Shows
Self DirectedChris Balme | Challenge Accepted: Turning Adolescence into Adventure Chris BalmeSend us a textAdolescence is often seen as something to endure — awkward years full of turbulence and struggle. But what if these years could be a time of discovery, adventure, and growth?In this episode, Jesper and Cecilie Conrad talk with Chris Balme on the launch day of his new book, Challenge Accepted: 50 Adventures to Make Middle School Awesome. We were introduced to Chris by our friend and former guest, Blake Boles, and quickly said yes to the conversation.Chris shares why adolescence is one of the most po...
2025-08-2147 min
The Self-Driven ChildChallenge Accepted: 50 Adventures to Make Middle School AwesomeAs parents, we often think of middle school as a gauntlet—something our kids just need to survive. But my guest today, education leader, author, and school founder Chris Balme, sees it differently. To him, middle school is an extraordinary time of growth and self-discovery—a period where young people’s brains are changing at their fastest pace since early childhood, making it the perfect time to nurture creativity, agency, and resilience.Chris joins me to share ideas from his new book, Challenge Accepted: 50 Adventures to Make Middle School Awesome—a guide for kids themselves to turn these ye...
2025-08-1253 min
Reinventing EducationEP 132 Chris Balme: Challenge Accepted 50 Adventures to Make Middle School AwesomeMiddle school doesn’t have to be a phase we just survive, it can be a transformative, exciting journey.
In this episode, we reconnect with Chris Balme, author of Challenge Accepted: 50 Adventures to Make Middle School Awesome, about reimagining these years as a time for real-world exploration and growth.
Chris reveals why middle schoolers are underrated and how the right challenges can unlock their courage, curiosity, and confidence.
An appreciated perspective on one of life’s most pivotal stages.
Challenge Accepted on Kickstarter
Chris Balme on Substack
2025-06-0134 min
Make It Mindful: Insights for Global Learning#63 What If Middle School Didn’t Suck? Rethinking Adolescence with Chris BalmeIn this episode of Make It Mindful, Seth Fleischauer welcomes Chris Balme, educator, author, and founder of Hakuba International School and Millennium School, to explore how middle school can be redesigned to better support adolescent development. They discuss how current structures often fail kids during this crucial time—and how identity, social belonging, and real-world engagement can drive meaningful transformation. The episode highlights the importance of brave spaces, authentic adult role models, and trusting students to lead.Key Topics Discussed:Why middle school “doesn’t have to suck”—and how to redesign itThree developmental drivers in early adol...
2025-05-0533 min
Heads & TalesChris BalmeNext up is Chris Balme; educator, author and passionate advocate for reimagining middle school education. As the founding principal of Hakuba International School and former head of a progressive middle school, Chris brings a wealth of experience in shaping learning environments that nurture curiosity, purpose and self-discovery.
2025-04-1520 min
Kindred Spirits Book ClubCooking, Cleaning, and Power DynamicsFaith and Una Meredith, Mary Vance, Sara Stanley, Felicity and Cecily King – all of these girls have different relationships with housekeeping and cooking, and PhD candidate Ariel Little is here to tell us all about it! We speculate about how the characters might show up on social media, the way that housekeeping reflects power and authority in Montgomery’s work, and why cleanliness was so important to the Victorians.
If you want to read some of Ariel Little’s writing, she’s published this article, Under the Moon's Healing Influence: George MacDonald's Literary Re-envisioning of Women's Health and also h...
2025-04-041h 09
This Is So AwkwardFinding the Magic in Middle SchoolMiddle school and middle schoolers get a really bad rap and their educators are looked upon with sympathy. But what if we flip that narrative on its head and view this stage with excitement? Here to shift the perspective on this transformational age into one of opportunity and wonder is school founder, middle school principal, and author Chris Balme.Show Notes:Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns...
2025-02-2553 min
TILT Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent ChildrenChris Balme on How Parents Can Navigate the Tricky Middle School YearsMiddle school might not feel like a very enchanting time in our lives — it definitely didn’t feel that way for me when I was living through it. But according to my guest Chris Balme, middle school is a time of great magic and opportunity for our kids, and for us as parents, if we know what we’re looking for. In our conversation, Chris explains the three stages of identity development a child goes through in middle school, how we as parents will want to adapt our parenting styles change as our kids reach these stages, and how...
