All Episodes

June 14, 2023 20 mins

What happens when we eulogize an elder who has guided us on our journey of unschooling, decolonizing education, and raising free people? Join me in this heartfelt final season as we celebrate the transformative energy of unschooling and the legacy of Self-Directed Education.

Together, we'll explore the three containers of explainers, affirmations, and insights that will guide us through this final season, reflecting on the wisdom and experiences we've gained from Fare of the Free Child.

As we embark on this extraordinary season of gratitude, growth, and endings, I'll provide you with clear direction for ways to move through this body of work, ensuring that the closure of this podcast is a continuation for you and your journey to be and raise free people.

Throughout this season, I'll use three containers: explainers, affirmations, and insights to cover the core themes that we have wrestled with, realized, reclaimed, or released since our very first episode in July of 2016.

All season long, you will hear my recommendations for ways to walk alongside this work of raising free people, based on your particular location in this journey, whether you're brand new and just getting into it, or you're in it and it's shifting you all kinds of fast and furious, or you rocking with it, grounded and grooving, I gotchu!

So, gather around the elder one last time as we celebrate our collective liberation and the legacy of self-directed education. Let's revel in the power of unschooling, personal leadership, and spiritual growth as we embrace the transformative energy that has brought us to this point.

LINKS:
The Raising Free People Practice Card Deck
https://schoolishness.com/market/rfp-a-practice-deck/

Peek at the details of Personal Manifesto Path (will be available exclusively through our make-it-happen family on Patreon)
https://www.rfpunschool.com/p/manifesto

Our Youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/@fareofthefreechild

The Village:
https://my-reflection-matters.mn.co/

Support the show

Dig this show? Join our make-it-happen family at patreon.com/akilah to make sure we can keep this thang going strong. Thank you!


The Raising Free People Practice Card Deck
https://schoolishness.com/market/rfp-a-practice-deck/

Peek at the details of Personal Manifesto Path (will be available exclusively through our make-it-happen family on Patreon)
https://www.rfpunschool.com/p/manifesto

Our Youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/@fareofthefreechild

The Village:
https://my-reflection-matters.mn.co/

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Akilah S. Richards (00:00):
Make sure you listen all the way to the
end.
End of this.
I saved you a well what was atthe time an impromptu
affirmation for those momentswhen you just need to remember
what you are.
You know what I'm with it.
I was walking to my car andthis showed up.

(00:21):
So listen to the end.
Let me know how it feels foryou.
I'm going to pull from the deck.
It's been really interesting tolearn about the ways that
different people use this deck,how their intuition and their

(00:43):
emotions play together.
Let's see, The card isEmergence.
It says.
It is to prioritize wisdomwithin you and wisdom beyond you
, Wisdom that invites you torelate really relate, as an

(01:06):
emergent and consensual process.
This is for somebody.
May you receive it.
This deck is available atschoolishness.
com And if you already areworking with this deck, please
leave a review directly onschoolishness.
com to invite and inspire otherfolks to work with this

(01:31):
particular medicine too.
You can't keep using tools ofoppression and expect to raise
free people.

Juan P. Perez (01:49):
Welcome to Fare of the Free Child, the podcast
that ignites sparks ofliberation in conscious
parenting, personal leadershipand spirituality.
Join host Akilah S Richards asshe invites conversations about
the power of unschooling skillsas a way of life, a way of
decolonizing education and apathway to nurturing our souls.
Each episode delves into thechallenges and triumphs of

(02:16):
unschooling fostering strong,trustworthy relationships with
our children and reimaginingsuccess beyond traditional
standards.
We embrace alternative forms ofassessment, acknowledge the
wonder in every child andrethink notions of achievement.
But Fare of the Free Child goesbeyond parenting and education.

(02:37):
It's a compass for personalleadership and spiritual growth.
Through heartfelt conversationsand Akilah's insightful
offerings, we encourage you toreclaim your authentic self,
navigate life's complexities andembody the powers of personal
freedom and collectiveliberation.
Together we create inclusivecommunities that honor our

(03:01):
individuality, our differencesand our interconnectedness.
We embrace the transformativeenergy of unschooling, freeing
the full potential withinourselves and our families.
So take a breath with me as weembark on this extraordinary
season of gratitude, growth andendings.

