isn’t doing anything at all? In this episode, we talk about the pressure to get it right, the deep unlearning this path invites, and the power of pausing. What if unschooling begins with a symbolic sabbatical? A chance to reconnect with your kids, yourself, and the present moment - without the pressure to prove anything.~As mentioned in this episode:- You can find information on The Shift experience here:https://radical-learning.thinkific.com/courses/the-shift-2025- Please consider making a donation to support the production of this podcast here: https://paypal.me/RadicalLearningLLC

What if unschooling isn’t just an educational choice, but a sacred initiation into presence, connection, and becoming? In this powerful and poetic conversation, we sit with Chevanni Davids: educator, father, ritualist, and founder of Reimagined Learning in South Africa. Together we explore the wild force of learning, the decolonization of time, and the radical tenderness required to hold the unknown. Chevanni invites us to reimagine unschooling not as an escape from systems, but as an embodied response to life’s deepest questions. With stories, metaphors, and reverence, he offers a different map for learning - one that honors silence, slowness, contradiction, and ceremony.This is not a conversation to “understand.” It’s one to feel. One to breathe with.~ As mentioned in this episode:You can contact Chevanni here:IG: @che_reimagined, @reimaginedlearningYou can check out Chevanni’s offering Entrusted with Uncertainty here:https://medium.com/@chevannidavids/entrusted-with-uncertainty-a-12-week-journey-through-deschooling-grief-and-eros-pathways-of-0e1b245a7dec

What does it really mean to decolonize education? In this episode, we unpack the colonial roots of conventional schooling and explore how education systems around the world have been used to disconnect people from their bodies, cultures, intuition, and identities. We reflect on how these patterns affect all of us - and what it might look like to reclaim learning, relationships, and wholeness. This is a deeply personal and paradigm-shifting conversation about power, agency, and the possibility of something different.As mentioned in this episode:- You can find information on The Shift experience here:https://radical-learning.thinkific.com/courses/the-shift-2025- Please consider making a donation to support the production of this podcast here: https://paypal.me/RadicalLearningLLC- Please email us at [email protected] with ny reflection, thoughts, stories or topics you wish for us to explore on the podcast!

What if deschooling wasn’t just about learning? What if it was also about grief, ritual, and honoring the life that unfolds when we stop trying to control it?In this powerful conversation, we sit down with Akilah S. Richards - author of Raising Free People and longtime voice of liberation in learning and living. Akilah shares how her journey has moved beyond deschooling, into the work of tending grief, slowing down, and trusting what life is calling us toward.We explore: - Why grief and liberation are inseparable- How to compost the past instead of dragging it- Ritual as resistance to urgency- What it means to stop designing life and start following itThis episode is an invitation - to presence, to possibility, and to the courage of not knowing.Tune in now, and check out Akilah’s new podcast What I Let Die @ www.radicalselfie.org.You can also find and support Akilah’s work at:www.raisingfreepeople.com

Right now, we’re living through a massive shift. Systems are crumbling, disempowerment is widespread, and uncertainty feels overwhelming. It’s no longer enough to just opt out of broken systems- we need to actively create something different. But how? How do we move beyond control, beyond fear, beyond what we’ve internalized, and instead reclaim agency for ourselves and the young people in our lives?This moment in history is calling us to do deep, internal work. The world is shifting, and our kids don’t need us to have all the answers, they need us to show up with integrity, presence, and empowerment. In this episode, we explore what it really takes to co-create a new way forward - one rooted in connection, dignity, and consent. From shadow work to healing intergenerational wounds, from active hope to shifting our relationships with power, we unpack the inner and outer work required to truly embody the change we wish to see.If this conversation resonates with you, join us on April 27, 2025, for a live online discussion on this very theme. You can register here:https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/1a4qw2gxRtOsooygAIdpJA//As mentioned in this episode:- You can find information on The Shift experience here:https://radical-learning.thinkific.com/courses/the-shift-2025- You can find information on our Monthly Parent Support Circles here:https://radical-learning.thinkific.com/courses/support-circles- Please consider making a donation to support the production of this podcast here: https://paypal.me/RadicalLearningLLC

In this episode, we dive deep into something that comes up again and again in our work and personal conversations: how to create a different way of being in the world. In a time marked by fear, division, and control, how can we move beyond pointing fingers at what’s wrong and instead orient ourselves toward what we actually want to create? How do we break free from binary thinking and conditioned behaviors that keep us stuck? And most importantly, how do we reconnect with ourselves, each other, and our dreams for a different kind of future? Join us for an exploration of spaciousness, play, non-violent communication, somatics, and community support as we unpack what it takes to shift into a new paradigm.//As mentioned in this episode:- You can find information on our The Shifthttps://radical-learning.thinkific.com/courses/the-shift-2025- Please consider making a donation to support the production of this podcast here: https://paypal.me/RadicalLearningLLC

In this episode, we dive into a question we hear a lot: Can you still unschool if your kids have to be in the system? Spoiler alert…yes, you can.Today we break down the challenges of unschooling while navigating school life, whether it’s because of legal stuff, financial realities, or even your kid’s own choice to go to school. We talk about how deschooling is always possible, why parental advocacy matters, and how to work through all that "schoolish" conditioning, even if school’s part of your life.If you’ve ever felt stuck between your values and the realities of school, this episode is for you. Let’s talk about how to unschool from the inside out - no matter where your kid spends their days.//As mentioned in this episode:- You can find information on our Parent Support Circles here: SDE Communities: https://radical-learning.thinkific.com/courses/package-parent-supportIndividual Parents: https://radical-learning.thinkific.com/courses/support-circles- Please consider making a donation to support the production of this podcast here: https://paypal.me/RadicalLearningLLC

In this episode of RLT we explore what truly makes self-directed learning communities thrive, and why so many struggle. Parents often enter these spaces expecting an alternative to school, yet unknowingly bring a schoolish mindset with them. But SDE isn’t just about where kids learn; it’s about shifting how we relate to learning, power, and community.In this episode, we unpack shared accountability, deschooling work for adults, and the hidden labor of running learning centers. How can parents move from a transactional mindset to active participation? What support do facilitators need to hold space for both kids and families? And how do we create communities where everyone - kids, parents, and facilitators - can truly thrive?As mentioned in this episode:- You can find information on our Parent Support Circles here: https://radical-learning.thinkific.com/courses- Please consider making a donation to support the production of this podcast here: https://paypal.me/RadicalLearningLLC