2025-01-0936 min
ON BOYS PodcastBest of 2024Which ON BOYS episodes were the Best of 2024? Photo by ALINA MATVEYCHEVA via PexelsYour favorites include:5. Needed: Boy-Friendly SchoolsTyler, a 16-year-old Texas boy, started struggling in middle school. Recess was no more. Classes were 90 minutes long. So, “he found it really hard to sit still in class,” says Julie Jargon, the Wall Street Journal Family & Tech columnist who interviewed Tyler for her series on boys and education. Now a high school student, Tyler suggests that “instead of making guys change the way they behave, maybe schools should change the way the...
2024-12-2640 min
Future Learning Design PodcastTaking adolescents seriously - A Conversation with Chris BalmeFor new parents and early years educators, there’s a wealth of guidance and support for how to understand what’s happening for our babies and toddlers, but when it comes to the stories we tell about adolescence, an equally important period of significant change, sometimes it’s more just get your head down and get through it! As millions of young people make the big transition to Middle School, I was very curious to learn from one of the real experts, not only of the patterns of change and development at this time, but also of how to create...
2024-09-2240 min
Parenting for the FutureRaising Future-Ready Middle-Schoolers: A Conversation With Chris BalmeChris Balme Founding Principal at founding principal at Hakuba International School, Japan Co. Founder and Former Head of The Millennium School Founder and Director of Argonaut Ashoka fellowship recipient Author Education/Degree: B.A., University of Pennsylvania B.S., Wharton School of Management.
2024-05-1459 min
A Dad's Path#97 - Navigating the Path to Middle School* (*not just for parents with Middle School Kids)In this episode of "A Dad's Path Podcast," we talk with Chris Balme, author of "Finding the Magic in Middle School." Chris shares expert advice to help parents understand what to expect and how to prepare for their child's journey through the middle school years.
Listeners will learn:
How the adolescent brain changes and how to navigate the behavioral shifts that come with it.
Tips for guiding children through the evolving social dynamics of middle school.
Strategies to maintain academic motivation while encouraging independence.
Guidance on managing technology and navigating the digital world safely.
Whether...
2024-05-0748 min
Lars og PålEpisode 142 The bright side of adolescence, with Chris BalmeOn this episode I talk to Chris Balme, the author of the book Finding the Magic in Middle School (2022) and the founder of the Millennium School, an alternative middle school in San Francisco. We talk about what makes people enter the strange and confusing world of alternative education, and what sort of lessons Chris has learned from working with adolescents in an alternative education setting. How come we at the same time have both too low and too high expectations of adolescents, and how do we talk to parents and kids about these expectations? We cover a w...
2024-04-061h 15
Changemaker ED“U”Finding The Magic in Middle SchoolAre you curious about finding magic in the Middle School experience? If so, join David and Chris as they discuss all the ups and downs, ins and outs, challenges and most importantly, the opportunities for parents and educators with these middle years! In this engaging episode, David delves into a thought-provoking conversation with Chris Balme, an esteemed education expert and the author of "Finding the Magic in Middle School." The dialogue unfolds with Chris sharing his personal journey as a once introverted and perplexed middle schooler, an experience that ignited his mission to understand and transform t...
2024-02-1545 minON BOYS PodcastMiddle School: Misunderstood or Magic?Is middle school misunderstood — or magic?For most of us — and many of our kids — middle school is a pretty miserable time. But that’s largely because most educators and parents misunderstand middle schoolers & these critical years.“This is a very pervasive story, that middle school is terrible. But it doesn’t have to be. We make it terrible by working directly against the developmental needs of middle schoolers and designing these buildings and classes in way that make their lives really hard,” says veteran educator Chris Balme, author of Finding the Magic in Middle School: Tapping in...
2024-02-0945 minON BOYS PodcastMiddle School: Misunderstood or Magic?Is middle school misunderstood — or magic?For most of us — and many of our kids — middle school is a pretty miserable time. But that’s largely because most educators and parents misunderstand middle schoolers & these critical years.“This is a very pervasive story, that middle school is terrible. But it doesn’t have to be. We make it terrible by working directly against the developmental needs of middle schoolers and designing these buildings and classes in way that make their lives really hard,” says veteran educator Chris Balme, author of Finding the Magic in Middle School: Tapping in...
