LiberatED Podcast

19:19

Inspiring Youth Entrepreneurs with Lemonade School

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/09/29

Kym Kent, an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the FEE Education Entrepreneurship Lab, is joined today by Chris Stolte, founder of The Lemonade School, an online curriculum designed to teach children how to build real businesses from the ground up. Chris shares how his own entrepreneurial background and the experience of raising three young kids led him to create a program that takes children from basic business lessons all the way to running a real business with real customers, real products, and real

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55:21

Microschool Makers Series #3: Leading A Thriving School

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/09/25

Welcome to the Microschool Makers Series, a three-part September series in collaboration with KaiPod to equip aspiring school founders with the inspiration and information needed to launch a successful, sustainable school! Our first episode focused on Developing Your Vision, while our second centered around Building A Sustainable School. Be sure to check out those shows for strategies and advice to help get you from idea to opening as quickly and effectively as possible. In this third and final

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49:41

Saving Recess with Dr. Cathy Ramstetter

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/09/22

What if recess isn't a break from learning, but an essential part of it? The Education Entrepreneurship Lab's Nasiyah Isra-Ul talks with health educator Dr. Cathy Ramstetter, co-author of the American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement on recess and author of the new book Why Recess Matters. They explore how unstructured, child-directed play supports social connection, cognitive performance, academic engagement, and school attendance—and why students need it from elementary school through 12th

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53:53

Microschool Makers Series #2: Building A Sustainable...

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/09/18

Welcome to the Microschool Makers Series, a three-part September series in collaboration with KaiPod to equip aspiring school founders with the inspiration and information needed to launch a successful, sustainable school! If you missed our first episode, Developing Your Vision, be sure to listen to that discussion featuring school founders from Arizona, Texas, and Georgia. In this second episode, Kerry McDonald, Director of the Education Entrepreneurship Lab, talks with Amar Kumar, Founder & CEO of

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33:50

Building the School Her Son Needed with Mily Pérez

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/09/15

What does it take to turn more than 20 years in education—and one child's experience of not thriving in traditional school—into a new kind of learning environment? Host Kerry McDonald sits down with Mily Pérez, founder of Athena Micro-Academy of Austin, a microschool serving students in grades 6–12 that just opened last month! Mily shares how her educational background shaped her calling as an educator, why her son's learning experience inspired her to build a school of her own, and how the KaiPod

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01:01:33

Microschool Makers Series #1: Developing Your Vision

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/09/11

Welcome to the Microschool Makers Series, a three-part September series in collaboration with KaiPod to equip aspiring school founders with the inspiration and information needed to launch a successful, sustainable school! Every microschool starts with a clear vision — and the clearest ones sit at the intersection of what a founder is uniquely good at, what their community actually needs, and what can grow into something sustainable. In this first episode, Kerry McDonald, Director of the Education

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37:41

School's Out: An Interview with Mickey Revenaugh

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/09/08

What changes when the way we think about education starts to shift? The Education Entrepreneurship Lab's Nasiyah Isra-Ul speaks with Mickey Revenaugh, an author, innovator, and co-founder of Connections Academy, about her new book, School's Out: Why Families Are Choosing Unconventional Education, that discusses this very topic. From the early days of Connections Academy to the post-pandemic surge in alternative education, Mickey traces the ideas that changed how families think about school,

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24:19

School in a Yurt: Building a Co-Learning Community in...

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/09/01

What does it take to build a learning community rooted in support, opportunity, and love? Entrepreneur-In-Residence Kym Kent speaks with educator and entrepreneur Tatiana Alexander about founding the SOL Learning Center, a small, mixed-age co-learning community operating from a backyard yurt in Clinton, Maryland. Tatiana shares how the center combines project-based learning, flexible academic options, family involvement, and community partnerships to serve homeschooling families. She also discusses

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28:38

From Teacher to Founder: Creating Limestone Community...

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/08/25

After a decade in public education, Madeline Herrera reached a crossroads: compromise her vision for meaningful, project-based learning—or build a new kind of school. In this episode, Education Entrepreneurship Lab Senior Contributor Kelsy Achtenberg speaks with Madeline, founder and director of Limestone Community School in Lawrence, Kansas. They explore how Limestone combines project-based learning, community service, play, and student agency to help young people become thrive. Madeline shares the

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37:37

Dr. James Tooley on Low-Cost Private Schooling

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/08/18

Education Entrepreneurship Lab Entrepreneur-in-Residence Kym Kent talks with renowned education researcher and author Dr. James Tooley to explore the power of parent-driven, entrepreneurial education. In his acclaimed book The Beautiful Tree, Tooley chronicled his discovery of low-cost private schools serving families in some of the world's poorest communities—schools created by local entrepreneurs and sustained by parents determined to give their children a better education. Now, in his forthcoming

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03:33

Our 400th episode—and a special announcement!

