Out Of Line

Annie Friday is joined this week by Guy Stephens, Executive Director for the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint. Guy shares some basics to what seclusion and restraint is, how they are used in schools, who is being hurt most, and the many variations of how scenarios can play out for young people, families, and educators. Guy and his organization are hoping that through their resources like their upcoming Beyond Behaviorism conference, their open book clubs, their live bi-monthly podcast, and their advocacy support, more educators and families will lean on the neuroscience, nervous system research, and relationship-centered strategies to address the unmet needs and lagging skills of the young people being otherwise subjected to these outdated and dangerous methods. Find more at EndSeclusion.org Thanks for listening! Links Share a comment or ask a questionSupport the show (and save 10%) when you shop early learning trainings at Explorations Early LearningVisit the show archives to browse and search all episodesMore AnnieMore CandisVisit Blue Bridge School's website or Instagram

Annie Friday is joined by a founder and director of a self-directed education center in Michigan who shares openly and honestly about her experience approaching burnout. Annie and guest go into the many contributing factors that can lead to burnout among the facilitators and administration of learning centers, unschooling co-ops, and other spaces created as alternatives to schools. Tight budgets, lack of funding, need for volunteer support, maintaining access and equity are just a few themes they dive into this week. Thanks for listening! Links Share a comment or ask a questionSupport the show (and save 10%) when you shop early learning trainings at Explorations Early LearningVisit the show archives to browse and search all episodesMore AnnieMore CandisVisit Blue Bridge School's website or Instagram

Latoya Nelson is back with Annie Friday to follow up on the conversation they had last fall on the topic of the need for public school spaces and the need for spaces that can be supportive to families with varying needs. Latoya shares more personally on her own family's experience fighting for the care, education, and resources for her neurodivergent child. School choice has become a political issue full of buzz words and jargon when really public education is often missing the mark on actually supporting the needs of young people and their families in the narrow conversation. Annie and Latoya both recognize that this is a nuanced topic and far more difficult to get into than a 30-minute podcast could cover in full. We will continue to explore the radical re-visioning of the public education system. Thanks for listening! Links Share a comment or ask a questionSupport the show (and save 10%) when you shop early learning trainings at Explorations Early LearningVisit the show archives to browse and search all episodesMore AnnieMore CandisVisit Blue Bridge School's website or Instagram

Annie Friday is joined by Latoya Nelson of Raising Resilience this week in a very candid conversation about what school choice - and really just a wider array of options for education could look like - can mean for families undervalued by the conventional public school system. Latoya shares more specifically on the opportunities that school choice can create for some Black families. This episode was recorded back in October 2024 and is part 1 of a two-part conversation on the radical vision of what education can look like without schools as we know them today.  Thanks for listening! Links Share a comment or ask a questionSupport the show (and save 10%) when you shop early learning trainings at Explorations Early LearningVisit the show archives to browse and search all episodesMore AnnieMore CandisVisit Blue Bridge School's website or Instagram

Neuro-affirming Behavior Consultant and Life Coach Megg Thompson joins Annie Friday this week to share more about her experiences working with young people. Megg brings her humor and candor to this conversation on the feedback she received when sharing about a child who had a meltdown in the classroom. Spoiler alert: the feedback was harsh, exclusive, and not neuro-affirming and the hardest part was that so much of it came from inside the classroom. Megg and Annie share why it is so critical for our schools, classrooms, and learning centers to make space for all learners and all brains. Thanks for listening! Links Share a comment or ask a questionSupport the show (and save 10%) when you shop early learning trainings at Explorations Early LearningVisit the show archives to browse and search all episodesMore AnnieMore CandisVisit Blue Bridge School's website or Instagram

Annie Friday is back to share more of her family's personal unschooling experience. In this episode, Annie catches listeners up on where she has been the last six months or so. She touches on some of what is to come in this season including burnout, the state of education system, some personal narratives from other unschoolers including youth voices. Annie also explains that while the title of the podcast originally stood for the literal experience of getting out of line by leaving the school system, a major focus of the show has become all the many ways parents, educators, and caregivers have expectations of young people that are really out of line with what we know to be neurologically and developmentally supportive for them. This short episode tees up all that is to come in this next season of Out of Line. Thanks for listening! Links Share a comment or ask a questionSupport the show (and save 10%) when you shop early learning trainings at Explorations Early LearningVisit the show archives to browse and search all episodesMore AnnieMore CandisVisit Blue Bridge School's website or Instagram

