LiberatED Podcast Kerry McDonald
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- Education
Conversations with the innovators creating education options for parents and learners outside the conventional classroom.
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Magatte Wade on entrepreneurship and human flourishing
Magatte Wade is an entrepreneur and author renowned for her dynamic approach to business and her dedication to fostering economic development in Africa. Born in Senegal, Magatte is the founder and CEO of SkinIsSkin.com, a skincare company providing high-quality, ethically sourced products. Magatte’s entrepreneurial journey began with Adina World Beat Beverages, a company she founded in 2004 that produced drinks inspired by traditional African recipes and emphasized fair trade principles. She is the author of the new book, The Heart of a Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to About African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing.
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Why this new farm school is in such high demand
Located on beautiful 400-acre organic farm in Smyrna, Tennessee, about 20 miles outside of Nashville, Bloomsbury Farm School began in 2020 with one teacher, Kaiti Dewhirst Monroe, and five homeschooled children, including farmer Lauren Palmer’s own five-year-old. Today, it is a Reggio Emilia-inspired K-5 farm school, with additional parent-child programming for littler ones, that currently serves 86 children with a growing waitlist.
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The enduring legacy of the Alternative Education Resource Organization
Founded in 1989 by alternative education advocate Jerry Mintz, the Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO) continues to provide resources, support, and community for parents, teachers, and learners interested in alternatives to traditional schooling.
AERO's Peter Berg joins me today to talk about the organization's enduring legacy and its upcoming, annual conference being held in June in Minneapolis.
My podcast listeners can click this link to register for the conference at a discounted rate.
"I Quit, I Think," by John Taylor Gatto on AERO's website
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Why one founder decided now is the time to launch a new school in Iowa
Robert Kimble is the founder of Dream Academy in Dubuque, Iowa. A project of the Dubuque Dream Center, an afterschool program that Kimble cofounded in 2013, Dream Academy is opening this August as a faith-based, K-7 private school with plans to grow through high school by 2029. More than 50 students have already enrolled, and all are attending tuition-free thanks to Iowa's new universal school choice program.
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Corey DeAngelis on The Parent Revolution
Corey DeAngelis is a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children and a visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He is the author of the new book—out today—entitled: The Parent Revolution: Rescuing Your Kids from the Radicals Ruining Our Schools.
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Unschooling at The Dandelion Project, where learner agency is key
Hannah Mackey and Lauren Umlauf are former teachers who cofounded The Dandelion Project, an unschooling community in Philadelphia that offers daytime programming for homeschoolers as well as after school programs and summer camps that emphasize self-directed education. They also do homeschooling evaluations for homeschoolers throughout Pennsylvania through an unschooling lens.
45 Years of Microschools in Philadelphia: Inside the Growing Movement of Child-Centered Schooling Alternatives (The 74)
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