Victoria Ransom - Founder & CEO of Prisma

Matt Beaudreau - Acton Placer Founder and President

Matt Beaudreau Show Notes: Matt Beaudreau is the Founder of Acton Academy Placer Schools. He is also the co-founder at Apogee Strong Mentorship Program. He helps driven entrepreneurs open student-led campuses for real education and Freedom. Key Takeaways: 00:00:13 Favorite thing about working about young learners. 00:05:28:17 Examples where you said “No, I can’t do this. I don’t like it.” 00:13:32:21 If you’re a parent who is frustrated right now and cannot handle big changes right now but wants to do something different, what would be your advice? 00:21:12:19 Tell us about your new program. 00:28:31:12 What is your prediction of what will happen in K-12 with all the change happening in the world? 00:32:27:04 If you could create a metaphor for comparing conventional schooling with what we're doing in Acton? Quotes: The  kids will make you fired up. That’s your “why” and that’s your reason. I would tell parents, “Listen to that inner voice that’s telling you ‘I went to conventional school, I turned out fine.’” I don’t want “fine” for my kids, I want them to be able to create a magical world for themselves and to live this amazing story. We get stuck into making decisions and parenting based on: 1. If it’s going to be too hard or not. And 2. What do other people think? Social Links: Website | https://www.actonplacer.com/ [https://www.actonplacer.com/] LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-beaudreau-071a5b99 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-beaudreau-071a5b99] Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/mattbeaudreau [https://www.instagram.com/mattbeaudreau] Twitter | https://twitter.com/mattbeaudreau [https://twitter.com/mattbeaudreau] Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/mattbeaudreau [https://www.facebook.com/mattbeaudreau]

Joseph Connor - CEO of Schoolhouse

Show Notes: Joseph Connor is a startup founder, attorney, and teacher.  He is the co-founder of SchoolHouse, a micro school company. Joseph is a teacher and lawyer who loves helping great educators start schools.  Joseph founded SchoolHouse, an at home micro school company, and helped them scale to over 50 schools in 9 states. He started his career as a teacher and school leader at KIPP and Rocketship Education.  He has also worked as legal counsel for school organizations and companies, including Match Education, AltSchool, the Notre Dame Ace Academies and Primer.  He has a passion for helping great teachers broaden their reach. Key Takeaways: 00:04:18 What are some of the drivers for Families and Educators to do something different? 00:08:55 Struggle between public and private school. 00:18:37 What do you predict will happen with K-12 as the world changes? 00:24:28 What will be the most successful model of school? 00:28:44 What would you want to do next? 00:33:54 If you could offer a metaphor comparing conventional school with Schoolhouse..? Quotes: Parents want a school that reflects their family’s values and their community’s values. And when there’s none in that school, that’s I think when they start looking for alternatives like microshool, homeschooling. Unless public schools are able to adapt to some of the innovations, you’ll see a decline in the traditional public schools here in America as parents increasingly reach out to those different options. Social Links: LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-connor-b6a96a16 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-connor-b6a96a16] Twitter | https://twitter.com/josephjconnor [https://twitter.com/josephjconnor] and https://twitter.com/getschoolhouse [https://twitter.com/getschoolhouse] Website | https://josephjconnor.com/ [https://josephjconnor.com/] and https://www.getschoolhouse.com/ [https://www.getschoolhouse.com/]

Catherine Fraise - Confident Learners

Catherine Fraise is the Founder and President of 100 Roads, the Founder of Workspace Education, and WorkspaceSKY Teens. She has worked in education for 30 years. WorkspaceSKY Teens is a brand new destination for learning just for teens. Teens choose academics from anywhere, join an advisory and enjoy incredible social networking opportunities. 100 Roads is a research-based 501c3 organization supporting the development of co learning communities globally. Workspace is a 32,000 sq ft Maker and co-working space designed to help families implement education their way, in a vibrant learning community. Parents can teach, bring in teachers and experts, or choose from a database of tutors and teachers, online classes and curriculums as well as a smorgasbord of classes that appeal to all kinds of learners. Check out their website for more information: www.workspaceeducation.org [http://www.workspaceeducation.org/] Key Takeaways: 00: 01:43 Life Story 00:17:40 Drastic move from Connecticut to Montana 00:25:30 Can it take the place of regular school? 00:35:49 In-Person Experiences and Kids’ Personality 00:41:48 Social Life of Kids 00:44:28: Comparing Workspace Education and Workspace Sky Teens with Conventional School 00:57:09 Cath’s Personal Creativity Process Quotes: I went into education because I wanted to reform it and change it. What we should be really looking for is engagement. Gen Z is the loneliest generation... if you want to conquer loneliness, you just really need one great friend. Any parent can actually teach. It’s not about the academic pathway, it’s about who they are, what they care about, and how they fully and authentically express themselves in the world. You have to trust yourself as a parent. Social Links: Websites https://www.100roads.org [https://www.100roads.org/] www.workspaceeducation.org [http://www.workspaceeducation.org/] https://workspacesky.org/ [https://workspacesky.org/] LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-fraise-037361126/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-fraise-037361126/] Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/catherine.fraise.1 [https://www.facebook.com/catherine.fraise.1]