This episode brings youth rights advocates, Flying Squad facilitators, and unschooling parents Bria Bloom, Alex Khost, and Annie Friday together in conversation about what a self-directed lifestyle can look like in a child's earliest stages of life. Bria was raised in a life without school and is currently unschooling in partnership with a teenager and toddler at home. Alex has been unschooling with four kids for the last 18+ years, currently covering ages spanning from teenagers to toddler. The conversation explores how as adults guiding the lives of young people, we can intentionally include them in our family life, safeguard their rights, and support their curiosities. They discuss the work of the adult which includes bringing awareness to your own inner monologue, anxieties, and pace of life in order to communicate vales and culture to your children. Alex and Bria share personal stories of real life struggles that come up and how they navigate those moments while honoring the personhood and humanity of their child. Find more on Alex Khost and Bria Bloom through the FlyingSquads.org website and the Alliance for Self-Directed Education at self-directed.org Thanks for listening! Links Share a comment or ask a questionSupport the show (and save 10%) when you shop early learning trainings at Explorations Early LearningVisit the show archives to browse and search all episodesMore AnnieMore CandisVisit Blue Bridge School's website or Instagram

Annie Friday is joined this week by Megg Thompson, Behavior Consultant, Coach, Speaker, and Youth Advocate. Megg shares the importance of behavioral support that is centered on caring, playful, and respectful relationships in order to affirm all neurotypes. Megg has seen firsthand Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (PBIS) fail many young people leaving them to feel like they are a problem. PBIS is a program used by thousands of schools across the US. While employing reward-based intervention strategies can show positive results for some kids, many others are left out of the "fun." Even those who may be considered successful in PBIS, long-term damage of pressure, anxiety, and perfectionism can build over time. Seeing young people repeatedly broken down by school behavior plans, Megg centers her own work on supporting and empowering young people and families through education, information, and hands-on support.  Find more about Megg with 2 Gs at MeggThompson.com where she has more information and resources for young people, their families, and educators in both convention and unconventional learning environments. Thanks for listening! Links Share a comment or ask a questionSupport the show (and save 10%) when you shop early learning trainings at Explorations Early LearningVisit the show archives to browse and search all episodesMore AnnieMore CandisVisit Blue Bridge School's website or Instagram

Cassidy Younghans runs Wild Roots Learning Community in North Texas and shares with Annie Friday more about her experiences in self-directed education and building learning communities. Through some moments of failure, overwhelm, and leaving the school system, Cassidy realized that building a strong network of supportive community must come first when building a new school. Authentic community takes time creating trust, aligning values, appreciating differences. Cassidy talks about the realities and challenges that inherently come with opening a learning center. Cassidy has offerings for parents, facilitators, and young people on her website CassidyYounghans.com Thanks for listening! Links Share a comment or ask a questionSupport the show (and save 10%) when you shop early learning trainings at Explorations Early LearningVisit the show archives to browse and search all episodesMore AnnieMore CandisVisit Blue Bridge School's website or Instagram

Adrienne Miller joins Annie Friday this week to discuss her unschooling family life. Adrienne shares on the logistics of the choices, privileges and sacrifices that shape her family's path. By leading with relationships, opting for a slower lifestyle, and centering community, Adrienne lives out her values with intention. Adrienne explains more on how she sees unschooling as a pathway to collective liberation by reimagining what learning and life can look like for all families. Find homeschooling and unschooling resources and coaching options by Adrienne on her website, Instagram account, and through her new podcast all at TheseReveries.com or @these_reveries. Thanks for listening! Links Share a comment or ask a questionSupport the show (and save 10%) when you shop early learning trainings at Explorations Early LearningVisit the show archives to browse and search all episodesMore AnnieMore CandisVisit Blue Bridge School's website or Instagram

Author, mother, healthcare aid, and former SDE facilitator Meaza Love joins Annie Friday to discuss how the American Dream has come to affect US schooling. Meaza talks about the limits to creativity, originality, and divergent thinking as schools push young people to one right answer, one career pathway, one specific end point that maybe doesn't even exist. This conversations touches on the original intent of the term American Dream which was first coined during the Great Depression in 1931 by James Truslow Adams, historian and author. Adams thought believed in a dream that would allow every American to achieve their fullest capabilities "regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position," according to Wikipedia. Meaza shares recent discoveries for her regarding unschooling and the lifestyle of self-directed education (SDE). She sees SDE as a pathway alternative to school that would potentially help preserve her own child's unique and creative ways of being in the world. While the world has been shifting greatly since the model of schooling was put in place, schools themselves have not changed much. Together, Annie and Meaza dream aloud about how the system of schooling could shift to adapt to the lifestyles of today by centering relationship skills, critical thinking, and creative processes. These days, with AI and robots, we no longer need to train students to be good factory line workers. By adapting schools to honor individuality and personhood, could we shift back to that original intent of the American dream? Thanks for listening! Links Share a comment or ask a questionSupport the show (and save 10%) when you shop early learning trainings at Explorations Early LearningVisit the show archives to browse and search all episodesMore AnnieMore CandisVisit Blue Bridge School's website or Instagram