2024-02-0845 min
Love Takes ActionHeroic JourneyChris Balme, a San Francisco, CA, educator and author of "Finding the Magic in Middle School," challenges the conventional narrative around middle school, recognizing and celebrating tweens’ unique qualities and unlocking their potential. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
2024-01-2433 min
The What School Could Be Podcast118. See, Feel, Listen, Savor, Absorb, Intuite, with THINK Global School's Joann McPikeJoann McPike is the Founder and Board Chair at THINK Global School (TGS), a traveling high school, and much more. In September of 2010, TGS began its first semester in Sweden with 15 students hailing from 11 countries. The traveling high school has since visited every continent except Antarctica, hosted dozens of influential guest speakers, campaigned for human and environmental rights, mounted art exhibitions, created thousands of essays, blog posts, and videos, sent graduating students to university, and fostered lifelong friendships between students from around the globe. Check out TGS's YouTube channel. A foundation established by McPike provides long-term funding for TGS...
2023-12-311h 11
Learning Unboxed209. Unlocking the Magic of Middle School: Embracing Authenticity in Education with Chris BalmeIn this episode of Learning Unboxed, we journey into the transformative world of middle school education with Chris Balme, a seasoned educator, founder of multiple schools, and author of "Finding the Magic in Middle School". Middle school is a time of rapid change, and Chris shares his insights on the importance of recognizing and valuing the complexities of these young learners.Together, we discuss the significance of giving middle school students a voice, the lasting impact of their experiences, and the "anchoring effect" that often hinders educators from truly understanding their students. Chris emphasizes authenticity, encouraging educators...
2023-11-0631 minLearning Unboxed209. Unlocking the Magic of Middle School: Embracing Authenticity in Education with Chris BalmeIn this episode of Learning Unboxed, we journey into the transformative world of middle school education with Chris Balme, a seasoned educator, founder of multiple schools, and author of "Finding the Magic in Middle School". Middle school is a time of rapid change, and Chris shares his insights on the importance of recognizing and valuing the complexities of these young learners.Together, we discuss the significance of giving middle school students a voice, the lasting impact of their experiences, and the "anchoring effect" that often hinders educators from truly understanding their students. Chris emphasizes authenticity, encouraging educators...
2023-11-0631 min
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2023-10-0900 minReinventing EducationEP 105 : Chris Balme - Student Autonomy and the Promises or Pitfalls of Artificial IntellegenceToday, we're lucky to interview Chris Balme, the head of a project-based school in Hakuba, Japan, and author of "Finding the Magic in Middle School."
In the interview, we discuss strategies for increasing student autonomy and democratic decision-making principles, as well as the need for adults in the learning community to shift from being instructors to facilitators.
We also explore the importance of moving from coercion to consent in driving learning, delve into why learning experiences should be authentic, and ruminate on how Chat GPT and AI may transform the future of education.
...
2023-07-3045 min
Rebel Educator®79: Finding the Magic in Middle School with Chris BalmeChris Balme is an education leader, writer, and school founder, passionate about helping young people discover more of their human potential. Chris currently serves as Founding Principal at Hakuba International School. He is also the Founder & Director of Argonaut, an online advisory program for middle schoolers around the world. Prior to this, Chris co-founded and served as Head of School at Millennium School, a lab school in San Francisco, where he helped pioneer new learning methods based in developmental science. Chris has received the Ashoka Fellowship as a leading changemaker in education, and regularly speaks, tr...
2023-05-1231 min
Slate BooksMom and Dad Are Fighting: Finding the Magic in Middle SchoolOn this episode: Elizabeth talks with Chris Balme, author of Finding the Magic In Middle School. He explains what drives tweens, why this period is fundamentally different than high school, and how to guide them through this transition. Jamilah, Zak, and Elizabeth also open up the mailbag and give some recommendations. Recommendations: Zak: Watch David Byrne sing When Doves Cry at a karaoke barElizabeth: Professor Noggin Cards, Binder RingsJamilah: Florida Man on NetflixIf you enjoy this show, please consider signing up...
2023-05-0131 min
Slate AdviceMom & Dad: Middle School MagicOn this episode: Elizabeth talks with Chris Balme, author of Finding the Magic In Middle School. He explains what drives tweens, why this period is fundamentally different than high school, and how to guide them through this transition. Jamilah, Zak, and Elizabeth also open up the mailbag and give some recommendations. Recommendations: Zak: Watch David Byrne sing When Doves Cry at a karaoke barElizabeth: Professor Noggin Cards, Binder RingsJamilah: Florida Man on NetflixIf you enjoy this show, please consider signing up...
2023-05-0131 min
Care and Feeding | Slate's parenting showMiddle School MagicOn this episode: Elizabeth talks with Chris Balme, author of Finding the Magic In Middle School. He explains what drives tweens, why this period is fundamentally different than high school, and how to guide them through this transition. Jamilah, Zak, and Elizabeth also open up the mailbag and give some recommendations. Recommendations: Zak: Watch David Byrne sing When Doves Cry at a karaoke barElizabeth: Professor Noggin Cards, Binder RingsJamilah: Florida Man on NetflixIf you enjoy this show, please consider signing up...
