Bria Bloom was unschooled from birth - no classrooms, no curriculum, no requirements. Now she works at the Alliance for Self-Directed Education (the organization Peter Gray co-founded), and she's raising her own kids the same way. In this conversation with host Ela Bass, Bria breaks down the relationship-first framework behind self-directed education, why denying your kid a math workbook can be just as controlling as forcing one on them, and what she actually wants for her children - the ability to define a good life for themselves.

Read the full blog post: https://opened.co/blog/unschooling-explained-lifelong-unschooler

About Bria Bloom:

Website: https://briabloom.com

Instagram: @bria.bloom

Twitter/X: @BriaBlooms

Substack (Partnership Parenting): https://partnershipparenting.substack.com

ASDE: https://self-directed.org

Is your child spirited, neurodivergent, or both? Family therapist Dr. Laura Froyen breaks down the one question to stop asking your kids - and what to say instead. Plus: the whitewater rafting analogy that reframes "difficult" behavior, and why even an expert took five years to solve one family problem.

Read the full blog post: https://opened.co/blog/spirited-child-what-questions-parenting

About Dr. Laura Froyen:

Website: https://laurafroyen.com

Instagram: @laurafroyenphd

Podcast: https://www.laurafroyen.com/podcast

Gretchen Roe laughed at her friend for homeschooling. A year later, she was doing it herself. Twenty-seven years and six kids later, she's one of the most experienced voices in the homeschool world - and her biggest warning isn't about curriculum. It's about what happens when parents overload the academics and forget the life skills that actually prepare kids for the world.

Read the full blog post: https://opened.co/blog/homeschool-soft-skills-independent-kids

About Gretchen Roe:

Gretchen Roe is Community Outreach Coordinator at Demme Learning, a 27-year homeschool veteran, and host of The Demme Learning Show. She homeschooled six children, each on a completely different path.

Website: https://demmelearning.com

Podcast: https://demmelearning.com/show

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/gretchenroe/

Your kid doesn't need to love math. They need to stop being taught wrong.

Jason Roberts coached a 4th-grade math team at a public school. By 7th grade, those kids were doing calculus - 6 years ahead of schedule. His teaching philosophy comes down to one question: how did you teach your kid to tie their shoes?

Jason Roberts and Justin Skycak (Math Academy) break down why lectures fail, how spaced repetition prevents forgetting, and what adaptive math learning actually looks like under the hood.

Read the full blog post: https://opened.co/blog/math-academy-review-shoe-tying-method

GUESTS

Jason Roberts - Co-Founder, Math Academy

Justin Skycak - Director of Analytics, Math Academy

Website: https://mathacademy.com

What does it actually take to start a microschool - and why are nearly 80 of them thriving across 20+ states? Amar Kumar, CEO of KaiPod Learning, shares five years of lessons.

Read the full blog post: https://opened.co/blog/how-to-start-a-microschool

Amar Kumar is the CEO and founder of KaiPod Learning, a microschool network with nearly 80 schools across 20+ states. A former classroom teacher turned education entrepreneur, Amar spent over a decade at Connections Academy before launching KaiPod in 2020.

Learn more: https://www.kaipodlearning.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kumaramar

X: https://x.com/AmarKumarEdu

Dr. Claire Honeycutt is a neuroscientist, researcher, and homeschool parent who recommends two philosophically opposed books - Well-Trained Mind and Free to Learn - and says you need both. In this second conversation, Dr. Claire explains why sensitive developmental windows matter, how she introduces rigor without killing joy, and why she thinks kids need to learn to think before they learn to prompt. If you missed Part 1, where Claire talks about leaving her tenured neuroscience career to homeschool, go watch that first: https://opened.co/blog/what-neuroscience-tells-us-about-homeschooling-dr-claire-honeycutt

Dr. Claire Honeycutt:

Substack: https://clarified.life

Twitter/X: https://x.com/HippyMomPhD

Most advice about homeschooling comes from parents, researchers, and experts. But what does a 16-year-old who's lived it - and documented it across four teenage lives - have to say? Turns out, we've been asking the wrong questions.

In this episode, Mason Ember shares what surprised him most about teenage homeschool communities, why his parents identified "storytelling" as his through-line instead of just "film," and his most pointed critique of homeschooling.

His philosophy: "Be pro-kid over pro-system." Whether you're homeschooling, considering it, or just curious about what education looks like when teens have more agency, Mason's perspective offers something you won't get from the usual experts - because he's the kid those experts are theorizing about.

Mason's Links:

- Documentary website: https://www.againstthegrade.com/

- Follow Mason on Instagram: @embers_insta

- NY Times letter to the editor: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/opinion/letters/home-schooling-debate.html

What does minimalism have to do with education?

Joshua Fields Millburn - co-founder of The Minimalists, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and New York Times bestselling author - has spent over a decade helping people declutter their lives. But when his dyslexic daughter started coming home with stomach aches every morning from traditional school, he realized minimalism applies to more than physical stuff.

In this conversation with OpenEd CEO Isaac Morehouse, Joshua shares his family's journey from public school struggle to thriving in an unschool environment - and the philosophy that made it possible.

The Minimalists

- Website: https://www.theminimalists.com/

- TEDx "Scrolling Is the New Smoking": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYK1u8Vg5No

- Netflix "Less Is Now": https://www.netflix.com/title/81074662

- Book "Love People, Use Things": https://www.theminimalists.com/lput/

What does minimalism have to do with education?

Joshua Fields Millburn - co-founder of The Minimalists, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and New York Times bestselling author - has spent over a decade helping people declutter their lives. But when his dyslexic daughter started coming home with stomach aches every morning from traditional school, he realized minimalism applies to more than physical stuff.

In this conversation with OpenEd CEO Isaac Morehouse, Joshua shares his family's journey from public school struggle to thriving in an unschool environment - and the philosophy that made it possible.

The Minimalists

- Website: https://www.theminimalists.com/

- TEDx "Scrolling Is the New Smoking": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYK1u8Vg5No

- Netflix "Less Is Now": https://www.netflix.com/title/81074662

- Book "Love People, Use Things": https://www.theminimalists.com/lput/

Krisy Shaughnessy never planned to homeschool. When COVID hit, she found herself renovating a house with her kids—and accidentally discovered they learned more from measuring boards than worksheets.

In this episode, Krisy shares the "vegetable trick" she uses to hide education in plain sight, the $2 Wonder Wall system that captures her kids' questions (like "Do slugs have guts?"), and why she believes boredom is one of the most valuable tools in homeschooling.

She also explains how she built a homeschool community from scratch by simply picking a park and sending an email—and why "if you want to be part of the village, you have to be willing to be the villager."

Resources Mentioned:

- Wonder Led Life (Instagram): [https://www.instagram.com/wonderledlife/]

- Prodigy Math Game: https://www.prodigygame.com/

- Life of Fred Books: https://lifeoffred.uniquemath.com/