Iris Chen joins Annie Friday this week to share more about how choosing to unschool opened her up in surprising and radical ways to begin imagining the world without punitive, oppressive systems. Through her work as a parent educator, coach, and collaborator,  Iris helps others find connection and community as they bring more consciousness into their family life. While Iris' coaching is available to all, she has tailored some of her programming to meet the specific needs of Asian femmes who are working out a unique type of generational healing. These are humans who may have grown up with the stereotypical tiger parenting style first brought to public attention by Amy Chua in her book back in 2011. Iris, along with Yunzhe Zhou, will be presenting a new offering called Untiger Your Self so that others may find strength and connection as they un-tiger their self-knowledge, self-compassion, and self-advocacy in order to re-pattern ways of being in relationship with family.Learn more about Iris Chen and her work as an author, coach, and visionary on Instagram @Untigering or head to her website by the same name where you can find her books and more on her coaching services and workshops. Thanks for listening! Links Share a comment or ask a questionSupport the show (and save 10%) when you shop early learning trainings at Explorations Early LearningVisit the show archives to browse and search all episodesMore AnnieMore CandisVisit Blue Bridge School's website or Instagram

Annie Friday is joined this week by Kristen Peterson (soon to be Kristen Day), play advocate, educator, trainer, speaker, author, and a true play queen! Kristen shares how discovering play changed her trajectory forever. Play was also the catalyst for her family's decision to re-prioritize how they were spending their time. By living in attunement with her kids' needs and her own passions, Kristen has developed a lifestyle of lifelong learning in her family. This has included homeschooling, unschooling, and conventional schooling. Kristen shares how this type of interest-based learning breaks the school mold and allows for critical thinking and deep engagement. Kristen aims to reach parents, educators, and caregivers with the message that school should not juts be something to survive. By creating access to true, authentic play, kids and adults can shine in their own individual strengths.Keep your eye out for Kristen's content-rich resources, workshops, classes, and new book coming out soon called I'm Not Getting Them Ready for Kindergarten: Breaking tradition in early childhood education  Thanks for listening! Links Share a comment or ask a questionSupport the show (and save 10%) when you shop early learning trainings at Explorations Early LearningVisit the show archives to browse and search all episodesMore AnnieMore CandisVisit Blue Bridge School's website or Instagram

Author, educator, and activist Eloise Rickman joins Annie Friday this week to discuss her new book It's Not Fair!: Why it's time for a grown-up conversation about how adults treat children. Eloise's work and writings center on the rights of childhood and the discrimination and oppression that is created by adultism. While there are many who question whether children are truly oppressed and needing liberation, Eloise believes children arrive capable and ready... even to vote. Eloise challenges the notions of mainstream adult-child relations that are typically found in schools, homes, and modern day parenting. Not all doom and gloom, Eloise also shares her hope and optimism for a future end to childhood oppression. You can find more from Eloise and her newsletter on Substack under Small Places and on Instagram under MightyMother_ Thanks for listening! Links Share a comment or ask a questionSupport the show (and save 10%) when you shop early learning trainings at Explorations Early LearningVisit the show archives to browse and search all episodesMore AnnieMore CandisVisit Blue Bridge School's website or Instagram

Annie Friday is joined this week by Samuel Broaden of Honoring Childhood and Kisa Marx of The Play Lab Foundation to discuss their newly released book titled Rethinking Weapon Play in Early Childhood: How to Encourage Imagination, Kindness, and Consent in Your Classroom. Right away, Kisa and Samuel dive into the reality that many adults feel activated, challenged, or triggered by this type of power play. They offer strategies for reflection and growth for the adults in play spaces while also explaining the benefits of this category of play. In a world filled with violence and a country full gun violence, the fears are valid, and yet as adults it is our moral imperative to face those fears. In that process, we need to decide how we can share our concerns and shift those into boundaries that honor consent and safety. This episode does include references to violence and real life examples of when gun play has turned to tragedy. The Tamir Rice Foundation led by Samaria Rice and Rebuild Foundation led by Theaster Gates are two important organizations preserving the memory of Tamir Rice and uplifting the power and potential of community through ensuring the existence of  safe and culturally-rich spaces specifically for Black children and families. Here 4 The Kids is another organization focused on ending gun violence in the US and hosts weekly community chats every Thursday at 12:00 pm ET. Curious how we can hold space for both the fears around violence and the need for kids to engage in power play? Listen in as Kisa and Samuel share how our feelings toward gun violence are tied to and also separate from the benefits of weapon play.  Thanks for listening! Links Share a comment or ask a questionSupport the show (and save 10%) when you shop early learning trainings at Explorations Early LearningVisit the show archives to browse and search all episodesMore AnnieMore CandisVisit Blue Bridge School's website or Instagram

