Welcome back to a new episode where I have a conversation with Leah McDermott. Leah is an unschooling advocate and mother of three. After over a decade spent in the world of education, two Masters of Education degrees, and multiple teaching certifications, Leah slowly began to realize that the way we are teaching our children in public schools went against everything that we knew to be true about learning acquisition and child development. Her passion for helping other children and families led to her developing a child-led learning curriculum, creating a supportive space online for parents, and opening Bridge Academy - a private umbrella school for homeschoolers, Leah continues her life’s work of encouraging adults to unlearn what they’ve always believed to be true as they lean fully into trusting their children as natural, capable learners. Leah currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, Brian, their three boys, and a collection of pets.

In this episode we have a powerful conversation about some of the damaging long-term effects of schooling and the pressure that children often face at school. We share many of the benefits we have seen of supporting children to learn in their own way, in their own timing, relaxed and self-connected at home. We talk about cultivating trust in our children and dealing with the judgements and questions of others so that we can truly enjoy facilitating our children’s learning at home.

If you want to learn more about Leah’s work, please follow her on social media at Your Natural Learner or her website https://www.bridgeacademy.us/. If you want to learn more about Natural Learning from me, I have a series of articles on my website here https://awareparenting.com.au/articles/?_select_a_category=homeschoolingandnaturallearning. I also offer workshops on Natural Learning here https://awareparenting.com.au/my-courses/parenting-workshops/ and run an online natural learning and aware parenting community together with Marion Rose https://awareparenting.com.au/parenting-coaching/community/. We also have a podcast series together The Aware Parenting and Natural Learning Podcast, that you can find on all podcast platforms.