(03:22):
This is Fare of the Free Child,where the skills of liberation,
not the tools of oppression,inform our capacities to be and
to raise free people.

Akilah S. Richards (03:46):
Peace and love.
Akilah here, it's so good to beback in touch with you.
I found a story, gathered astory throughout this long,
lovely pause in between seasons,and I wanna share that with you

(04:07):
now.
This elder showed up at myhouse.
The elder told me that theywere from the lands where

(04:27):
sovereignty, in the form ofself-directed education, thrived
.
The elder's energy had alreadybeen working through my children
, with them claiming their rightto sovereignty, bringing
resistance to the spaces thatlacked consent.
As we got familiar with thiselder, i knew intuitively to

(04:53):
open the door, make it an openpublic space so that people
could come and sit with thiselder, so that people could come
and recognize the familiarityof the elder.
And then I noticed that theelder was being called into
assembly by us.
It was we, the people whogathered around the elder, who

(05:17):
were affirming the elder'swholeness as we filled in all
the pieces with our stories.
So together, the listeners,myself included, acknowledged
and affirmed and assembled thiselder.
We call Fare of the Free Child,an elder of the natural learning

(05:41):
way.
We sat at this elder's feet forseven years, from summer of
2016 to the summer of 2023.
Seven years across generations,across pandemic, across all the

(06:01):
sacredness of the number seven,a number sacred in time and
space, a number that some folksknow to be important because our
choices today impact sevengenerations forward, as native
indigenous people have taught us, and my people have always

(06:21):
taught me, that the choices thatwe make bring healing to seven
generations back.
And now, at its seventh year,the elder is being laid to rest,
seven earth years old and hasrun its earthly course, but the

(06:45):
work, of course, lives on.
So I will rest, the podcastwill die, but the commitment
remains.
We, the ones who assembled thiselder, called them in through
our own relationships, some withchildren, others with inner
child, others with somethingelse just as relevant.

(07:08):
We are committed to a legacy ofreconnecting people who want it
, families who want it,communities who want it,
reconnecting them to this elderenergy that is rooted in
self-directedness in all forms,rooted in trustful, consensual

(07:29):
relationships devoid ofcoloniality's, shrapnel, and so
we eulogize this elder allseason long And we invite the
characteristics of this elder toshow up through our
conversations going forward.

(07:50):
This last season really is anencompassing of all of the
seasons and some ideas of how toengage the episodes and use
them as breadcrumbs for more ofthis work, more of this liberty,
more of this reclamation ofwhat we have always been and can

(08:10):
now get right back to.
The story ends with the elderbeing laid to rest, but the
ecology that you were part oflives on.

(08:33):
So throughout this season, I'mgonna use three containers
explainers, affirmations andinsights to cover the core
themes that we have wrestledwith, realized, the reclaimed or
released since our very firstepisode in July of 2016.

(08:54):
All season long, you will hearmy recommendations for ways to
walk alongside this work ofraising free people, based on
your particular location in thisjourney, whether you're brand
new and just getting into it, oryou're in it and it's shifting
you all kinds of fast andfurious, or you rocking with it,

(09:17):
grounded and grooving.
All of that I got you.
This season is about bothclosure and continuation.
The closure is mainly for me,and I needed to stand in that
out loud, but the continuationis mainly for you.
So you will know by the end ofthis season these different ways

(09:41):
to engage the work, and we'lltalk about that in more detail
all through.
All up and through the next fewmonths, we'll also recap
seasons one through nine andyou'll have clear direction for
ways to move through this bodyof work that I've contributed to
this larger movement that'sbeen happening long before me,
long before you, of being andraising free people.

(10:05):
I gave it this language, but theenergy of it has been living,
so that is what I'm pouring intoall season long, closing out
for me, continuing for you, andwe have a three-point focus that
I want to name here And I feelso good and grounded about this

(10:25):
because I was able to tap intothe wisdom and the desires of
our Make It Happen family overon .
patreon.
com/akilah, come through.
I shared what I was thinking ofdoing for the last season and,
with insights from our family, iwas able to really refine that
and get specific about whatfolks are wanting and needing

(10:49):
for now and moving forward.
Also, we'll use explainers justrecordings that I've done over
the past few months to sharespecific things that feel so
much like a result of this focusthat I've had for these years
on unschooling and related tothat, decolonizing.
You'll hear those explainers.

