Today I am joined by Naomi Fisher, a child psychologist and parent of two unschooled teenagers. So, we are talking about the teenage years and how hard it can be particularly for those young people who have left the school system after some stress and difficult experiences. Naomi tells us about her soon-to-be-published book, The Teenager's Guide to Taking Control of Your Education: Learning Beyond School. And we talk about what parents can do to help their teenagers reconnect with themselves and their interests and feel more empowered in their learning and their lives beyond school.

Join Naomi's online book launch on Saturday July 18th!

https://naomifisher.co.uk/

If you'd like to support the podcast and the sharing of these stories, you can do that here. Thank you!

The Parent's Handbook to Unschooling Yourself. A Mindful Guide to Embracing a New Way of Living and Learning With Your Child

You can sign up for weekly resources around unschooling and mindful parenting at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on

Substack: https://substack.com/@estherjones
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estherjones.beyondschool
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheUnschoolSpace

In this episode I am joined by Meghan Suniga-Davies. Meghan has three unschooled children who are now all teens and young adults and she also has extensive experience working with young people in self-directed learning spaces. We talk about her family’s journey to unschooling and her particular deschooling journey. And we talk about what it means to live in partnership with our young people and prioritise our relationship, particularly when they are feeling challenged by something. I hope you enjoy the conversation!

About Meghan
Meghan is a born and raised Austinite partnered with adult and teen unschoolers, a long time youth rights advocate, community builder and facilitator of alternative programming to conventional school. She has worked with youth for over 15 years and is passionate about youth liberation, promoting autonomy, self-directed education and anti-oppression through collaborative exploration of the city.

She supports adults moving away from control and toward partnership in both education and relationships. She believes empowering youth in collaborative decision-making within the community paves the way for a future where the personhood of all youth are not reduced to "adults in training" but recognized as fully capable of contributing meaningfully to society.

She has been involved with the unschooling community for more than a decade. The Alliance for Self-Directed Education and Mosaic are organizations she’s been a part of where she brings energy and momentum around making SDE more accessible to people around the world!

atxflyingsquad.com

itsjusmeghan.com

If you'd like to support the podcast and the sharing of these stories, you can do that here. Thank you!

The Parent's Handbook to Unschooling Yourself. A Mindful Guide to Embracing a New Way of Living and Learning With Your Child

You can sign up for weekly resources around unschooling and mindful parenting at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on

Substack: https://substack.com/@estherjones
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estherjones.beyondschool
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheUnschoolSpace

In this episode, I am chatting with Megan Arevalo, who lives in Michigan with her husband and two children, who are three and eight. After initially homeschooling, Megan came to unschooling after her daughter’s burnout, when she realised she needed to focus entirely on connection and wellbeing. Megan talks about the subsequent autism diagnoses and her own path from feeling like she had to hold everything together to understanding her own neurodivergence. And we talk about what it looks like to embrace connection over control, let go of perfectionism, and keep learning from our children. I hope you enjoy the conversation.

Connect with Megan:

https://megantarevalo.substack.com/

If you'd like to support the podcast and the sharing of these stories, you can do that here. Thank you!

The Parent's Handbook to Unschooling Yourself. A Mindful Guide to Embracing a New Way of Living and Learning With Your Child

You can sign up for weekly resources around unschooling and mindful parenting at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on

Substack: https://substack.com/@estherjones
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estherjones.beyondschool
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheUnschoolSpace

In this episode, I am chatting with Carey Kirkella who lives with her husband and eight-year-old son in New York City. They came to unschooling after her son had many struggles at pre-K then in Kindergarten. Though on the outside he seemed to be doing fine, Carey saw how he was becoming more anxious and stressed and had increasing sensory issues.

Carey shares how her son is doing now and how their lives look, along with all the challenges that come with accompanying a child as they recover from burnout, and how that impacts her too. I hope you enjoy the conversation!

Connect with Carey

instagram.com

LinkedIn

www.careykirkella.com

If you'd like to support the podcast and the sharing of these stories, you can do that here. Thank you!

The Parent's Handbook to Unschooling Yourself. A Mindful Guide to Embracing a New Way of Living and Learning With Your Child

You can sign up for weekly resources around unschooling and mindful parenting at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on

Substack: https://substack.com/@estherjones
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estherjones.beyondschool
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheUnschoolSpace

Today’s episode is a little different as I am chatting with Victor and Eitan, who are 16 and 15 and attend Alcove Learning, a self-directed learning space in LA. They both came to Alcove after many years in public school, and after some mental health struggles. It was really such a joy to talk with them about what it has meant to them to have choice and agency over what they do in their days, and to be part of a supportive community that places wellbeing above all else. They really have so many wonderful and thoughtful insights to share. I hope you enjoy the conversation!

https://www.alcovelearning.org/

If you'd like to support the podcast and the sharing of these stories, you can do that here. Thank you!

