LiberatED Podcast
Kerry McDonald
The LiberatED Podcast tells the stories of the entrepreneurial parents and teachers who are creating innovative K-12 learning options across the US and expanding education options for families.
This twice-weekly podcast is hosted by Kerry McDonald, a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education and leader of the Education Entrepreneurship Lab. A regular contributor at Forbes.com and The 74, Kerry is the bestselling author of Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom (Chicago Review Press, 2019), and the author of the forthcoming book, Joyful Learning: How To Find Freedom, Happiness, and Success Beyond Conventional Schooling (Hachette, 2025). She has a BA in economics from Bowdoin College and a master’s degree in education policy from Harvard University. A mom of four, Kerry lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter at edentrepreneur.org.
This twice-weekly podcast is hosted by Kerry McDonald, a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education and leader of the Education Entrepreneurship Lab. A regular contributor at Forbes.com and The 74, Kerry is the bestselling author of Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom (Chicago Review Press, 2019), and the author of the forthcoming book, Joyful Learning: How To Find Freedom, Happiness, and Success Beyond Conventional Schooling (Hachette, 2025). She has a BA in economics from Bowdoin College and a master’s degree in education policy from Harvard University. A mom of four, Kerry lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter at edentrepreneur.org.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 20, 2023 • 38min
How the Wildflower Montessori Microschool Network Empowers Teacher-Entrepreneurs
Our guest today is Judy Dwyre, who in the fall of 2019 launched Allium Montessori, a microschool for children ages 6 to 12 that is part of the national Wildflower Montessori microschool network. The first Wildflower microschool opened in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2014. Today, there are more than 60 of these microschools across the US and Puerto Rico. Most of them are private, but Wildflower public charter microschools now also operate in New York City, Minneapolis, and Washington, DC. (I visited and interviewed the founders of the Wildflower charter school in the South Bronx back in episode 94.) And I’ve also visited Judy’s Allium Montessori here in Cambridge, which is located just around the corner from me in Harvard Square. *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.
Oct 18, 2023 • 1min
Who is the LiberatED Podcast for?
What is the LiberatED Podcast and who should listen? Check out this quick trailer to learn more!
Oct 17, 2023 • 32min
Trauma-Informed Education with Ellemercito Academy founder Lizette Valles
Today's guest is Lizette Valles, a longtime teacher and school librarian who founded Ellemercito Academy in 2021 as a microschool focused on experiential learning and trauma-informed approaches to education. She is also the founder of Compass Educators, an educational services center that began as a holistic tutoring program but expanded to offer more services driven by parent demand, including support for navigating school choice policies, and support for "road schooling" and "worldschooling" families. *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.
Oct 13, 2023 • 42min
Entrepreneur Bob Luddy & Thales Academy
Bob Luddy is a successful entrepreneur who founded CaptiveAire Systems, the nation’s leading manufacturer of commercial kitchen ventilation systems, and later became an education entrepreneur, founding Thales Academy in 2007. Thales Academy is a classically-focused network of low-cost, PreK-12 private schools that has seen extraordinary growth from starting as a microschool with 30 students in a temporary spot in the back of Luddy's corporate office to now serving over 6,100 students across 13 locations in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Thales was recently named a semi-finalist for the prestigious Yass Prize for education innovation. Entrepreneurial Life: The Path from Startup to Market Leader, by Robert Luddy *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.
Oct 10, 2023 • 39min
"School was very dehumanizing." Why this NYC public school teacher left to launch a microschool
Rachel Goff taught in the New York City public schools for 16 years. She was growing increasingly disillusioned by what she was seeing unfold in the conventional classroom and finally decided to leave and launch Creative Space Learning Center in 2021, after choosing homeschooling for her own children. Creative Space is a learning center for PreK- 8th grade homeschooled children in Long Beach, New York, on the south shore of Long Island, that follows a child-led learning philosophy. *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.
Oct 6, 2023 • 55min
From 6 Students to 60 in 3 Years! Florida Founder Felicia Rattray on Starting & Scaling Microschools
Felicia Rattray, Founder of Permission To Succeed Academy, discusses starting and scaling microschools with personalized, mastery-based, culturally relevant curriculum. Topics include her motivation for creating a microschool, creating supportive learning spaces, increasing enrollment through school choice policies, expanding education offerings, and reflections on the rewards of being an education entrepreneur.
Oct 3, 2023 • 31min
The Intersection of STEM & Neurodiversity: Kenneth Mims talks about advocacy and entrepreneurship
Kenneth Mims is the founder of Science Prep Academy in Phoenix, a private STEM microschool for neurodivergent students in grades 6th-12th. Ken founded Science Prep in 2017 after working for several years with autistic students in Arizona. Last fall, Science Prep was awarded the $1 million “Ducey Prize” funded by Janine Yass, founder of The Yass Prize, to enable the school to open at least five more schools in the Phoenix area and increase capacity to 800 students in new schools throughout the country. Ken is also the founder of the Neurodiversity Education Research Center which helps to support neurodivergent students as they prepare to enter the workforce in STEM-related fields. Science Prep Academy is a program of this research center. *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.
Sep 29, 2023 • 44min
Microschooling In Appalachia: Holler Creek School embraces “radical rural education”
Holler Creek School of Appalachian Ecology is a small, private K-5 school located in Carroll County, Virginia, just below the Blue Ridge Parkway. Its two founders are Aaron Sebens and Melanie Schrage, both experienced educators who wanted to create a school that embraces what they call “radical rural education.” They launched Holler Creek in the fall of 2021. *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.
Sep 26, 2023 • 37min
Church-Based Learning Centers: A conversation with Pastor Josh Robertson, founder of Black Pastors United for Education
Pastor Joshua Robertson is the Senior Pastor of The Rock Church of Harrisburg, PA and CEO and founder of Black Pastors United for Education. Through his role, he has spearheaded a variety of community initiatives aimed at education and youth empowerment, including establishing church-based learning centers for local young people who are enrolled in one of Pennsylvania’s virtual charter schools. *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.
Sep 22, 2023 • 46min
“I was made to take rights away from kids.” Why a public school teacher quit and started a microschool
Josh Pickel grew up in Canton, Illinois and returned home to teach at the public schools he had once attended. As time went on, he felt increasingly unsettled about the coercive classroom dynamics characteristic of conventional schooling. Josh began researching alternative education models and came across Liberated Learners, a network of self-directed learning centers for teenagers modeled after North Star, a learning center in western Massachusetts that was started in 1996 by Ken Danford, who was also a disillusioned public school teacher. Last summer, Josh quit his teaching job to open Canton Learning Collaborative, a self-directed microschool for homeschoolers. It grew from 5 learners last fall to 15 young people over the course of its first year. *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.