2023-05-0131 min
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent ChildrenTPP 321: Chris Balme on How Parents Can Navigate the Tricky Middle School YearsMiddle school might not feel like a very enchanting time in our lives — it definitely didn’t feel that way for me when I was living through it. But according to my guest Chris Balme, middle school is a time of great magic and opportunity for our kids, and for us as parents, if we know what we’re looking for. In our conversation, Chris explains the three stages of identity development a child goes through in middle school, how we as parents will want to adapt our parenting styles change as our kids reach these stages, and how...
2023-03-0739 minFull-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent ChildrenTPP 321: Chris Balme on How Parents Can Navigate the Tricky Middle School YearsMiddle school might not feel like a very enchanting time in our lives — it definitely didn’t feel that way for me when I was living through it. But according to my guest Chris Balme, middle school is a time of great magic and opportunity for our kids, and for us as parents, if we know what we’re looking for. In our conversation, Chris explains the three stages of identity development a child goes through in middle school, how we as parents will want to adapt our parenting styles change as our kids reach these stages, and how...
2023-03-0739 min
Sage FamilyTweens with Chris Balme“If we’re in our comfort zone as parents, we’re probably holding them back.” Chris Balme joins me in today’s episode about tweens. Chris Balme is an education leader and writer, passionate about helping young people discover more of their human potential. We discuss how we misunderstand tweens, what’s going on with their development, how they learn best, how we can best support them, how our parent-child relationship shifts, ideal middle school, and common challenges and we can better meet them. Get the full show notes at sagefamily.com/podcast8
2023-02-1456 min
Staging Sound. Reflecting theatre music and sound designSonic memorieslooking into the text archives of Adrian Curtin, Pieter Verstraete and David Roesner
Show notes
About the research project: https://www.en.cas.uni-muenchen.de/research_groups/current_rg/rg_roesner/index.html
Blog: https://theatermus.hypotheses.org
Articles:
Adrian Curtin: “Recomposing Genet: Analysing the Musicality of playing ‘the maids’“ (2017): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10486801.2017.1298097
Pieter Verstraete: ”Radical Vocality, Auditory Distress and Disembodied Voice: The Resolution of the Voice-Body in the Wooster Group’s La Didone“ (2011) https://books.google.de/books?id=MDwsBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82&hl=de&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false
David Ro...
2022-12-301h 08
Lessons in AdolescenceMini Lessons on BelongingIn the Lessons in Adolescence podcast we feature conversations with researchers, practitioners, program developers and advocates. Drawing content from our past two seasons of episodes, we are offering a series of Mini Lessons on important topics relating to positive early adolescent development and effective middle level education. This mini lesson is about Belonging.Vital to the learning and development of adolescents is a sense of belonging. A positive personal identity can play a big role in how confident and comfortable students feel in an academic space. In this mini lesson, we dive into how to best cultivate...
2022-09-2106 min
Off-Trail LearningChris Balme on Finding the Magic in Middle SchoolChris Balme (chrisbalme.com) is the founding head of school of The Millennium School and the author of Finding the Magic in Middle School. After briefly flirting with public school teaching, Chris ran an apprenticeship program for middle schoolers for a decade before creating The Millennium School in San Francisco, where he served for seven years.
We discuss Chris’ early infatuation with democratic free schools, how the Millennium School takes the developmental needs of middle schoolers seriously, the life-changing power of peer advisory groups, learning through quests, authentic audiences, and why he compromised on teaching math in a conventional fashion. Ch...
2022-08-151h 11
B Bin HorrorDead Alive (Brain Dead)Hello and welcome to another episode of B Bin Horror! On today's episode we talk about the 1992 Horror/Comedy Dead Alive(Brain Dead). Dead Alive was written and directed by Peter Jackson along with Fran Walsh and Stephen Sinclair. The film stars Timothy Balme, Diana Penalver, Elizabeth Moody and Ian Watkin. On this episode we talk about the chaos that was this movie and discuss why we enjoyed it so much, we also talk about Will Smith slapping the holy shit out of Chris Rock. We tried something new with Doug's survival segment that we think you will enjoy...