The Parent's Handbook to Unschooling Yourself. A Mindful Guide to Embracing a New Way of Living and Learning With Your Child

You can sign up for weekly resources around unschooling and mindful parenting at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on

Substack: https://substack.com/@estherjones
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estherjones.beyondschool
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheUnschoolSpace

In this episode I am chatting with Munira Adenwalla, who is an occupational therapist and lives in London with her 14-year-old son. Munira realised when her son was young that school would not be a good fit for him. We talk about how our school conditioning runs deep and the worries that can come when we step away from it. And Munira tells us what unschooling looks like for her son, and how in hindsight she can see how his particular path has unfolded as he has followed his interests. We also talk about why unschooling allows neurodivergent children far more space to understand themselves and to forge a path that feels right for them.

Connect with Munira

FB page: https://www.facebook.com/ot4kidswithmunira
Parents' FB Group: www.facebook.com/groups/helpingkidswrite
Website: https://www.ot4kids.co.uk

If you'd like to support the podcast and the sharing of these stories, you can do that here. Thank you!

The Parent's Handbook to Unschooling Yourself. A Mindful Guide to Embracing a New Way of Living and Learning With Your Child

You can sign up for weekly resources around unschooling and mindful parenting at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on

Substack: https://substack.com/@estherjones
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estherjones.beyondschool
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheUnschoolSpace

This episode, I am with Zahra Lightway and Patricia Sprenger of Light Way Learning. Both came to alternative education through feeling disilusioned with the education system, Zahra as a teacher whose son had found the system difficult, and Patricia as a parent whose children were struggling at school. We talk about learning looks when it doesn’t look like school, the power of just observing our children, and the amazing things that can happen when they have agency over their own learning. And, they explain why they started Lightway Learning, to help parents with their transition to learning beyond school. I hope you enjoy the conversation.

Zahra Lightway, M.Ed, BA
Co-founder of Light Way Learning and creator of Famli & Light Way Home Educator Academy. I understand what it's like to watch children lose their spark in traditional schooling. I witnessed it for over a decade as a classroom teacher. That heartbreak led me to spend four years researching how children actually learn best, drawing from 150+ years of alternative education research and real experience with hundreds of families. I created the Light Way Home Educator Academy to give parents what I wished I'd had: a clear, proven framework that honors how children naturally learn while giving families the structure and support they need to feel confident: a course, coaching, community and AI tool to make learning visible, all in one place. My approach weaves together holistic educational principles, emotional intelligence, and collaborative decision-making tools, all designed to help parents create a learning life that feels joyful and sustainable rather than stressful and overwhelming. You can find out more about our first course, The Foundations Journey, here and/or do our free introductory training here.

Patricia Sprenger home educated her two children from ages 10 and 11 through high school, blending her 30-year background as a movement specialist with an academic approach rooted in nervous-system balance, emotional regulation, and organic, interest-driven learning. Drawing on her expertise in the language of the body, she developed a holistic educational model that was intentional yet free-spirited, honoring every curiosity with equal value. Now in their early twenties, her children are thriving—one in his first year of law school at UCincinnati, and the other completing her final year in plant science at Cornell University before pursuing a PhD. Patricia currently serves as a co-founder and academic advisor for Homeschool Directive, a globally recognized accredited home-education program that empowers families to personalize learning and confidently translate student interests into rigorous coursework that is respected by both universities and employers.

If you'd like to support the podcast and the sharing of these stories, you can do that here. Thank you!

The Parent's Handbook to Unschooling Yourself. A Mindful Guide to Embracing a New Way of Living and Learning With Your Child

You can sign up for weekly resources around unschooling and mindful parenting at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on

Substack: https://substack.com/@estherjones
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estherjones.beyondschool
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheUnschoolSpace

In this episode, I am talking with Sue Patterson, who lives in Austin Texas. Sue is an unschooling coach, author, and the founder and voice behind Unschooling Mom2Mom. Sue has three adult children, who are now in their thirties, and who were all unschooled. Sue tells of how she came to unschooling when her children were young, after seeing how they were failing to thrive in traditional school. We talk about her deschooling process and how important it is to change the stories in our heads, and to focus on the here and now and the connection with our children. I hope you enjoy the conversation.

Connect with Sue

Unschooling Mom2Mom: http://www.UnschoolingMom2Mom.com
Creating Confidence Daily App: https://www.unschoolingmom2mom.com/creating-confidence-daily
Unschooling Membership Community: https://www.unschoolingmom2mom.com/creating-confidence-membership
Strewing Calendar: https://www.unschoolingmom2mom.com/strewing-calendars

If you'd like to support the podcast and the sharing of these stories, you can do that here. Thank you!

The Parent's Handbook to Unschooling Yourself. A Mindful Guide to Embracing a New Way of Living and Learning With Your Child

You can sign up for weekly resources around unschooling and mindful parenting at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on

Substack: https://substack.com/@estherjones
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estherjones.beyondschool
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheUnschoolSpace