Living Joyfully

Helping parents cultivate a thriving unschooling lifestyle in their family.

  • Start Here
  • Deschooling
  • Unschooling
  • Parenting
  • About
  • Contact
  • Podcast
    • Q&A Episodes
    • Ten Questions Episodes
    • Interviews I’ve done …
    • TUC Talks
  • Books
    • Book Clubs
  • Network
  • Summit
  • Questions?
  • Articles
    • Spanish Translations
  • Blog
  • Resources
You are here: Home / Parenting / EU057: Ten Questions with Akilah S. Richards

EU057: Ten Questions with Akilah S. Richards

February 2, 2017 By Pam Laricchia 9 Comments

Akilah S. Richards joins Pam to answer ten questions about her unschooling experience.

Akilah S. Richards is an unschooling mom to two lovely daughters. She’s also an author, a podcast showrunner and host, and on the organizing team of the Alliance for Self-Directed Education. She answers my ten questions about her unschooling experience with candor and enthusiasm, and I hope you too enjoy our conversation!

Quote of the Week

“In a partnership when your focus is on harmony, you’re not trying to focus on what everyone should be doing, not trying to fit everybody into your unit. You’re allowing everyone to be and, in so doing, everyone feels free to be themselves. That’s how we got to see how whole they already are.” ~ Akilah S. Richards

Ten Questions for Akilah

  1. Can you share with us a bit about you and your family, and how you came to unschooling?
  1. I’d love to hear about what your children are up to. What are they interested in right now and how are they pursuing it?
  1. You’ve written a book about the beginning of your journey to unschooling, titled, Our Transition into Unschooling, with the awesome subtitle, “Raising independent thinking, information seeking, self-directed lovers of learning and life all through school-free living.” Writing about your rationale behind choosing unschooling, you mentioned your realization that children are underestimated by adults. You wrote, “I had no idea how much children felt … and processed … and understood … and could articulate their feelings.” I loved that, and it was a big realization for myself as well. Can you share a bit about how that it came about?
  1. As you transitioned to unschooling, one of your big questions was, “What about math?” It’s a common—and valuable—question to ask ourselves. Digging into it, you got to the perspective that “Math is a living principle, not a higher learning concept meant for college professors and “smart people” who teach.” Can you talk a bit about how you got there?
  1. You shared a tip in the book that I think is so valuable for unschooling but that can sound pretty crazy when you’re first starting out. It was, “don’t approach your children as if you already know what they need.” That turns out to be a pretty key perspective, doesn’t it?
  1. You are one of the members of the organizing team of The Alliance for Self-Directed Education. Can you tell us a bit about the organization and its purpose?
  1. You had a great article in the inaugural issue of Tipping Points, the digital magazine being published by the Alliance for Self-Directed Education. In it, you explained that, for you, “unschooling is a vehicle for liberation; a way to walk a path rooted in our strengths and deepest interests.” What does that look like for you and your family?
  1. You also host a podcast, Fare of the Free Child. I’ve listened to a couple of episodes and have really enjoyed them. I love that you make the point that with your work and your podcast you represent a space, not a set of people. Can you share a bit about the inspiration behind your podcast and that distinction?
  1. You mentioned on your most recent podcast episode that next year you guys will be travelling to Africa. Can you tell us a bit about your family’s digital nomad lifestyle and how plans for the trip came about?
  1. Looking back now, what, for you so far, has been the most valuable outcome from choosing unschooling?

Links to Things Mentioned in the Show

You can watch my talk, The Art of Unschooling, at the Canadian Online Homeschool Conference , which runs February 3-7, 2017 (that’s an affiliate link, but my session is free to watch February 3rd and 4th)

I’m also speaking at Unschooler’s Platform, an unschooling family conference in the Chicago area, February 13-17, 2017

Akilah’s podcast, Fare of the Free Child

Akilah’s on the organizing team of the Alliance for Self-Directed Education

Seth Godin’s free book, Stop Stealing Dreams (PDF)

Language app, Hello Talk

Akilah’s book: Our Transition Into Unschooling

Agile Learning Centers

ASDE digital magazine, Tipping Points

Akilah’s article in Tipping Points, Navigating Unschooling and Blackness In the American Education System

Learning Reimagined Conference in South Africa

Akilah’s website, akilasrichards.com

Akilah on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Episode Transcript

Read the transcript here

Filed Under: Parenting, Unschooling Tagged With: deschooling, math, relationships

Comments

  1. Susan says

    February 4, 2017 at 1:59 pm

    Oh, thank you so much for this interview with Akilah Richards! I discovered her and her wonderful web pages and courses a few months ago and have been very inspired by her wisdom and insights. As you talked about in the interview, I have found that “getting” unschooling is 99 percent personal work. Easier said than done! (But what a gift to me from my little school-free boy!) I did Akilah’s online course on writing your personal manifesto as part of that work and it was really a big step for me. Then following the links you provided above I read about the Learning Redefined conference in South Africa and eventually came to an article by Zakiyya Ismail comparing deschooling parents to immigrants to the unschooled world of their children. Being an immigrant myself, this metaphor really hit home! Just love all the links and connections that are helping me to grow as a person and a mother! Thanks for another great podcast!