2022-04-051h 18
PrepTalksChris Balme, Finding the Magic in Middle School (022)On the March episode of PrepTalks, Ned chats with Chris Balme, co-founder of Argonaut, a live, online program that brings together small groups of middle schoolers to discover their strengths, explore their identity, and find ways to contribute to the world. Chris was previously co-founder and Head of The Millennium School, an independent, progressive laboratory middle school in San Francisco. His new book, Finding the Magic in Middle School, will be published later in 2022. They talk about a period of life that is often very challenging for adolescents but that holds all sorts of potential for growth, as well as...
2022-03-0841 min
The Third PlaceMiddle School: Finding the Magic with Chris Balme - Ep 77Middle School. Even saying this phrase can immediately bring up memories of awkwardness for many people. But it's also a formative time of life that gives us space to develop our relational skills and shape who we are. As we learn in our conversation with Chris Balme, there are new possibilities when we shift our perspective to view this as an opportunity to build into young people. This can radically change our perspective about this time and equip us as adults to be better guides for this foundational moment of life.*******Click...
2022-02-2438 min
Rebel Educator®43: Social Dynamics and Independence in Early Adolescence with Chris BalmeChris Balme is an education leader and innovator, passionate about helping people discover more of their human potential. Chris was the co-founder and CEO of Spark, a US nonprofit which works across the country to re-inspire the love of learning in adolescents. He then co-founded and was Head of School at Millennium School, a lab school in San Francisco which uses developmental science to create powerful new learning methods for adolescents. Most recently, Chris founded and now leads Argonaut, an online program which helps adolescents discover their strengths, explore their identity, and find ways to co...
2022-01-1428 min
Lessons in AdolescenceLessons with Chris BalmeThis episode features a conversation with Chris Balme, Founder of Argonaut, a new live online community that offers young adolescents opportunities for hands-on experiences to develop wisdom, kindness and real-world skill. Chris has founded a handful of successful organizations, all centered on the learning and development of young adolescents, including the Spark Program and Millennium School. His drive to build new and different opportunities for middle schoolers comes in part from his own unhappy experience in those years, and a frustration he has with the low expectations commonly ascribed to middle school.Chris and Jason talk about...
2020-12-0942 minThe What School Could Be Podcast50. Questing to Find the Golden Fleece with Argonaut Chris BalmeChris Balme, my guest for this episode, writes: “Middle school is one of life’s great forks in the road. As the time when puberty begins and thus incredible neurological changes are taking place, middle school has an outsized impact on child development. For some students, it’s the time they begin to find their voice, their social identity, their sense of self in a bigger world.” Chris is the founder of the Millennium School and the Argonaut School in the Bay Area. He is also a warm, funny and caring educator who wants make “school” all that it could be. Ed...
2020-10-2655 min
Lace Out AFL: It's How You Want Your Footy!A Chat with Tom HunterNot many people can say they have had had a football journey like Tom Hunter. Richmond's inaugural AFLW and VFLW coach has had his fair share of ups with a playing premiership with the Calder Cannons, a coaching premiership with East Keilor, and getting picked up by Collingwood in the 2010 rookie draft. But nothing prepared Tom for a career ending neck injury that not only affected his chance to live out his VFL dream, it changed the direction his life would go in. Host Chris Pepper chats with Tom about his time at Collingwood, Mick Malthouse, how he transitioned fro...
2019-07-0633 min
refreshEDReimagining Middle School with Chris BalmeIn refreshED's second episode we talk with Chris Balme about his vision for reimagining school. Chris founded Spark, a national organization that matches middle school students with mentors at workplaces. His newest venture is Millennium School which he is designing with the help of students and parents.
2015-03-0200 min
RSN Breakfast with Chrisso & McGuaneWednesday 15th October 2014Chrisso and McGuane present RSN Breakfast. Includes, Kris Lees,Pat Hyland,Ron Flatter,Laurel Irving, Adrian Leijer, Vince Crivelli, Chris Pelchen, Neil Balme.
2014-10-1500 min
The RubThe Rub - Friday 15th August 2014Chief's 50th birthday, Geelong and Carlton's seasons since they last played, Chris Judd plays on, preseasons, Bomber on Daniher, Essendon vs ASADA, Neil Balme, Mark Logiudice, Duke's Gloves, Rising Star award, is the Etihad Stadium deal making it hard for its clubs?
2014-08-151h 04
TMBRSpark- What type of job does a child want?The Spark Program identifies at-risk middle-school students who need to be motivated by the relevancy of school and matches them with people in industry that are employed in the student’s “dream job”. The student then becomes an intern at that profession for one semester going to the job after school hours. Chris Balme, Co-Founder and Executive Director, shares the genesis of Spark and what they are doing to reduce dropouts. What type of job does a child want?
2012-10-2516 min