Latoya Nelson is back with Annie Friday after her first year of stepping out of line and opening a learning center for self-directed young people looking for an alternative to school. Latoya shares some of the challenges that come with her personal work of detoxing the school system within her as an educator - the pay, the hours, the workplace norms. We also discuss the authenticity that comes for participants at any age in a self-directed community. We talk about public schools, how they work and don't work for some. We talk about social emotional learning and how it can be weaponized and steeped in whiteness assuming that the cultural norms for white America can be broadly applied to all students. Latoya shares that photos, community observations, and intentional reflection have helped her see how much they really did accomplish this year. Listen in as we celebrate Latoya and The Attuned Community learning community for finishing their first year out of the system and raising resilience! Thanks for listening! Links Share a comment or ask a questionSupport the show (and save 10%) when you shop early learning trainings at Explorations Early LearningVisit the show archives to browse and search all episodesMore AnnieMore CandisVisit Blue Bridge School's website or Instagram

It's time to reprogram the way we're talking about screen time in our homes and education settings. Annie Friday is joined this week by Ash Brandin, also known as The Gamer Educator. Ash brings a practical approach to conversations about screens knowing this nuanced topic is more than just about screens are bad or good. This episode touches on the role that screens actually play in our lives. Screen time and digital supports are tools of the culture that aren't going away. It's important to guide our young people into responsible digital citizenship as we examine that same responsibility for ourselves as well. Ash share three guiding principles that drive their work which are: 1) screens fill systemic gaps; 2) screens can benefit the whole family; and 3) screens can be a functional part of our lives. Learn more directly from Ash at thegamereducator.com/

Karla Marie Williams joins Annie Friday on this episode to share about what graduation has looked like for her 5 graduated unschoolers. Similar to the process of an unschooling version of homeschooling, graduation has been crafted for each individual young person based on their choice, their interest, and their unique pathway. Karla shares how she has chosen to be responsive to her 1 still unschooling and 5 already-graduated unschooled young people. Each of her 6 has had a different indicator that they are ready to move on to the next step and launch themselves beyond their family-partnership based version of unschooling. Karla also covers what the transition from Karla the Unschooling Mama to Simply Karla Marie has meant for her. For those out there curious about what a self-directed path could look like for your family, check our Karla's starter book called Homeschool Gone Wild. Karla also has many other books, journals, and resources with more specific target audiences including moms, teens, travelers, and even control freaks. Find Karla on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook as Simply Karla Marie. To learn more about Karla or book her for a speaking engagement, find everything at her website KarlaMarieWilliams.com. As always, thanks for listening!

Annie Friday is joined by Playworker Adele Cleaver to talk about the newly declared International Day of Play that will take place on June 11 annually. The United Nations adopted this official day after play advocates and global partners proved the need for it through surveys, research, and data that showed children around the world don't believe adults take play seriously enough. Not only can play ignite and enhance learning experiences, play can help humans process emotions, sort through traumatic events, and make new discoveries about themselves and the world around them. Adele offers tips on how to talk to your learning institutions and other play stakeholders in raising awareness regarding the benefits of play. Adele also shares some of her recent favorite play memories with inspiration from the Orleans House Gallery, the GLUE Collective, Suzanne Axelsson of Interaction Imagination, Penny Wilson of Assemble Play, and of course The Playwork Foundation.The reality is that UNICEF estimates that about 160 million children globally are working rather than playing and learning. By declaring June 11 as International Day of Play, advocates hope that adults and decision-makers will be able to invest in, provide for, protect, respect, and support play. Play is not only essential to childhood, but rather essential to humanity. Find more info on Adele Cleaver at Big Blue Play or on social media as @AdelePlayworker

Samuel Broaden of Honoring Childhood joins Annie Friday this week to talk about his new book, Gender Expression and Inclusivity in Early Childhood: A Teacher's Guide to Queering the Classroom. Samuel shares the challenges of releasing a book on this topic with the current political strikes against the LGBTQIA+ community as well as the challenges he has personally faced in the classroom and with families. The hateful reactions that came with the book's release only affirmed the need for a book on this topic. Children and families benefit by seeing all sorts of diverse representation of humanness in their spaces. Samuel's book serves as a workbook to create self-reflection and introspection for all, regardless of personal views. Annie and Samuel discuss the beautiful side of wondering aloud with children that comes with the role of caregiver. Additionally, Samuel shares more about his next exciting project - a book on weapon play that he is co-authoring with Kisa Marx to be released in June!