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/08/11

LiberatED celebrates its 400th episode! Since launching in February 2022, the podcast has featured inspiring conversations with the entrpreneurial parents and teachers who are reimagining K-12 education and building new solutions. We mark this exciting milestone and preview Season 6, featuring a rotating cast of hosts from FEE's Education Entrepreneurship Lab who will bring fresh voices and perspectives to discussions about education entrepreneurship, innovation, and choice. We also tease an

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37:14

Building a Thriving Faith-Based Microschool with Emma...

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/08/04

Guest host Denise Lever talks with Emma Rodriguez, a former public school teacher and founder of Lighthouse Christian Academy, a faith-based K–8 microschool in Frisco, Texas. Emma reflects on a remarkable first year in which enrollment grew from 2 to 20 students—and shares the story of one student whose academic progress, behavior, and confidence were transformed by the school's supportive environment. Emma explains how multi-age classrooms, small-group instruction, hands-on learning, and a strong

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26:50

How One Community Is Connecting Schools, Students,...

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/07/28

In this episode of LiberatED, host Kerry McDonald speaks with Melody Rider, president of ConnectED Polk, a Florida nonprofit helping build stronger connections between education and industry. Rather than creating programs in isolation, ConnectED Polk serves as a community intermediary—bringing together K–12 schools, higher education, employers, and civic organizations to better prepare students for success after graduation. Melody shares how ConnectED Polk has reached thousands of students through

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36:31

Navigating Legal Challenges as an Education...

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/07/21

Starting a microschool or other innovative learning environment is about far more than curriculum and community. Founders also have to navigate a maze of zoning rules, fire codes, occupancy limits, licensing questions, and other regulatory hurdles that can make or break their schools. In this guest-hosted episode of the LiberatED Podcast, Education Entrepreneurship Lab senior contributor and Baker Creek Academy founder, Denise Lever, talks with Lynn Swanson, Chief Counsel, Education at Stand

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35:57

From Democratic School Founder to Urban Nature Educator

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/07/17

For years, Maysaa Bazna led Pono, an innovative outdoor democratic school in New York City, where children followed their curiosity and developed deep connections with the natural world. She saw an opportunity to bring those same experiences to many more children through partnerships with urban Title I public schools. Today, Maysaa is the founder and executive director of City to Sanctuary, a nonprofit that partners with public schools to take students out of the classroom and into nature every

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47:00

What If Learning Started with Curiosity Instead of...

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/07/14

Guest host Jennie Jones, an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at the Education Entrepreneurship Lab, interviews Tanner Bowman, founder of Optio, a quest-based learning platform that helps homeschoolers and microschools document and personalize student-directed learning. After teaching across public, private, charter, online, and microschool environments, Tanner concluded that traditional education's standardized structure made meaningful personalization difficult. Inspired by experiments with increased

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35:50

Inside a Youth-Run Microschool in Virginia

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/07/07

Special Summer Episode! Kym Kent, an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at the Education Entrepreneurship Lab, is the guest host for today's LiberatED Podcast! Listen in as she interviews Catina Sweedy, a staff member at the Embark Center for Self-Directed Education in Leesburg, Virginia. Catina tells us about this unique, youth-led microschool for tweens and teens. *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at edentrepreneur.org. Kerry's latest book, Joyful Learning: How to

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35:49

When A Microschool Founder Has To Step Away

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/06/30

When Niki Harris and her husband launched Farm School on their working farm in Northern California in 2018, they were simply looking for a better educational option for their own four children. What began as a part-time co-op quickly grew into a thriving place-based microschool serving dozens of students through multiple programs. But after nearly a decade of growth, unexpected circumstances forced Niki to make one of the hardest decisions any school founder can face: halting operations in the

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33:02

How Summit School Grew from 50 to 140 Students in 3...

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/06/23

In this episode of LiberatED, Kerry McDonald talks with Peter Holmstrom, Head of School at Summit School in Waco, Texas. Peter shares his journey from social work to public school teaching to leading one of the fastest-growing learner-centered schools in the state. Since becoming head of school in 2023, Peter has helped grow Summit from fewer than 50 students to nearly 140 learners, while expanding staff, facilities, and programs. He explains how Summit blends nature-based, project-driven learning

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33:00

Let 1,000 Flowers Bloom: The Future of Educational...

LiberatED Podcast ·

2026/06/16

On this episode of LiberatED, Kerry McDonald speaks with Colleen Hroncich, policy analyst at the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom, about her new report, Let 1,000 Flowers Bloom: Best Practices for Advancing Educational Freedom. With more than 70 school choice programs now operating across more than 30 states—and over a dozen states offering universal eligibility—educational freedom is expanding rapidly across the US. Colleen explains why universal access and sustainable funding are

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