Victoria Ransom - Founder & CEO of Prisma

Show Notes: Victoria Ransom is the founder and CEO of world's first co-learning network that fully replaces regular school. Prisma is an educational startup providing its own live learning platform for 4th-8th graders (approx. age 9-14). It is Learner-centric, self-paced, outcomes-driven, interdisciplinary, and hands-on. Beyond the reading write and arithmetic, learners also enjoy Clubs, service learning, family events, and more. Victoria is a homeschooling mother and lifelong entrepreneur. She was also the Founder & CEO of Wildfire, a social marketing software company, which she led to profitability in just one year and built to 400 employees. Wildfire was acquired by Google in 2012 for $450M. Victoria joined Google, leading Wildfire and later Google Express. Key Takeaways: 00:25 What is Prisma all about? 06:44 How are you able to bring the magic of in-person to online schooling? 13:55 Three examples of amazing hand-on projects. 18:46 What’s your prediction of where this is all going? 26:44 How are your kids? What school are you choosing for them? 28:02 Tell us about Synthesis. 31:03 How do you find Coaches? 34:31 If I’m a curious parent, how much is it and how many students? 38:02 What’s your prediction on what learners will do from 9th to 12th graders? 40:20 How are you making sure that your learners are getting enough exercise and physical movement and free play? 42:35 Where are you geographically? 45:10 What’s a metaphor to compare Prisma to Conventional School? Quotes: It’s about working together to solve real-world challenges, discussion, collaboration and sharing ideas. We literally design a custom schedule for each kid. Give kids, especially 4-8 graders, some amount of scaffolding and not “do whatever you want” because that’s overwhelming to many kids. Will this suit everybody? No. But could it suit a lot of people. You get to have a flexible model where you could still do your schooling no matter where you're living and you get to connect with and get to know kids from all over the United States and all over the world. This is about preparing kids to thrive in their adult lives and to contribute to the world. It's not to get good test scores. Work is changing so much and so now school has to change to meet that. We are looking for people that are really, really good at building relationships with kids, really good at giving rich feedback - because we don't have grades at Prisma. Social Links: Twitter- https://twitter.com/victoria_ransom [https://twitter.com/victoria_ransom?lang=en] LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriaransom [https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriaransom] Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/joinprisma/ Website- https://www.joinprisma.com [https://www.joinprisma.com/]

Tiersa McQueen - Unschooling and Conscious Parenting

Tiersa McQueen is a full time working mother of four and a proud unschooler. She is a graduate of Howard University and works full-time in corporate retail as a Location Planner. She’s an advocate of Unschooling and Conscious Parenting. Check out Tiersa’s Twitter [https://twitter.com/tiersaj] and YouTube Channel [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM9W1D9umDk05sMIO_gEFzw] for great content and more insight on unschooling and self-directed education. Key Takeaways: 00:00:18 Evolution Into Unschooling 00:09:47 Advice to Parents 00:16:57 The mindset of respecting children 00:29:01 Raising independent and free children 00:32:42 Benefits and opportunities for people of color and Black Parents who do Unschooling. 00:38:28 Debunking the Myth: “I can never Homeschool because I am Not A Teacher” 00:43:27 Deepening relationships with children Quotes: “The unschooling philosophy was like learning by doing and having experiences.” “You have to figure out ways to live life and be in the world.” “Children understand why it would be necessary for them to know. And then they just do it on their own.” “Once children have the why, they learn so quickly.” “Children aren't as unreasonable as we think they are. They're more reasonable than we give them credit for.” “I didn't want to fall into the same trap that our boomer parents fell into, which was advising us for a future that didn't come, that didn't happen. A place that doesn't exist anymore.” “Children are going to evolve. I don't want to always focus on the future.” “Parents are the first teachers.” “Parenting is hard. You need people and there’s no way you’ll know everything.” Social Links: Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiersaj [https://twitter.com/tiersaj] Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/mother_bae_i [https://www.instagram.com/mother_bae_i] YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM9W1D9umDk05sMIO_gEFzw [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM9W1D9umDk05sMIO_gEFzw] Books Mentioned: Untigering: Peaceful Parenting for the Deconstructing Tiger Parent by Iris Chen [https://www.amazon.com/Untigering-Peaceful-Parenting-Deconstructing-Parent-ebook/dp/B08QG3C9F3] The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives by William Stixrud [https://www.amazon.com/Self-Driven-Child-Science-Giving-Control/dp/0735222517] Podcast Mentioned: Fare of the Free Child Podcast [https://fofc.buzzsprout.com/]