Ep.49 Raising Free People ft Karema Akilah
Hey friends! This week I invited Karema Akilah, the visionary and founder of the Genius School to the show to discuss what it means to raise free people. This week's it's all about parenting! Let's learn why raising free people is fun, personable, and authentic. Karema is an educator, entrepreneur, and mother of six fantastic unschoolers. Karema is a native of Philadelphia and has many years of teaching experience in Maryland public schools. She believes that the origin of learning started with self-directed learning.
In This Episode
In this episode, we discussed what it means to raise free people who are not determined by anything else. We discussed how we can acknowledge how societal standards impact our lives. We also talked about why deschooling plays a role in the unschool journey. Karema explains how parents can change the circumstances of learning by defining who you want to be and what you want to do.
Terms To Familiarize Yourself
• Deschool - transition where children and parents leave the dominant school system to develop a new mindset around education
• Free - not determined by anything beyond itself
• Community - comprised of people with a like minded goal who are looking to take action
What We Mentioned
• Pennsylvania homeschool laws
• How to start an unschool community
• Single parenting and unschooling
• Awareness and accessibility
• Who do you want to be
• Be comfortable with being uncomfortable
• Cultivating the child-parent relationship
• Acknowledging choices and mistakes
• Managing and limiting screen time
• Allowing children to manage their well-being
• Managing state homeschool requirements while unschooling
• Building trust and confidence
Resources Mentioned
• Friends of Cabrini (online)
• The Genius School (online)
• The Glenn Doman Method
• Saxon Math Curriculum
• Apologia Math Curriculum
• Raising Free People by Akilah S. Richards
Karema challenges us to be authentic about what isn't working for your family. Understand what are you doing, what you have, and what is missing. Karema reminds us that everyone is a genius and that we should not judge our children based on their ability to excel according to societal views and ideas. We should always affirm and validate who our children really are.
Connect with Karema Akilah and The Genius School online. Subscribe to the Friends of Cabrini Podcast on Google, Spotify, and Apple. Follow the Friends of Cabrini Podcast on social media.