    Reply
    • Pam Laricchia says

      February 5, 2017 at 9:34 am

      I love all your connections, Susan! It’s so beautiful where things go when we’re open and curious, isn’t it? So glad you enjoyed our conversation. 🙂

      Reply
      • Akilah says

        February 8, 2017 at 9:30 pm

        I tell you, Pam, I think openness and curiosity are tragically underutilized. I’m so glad we’re playing with those particular toys all the time 🙂

        Reply
        • Pam Laricchia says

          February 8, 2017 at 9:38 pm

          They really are underappreciated, aren’t they? I’m so happy to play with them too. 🙂

          Reply
    • Akilah says

      February 8, 2017 at 9:24 pm

      Susan, I really appreciate you. Thanks for sharing the ways this work is helping you. I am always so encouraged when we can make the connection between our own self-expression and our capacity to make space for our children to express/be themselves. Like you, I am so inspired by Zakiyya’s work and writings, and all of this is helping me to grow myself and expand liberatory practices outward. Sending much love and light your way!

      Reply
      • Susan says

        February 11, 2017 at 10:40 am

        Thank you, Akilah! I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate you and your work!

        Reply
  2. Julie says

    February 5, 2017 at 8:14 am

    Pam, thanks so much for your interview with Akilah! I have been listening to her podcasts since the start and find her world view mind expanding. In addition, thanks for giving her an opportunity to present her African American experience to your certainly overwhelmingly white audience. Exposure to context is a huge key to finding compassion and potential peace.

    Reply
    • Pam Laricchia says

      February 5, 2017 at 9:36 am

      Thanks, Julie, it was my pleasure! I really enjoyed my conversation with Akilah, she is awesome! 🙂

      Reply
    • Akilah says

      February 8, 2017 at 9:29 pm

      Thanks for listening, Julie! I appreciate being able to connect with people and share our views, especially when we intend to cultivate compassion and peace.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The Living Joyfully Network community

The Living Joyfully Network

We bring together unschooling parents to support and learn from each other as we question and explore many of the conventional beliefs around learning and parenting so that we can more gracefully navigate our personal unschooling journeys, develop strong and connected relationships with our children, and cultivate a thriving unschooling lifestyle in our families.

Learn more about the Network here!

free intro to unschooling ebook

Click the book cover to get the book from your favourite online retailer, or click the link below to join my mailing list and download the book directly!

What is Unschooling? A book about living and learning without school.

Exploring Unschooling podcast

click to listen to the archive of all Exploring Unschooling podcast episodes

Choosing to live and learn without school isn’t as intimidating as you might imagine!

The podcast archive is now home to more than 250 episodes, filled with unschooling goodness.

support the podcast on Patreon

Have you read my books?

Free-to-Learn-Cover Free-to-Live-Cover Life-Through-the-Lens-of-Unschooling-Cover Living-Joyfully-with-Unschooling-Box-Set-Cover The Unschooling Journey Libre d'Apprendre cover Libre para Aprender cover Szabadon Tanulni cover

Journey with us to a new way of seeing your child

icon-logo

Join Anne Ohman, Anna Brown, and I in our online Summit where we share the experiences, insights, and tools that we found most helpful on our unschooling journeys. We will walk with you from where you are now, to where you want to be.

Looking for something?

I've been exploring unschooling for many years now and there's a lot of content here! I've been working to tag things to help you more easily find information about the questions you're curious about right now. I'll continue to work on this.

Click a topic to explore:

college

dads

deschooling

food

grown unschoolers

learning

life

math

reading

relationships

relatives

technology

teens

work

Welcome to Living Joyfully

Pam ... an online resource for parents wanting to live joyfully with their children through unschooling. If you're passionate about exploring the world with your children, this site is for you. I'm Pam Laricchia, the author and owner of this site. Thanks for inviting me along on your unschooling journey!

MEET A NEW UNSCHOOLING PARENT EVERY WEEK!

Pam Check out the Exploring Unschooling podcast, with more than 200 episodes in the archive.

SEARCH LIVING JOYFULLY

Living Joyfully participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and the iTunes Affiliate Program. This allows me to earn a small commission, at no cost to you. I appreciate your support!

Read my Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.

Copyright © 2022 · Living Joyfully Enterprises

By using this website, you agree to the use of cookies. I use cookies to provide you with a great experience and to help my website run effectively. OK READ MORE
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT