Today I’m here with Kerry McDonald talking about unschooling. Kerry is an unschooling mother of 4 with a master’s degree in education policy from Harvard University and the author of the book Unschooled. We go over origins of schools, threats to a family’s legal right to choose homeschooling, how children learn, what unschooling is, how literacy and numeracy develop naturally, society level replacements for school, teens, and launching. Get the full show notes here: rachelrainbolt.com/podcast47 Support the Sage Family Podcast here: patreon.com/sagefamily

47: Unschooling with Kerry McDonald

Rachel Rainbolt is the mama behind the Sage Family Podcast, where we gather around a virtual campfire to share meaningful conversations with inspiring and insightful friends around Gentle Parenting, Natural Homeschooling, and Simple Living.  Are you ready to live the family life of your dreams?

Kids & Family

Parenting

Education for Kids

“There was a child that drowned when they were with their dad at a public pool and the mom was blamed while being five states away, and I thought, that was something I’d never considered, that women are blamed for the well-being of their children no matter what.” Zach Watson joins me in today’s episode about Sharing Labor. Zach is a content creator and coach teaching men to better see the invisible labor that is happening around them. We discuss his awakening, examples of mental, emotional and domestic labor, why women carry so much of this load, how language is important, how to discuss this in our partnerships without triggering defensiveness, working on this ADHD, and supporting a societal shift toward greater equity. Get the full show notes at sagefamily.com/podcast96.

96: Shared Labor with Zach Watson

“Ceremony is the point in time when we all know it’s time to stop . . . and honor something or someone. Ceremony is the time and the place. And ritual, those are the elements within ceremony that get us deeper, that actually encourage us to pause and find meaning. So the elements of ritual: things like symbolism, the activation of the senses . . . all of those things get us to here, now, which then helps us with the other element—what is the story underneath the story?” Magdalena Garcia joins me in today’s episode about Ceremony. Magdalena is a mother, educator, writer, birth story listener, parenting coach and ceremony facilitator. We discuss the religion gap, tools for creating ceremonies, birthdays, transitions, birth, teenagers, and holidays. Get the full show notes at sagefamily.com/podcast95.

95: Ceremony with Magdalena Garcia

“What happens when you don’t teach a whole group of people to understand their emotions is that they become extremely emotionally dysregulated . . . it then tends to be a woman who is tasked with modulated that partner’s expression, especially when there are kids involved and you’re trying to be a buffer between that temper—that mood—and your children.” Rose Hackman joins me in today’s episode about Emotional Labor. Rose is a British journalist and the author of Emotional Labor. We discuss what emotional labor is, how it develops, the problem of it being invisible and unvalued, how men are also harmed by patriarchy, how to make our relationships more egalitarian, and what changes we could make in society to value emotional labor. Get the full show notes at sagefamily.com/podcast94.

94: Emotional Labor with Rose Hackman

“I believe that all humans have a right to ownership over their body, over their mental, spiritual, emotional autonomy and consent is kind of a way to ensure that it’s not just us being autonomous everywhere but we are also respecting other people’s boundaries and right to be autonomous. My autonomy ends where yours begins.” Fran Liberatore joins me in today’s episode about Consent. Fran is a writer, podcaster, Masters student and ex-educator, as well as an unschooling mother of two children. We discuss what consent is, why it matters, how it connects to adultism, how to create a culture of consent in our homes, making consent-based decisions, consent-based education, to what extent children are able to consent, and if everything has to be arrived a through a collaborative process. Get the full show notes at sagefamily.com/podcast93.

93: Consent with Fran Liberatore

“We have to give them the neuroscience. This is going to strip any shame. It’s going to make it easier for them to turn and face and own their behavior. We really have to turn these feelings into allies and friends.” Karen Young joins me in today’s episode about inner warriors (anxiety). Karen is a psychologist, speaker, consultant, the founder of Hey, Sigmund, and the author of Hey, Warrior. We discuss ways anxiety shows up in kids that are often not recognized as anxiety, how we can frame anxiety for our children, how to guide our own nervous systems back to safety, how to support a child through co-regulation, how to hold boundaries for safety while holding space for big feelings, why repair is important, how to help our children through hard experiences so they don’t get stuck as traumas. Get the full show notes at sagefamily.com/podcast92.

47: Unschooling with Kerry McDonald

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