Rachel Good is the founder of Discovery Learners’ Academy (DLA), a microschool that opened in Chattanooga, Tennessee in fall 2022. Rachel worked for more than 8 years as a public school teacher in Washington and Tennessee before launching DLA as a state-recognized PreK-12 private school with a personalized educational approach. It opened with 21 learners and today has 50—about 15 of whom attend part-time as homeschoolers. About half of the school’s students are neurodiverse, a population that Good caters to as a former special education teacher.  *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

Iman Alleyne is the founder of Kind Academy and creator of Launch Your Kind, an accelerator program for those interested in opening their own microschools! *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

Kaity Broadbent is the Chief Empowerment Advocate at Prenda, the national network that has helped to launch hundreds of microschools serving thousands of learners since 2018. A homeschooling mom, Kaity is a thoughtful and insightful voice on the topic of personalized learning and alternative education models. Prior to Prenda, Kaity was a Speech-Language Pathologist in public schools, literacy coach, and curriculum designer. She's a certified peaceful parenting coach and mom to four Prenda kids ages 4 to 11. *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

Denise Lever was a firefighter turned homeschooling mom who launched a Prenda microschool in August 2020 in the rural town of Eager, Arizona in Apache County, which is one of the poorest counties in the US and one of only 3 counties in the entire country where neither English nor Spanish is the primary language spoke at home. In Apache County, that language is Navajo. Denise is also an administrator of 5 other independently operated Prenda microschools in her town of Eager.  *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

When Shari Robinson's oldest son wasn't thriving in public school, she pulled him out for homeschooling and then began homeschooling her other children as well. It was her personal experience of homeschooling her own children that inspired Shari over the years to create various STEM activities for local homeschoolers, including continuing to lead one of the highest-ranked robotics teams in the state.  Those efforts evolved into Homeschool Resources Group and Pierian Spring Academy of Arts & Sciences, two low-cost education organizations located in Mechanicsville, Virginia, just outside of Richmond. Homeschool Resources Group serves as a membership-based learning center for homeschoolers, while Pierian Spring Academy is a small, recognized K-12 private school that uses a variety of individualized curriculum resources. *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

Eric Oglesbee is a school founder turned funder. He helped to launch River Montessori High School in South Bend, Indiana that is currently the only high school in the expanding Wildflower Montessori microschool network. After his experience as a founder, Eric joined The Drexel Fund in 2022. The Drexel Fund is a nonprofit philanthropic fund that provides seed and next-stage funding to high-quality private schools serving low-income students and those with learning differences. Apply to Drexel's Founders Program. *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.    

Imani Jackson is an experienced educator currently working as an elementary school teacher in a traditional private school who is launching Poinciana Montessori in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia this fall as part of the fast-growing Wildflower Montessori microschool network.  *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

My guest today is Eric Wearne, Associate Professor at the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, and Director of the National Hybrid Schools Project. He is also the author of the 2020 book, Defining Hybrid Homeschools in America: Little Platoons.  Eric was previously on the podcast in the spring of 2022 ahead of his inaugural Hybrid Schools Conference. That event was such a huge success that he has expanded the conference each year to larger venues in Atlanta, and this year is also hosting the Western Hybrid & Microschools Forum in San Diego on March 2nd to showcase what’s happening with hybrid and microschools on the West Coast. There’s still time to register for both conferences!  Western Hybrid & Microschools Forum - San Diego, March 2nd - Registration link 3rd Annual Hybrid Schools Conference - Atlanta, April 19-20th - Registration link *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.  

Angel Sobrino is the founder and director of learning of The Hive Interactive, a homeschooling program and learning platform that embraces passion-driven, self-directed learning, empowering young people to chart their own unique pathways toward adulthood.  *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

I first met Marissa Hess back in 2022 at the inaugural National Hybrid Schools Conference in Atlanta. She is a former public school teacher and Montessori teacher who was homeschooled for most of her childhood and ultimately returned to the homeschooling model as the founder of Urban Cottage Educational Collaborative in Tampa, Florida that currently serves 84 mixed-age learners with 10 teachers. *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.