(11:10):
I also brought affirmationmusic into the mix because I've
been doing that since 2013-2014and it also will give you bits
of flavor of the personalmanifesto path, which is one of
the courses that I'mtransitioning into as I move out
of podcasting in this way.

(11:31):
So it's really important that Iuse affirmation music, because
that's how I got here.
What I did in 2013 and 2014worked.
It walked me to starting apodcast in 2016 and that worked,
because all of that walked meto and through so much of the

(11:51):
life experiences that allow meto show up for you, for my
family, for myself, in ways thatI just I've got to share.
I got to continue to share, andthe podcast is one medium, and
now what I'm doing with personalmanifesto path is another.
So I want to make sureaffirmations, with some hot

(12:13):
beats behind it, because that'show I get down, is a part of the
mix.
And the third container isinsights insights from and
inspired by our listeners, andwhat I'm going to do is really
just use these next eight, maybenine episodes to talk about how
to use these containers and howto use all the episodes from

(12:36):
seasons one all the way throughseason 10, because these
episodes are not just aboutstories and conversations.
There are actually ways thatyou can locate yourself.
You can tap into someone'sstory and locate yourself inside
of that, find and hear andnotice and witness things that

(12:58):
you were not able to hear andnotice and witness before, for
whatever reasons.
Sometimes stories invite andinvoke parts of us, so that's
one way that you'll be able touse these episodes.
Another one is that you coulduse it to up level your
listening.
So when you hear other peopletalk about how they weren't

(13:20):
listening to their kid or howthey noticed that they weren't
being listened to, that specificthing around listening is
something that you can pull fromand use those examples in your
own life.
So much more on that, so muchmore as we continue journeying
together this season.
But I wanted to be really clearin this first episode that

(13:41):
explainers, affirmations andthese reflections and insights
from our listeners and fromraising free people book
actually those are really thethings that we'll use all season
long to bring you ways to usethis beyond the podcast in your
real life every day.
So what we're doing in June,July and a little bit of August,

(14:07):
we are sending off Fare of theFree Child, eulogies, trusts,
palliative care, like all thethings.
We're going to lay this podcastto rest.
Then we're going to talk to youabout where to get the work now
right, any space where you canlisten to any episode of the
podcast, as well as things thatcame from the podcast.

(14:29):
We'll tell you specificallywhere to go to get this work now
.
We're going to talk about theFare of the Free Child Village.
We're going to talk about ourYouTube channel.
We're going to talk about ourMake It Happen family.
We're going to talk about ourshop, schoolishness.
com.
The last thing that this seasonis for is for these how to
guides.
I touched it a little bitalready when I talked about

(14:52):
listening and tapping intostories, but we're going to go
all in the details about theways that you can use this body
of work, not just the podcast,but the things I've written
before it, the things I'm aright beyond it.
We're going to talk about thesesort of like how to guides for
navigating all of this info thatI've put out over the past

(15:12):
decade, really.
So we're going to use abeginner's path as a guide.
We're going to talk to ourbeginners.
We're going to use a homeschool to more confident,
autonomy, centric practicesguide.
So for people basicallyunschooling without the label,
how it was for our family, maybethree or four years in, we're

(15:33):
also going to expose you to afor me, not them path for folks
whose kids have no interest inleaving school, but you, as a
parent or caregiver, you want tobe less schoolish and more
direct in facilitating confidentautonomy while your children
are in school.
So we'll be doing thingsspecifically around that path.

(15:54):
We're also going to be offeringinsights for whiteness centric
work life path for folks who areall in the mix, where that
pervasive whiteness lives andthrives in a school, in a job.
But you want to face your powerover framing in all of that.

(16:14):
You want to tap intounschooling practices as a way
to notice and witness howwhiteness centric work life
paths are influencing you so youcan move different, because now
you know And then, lastly,we're going to be talking from
this been unschooling, ready todeepen my shit path for folks
who want to get all up in moreof the spiritual aspects of this

(16:37):
work.
I am building my noticing skillsand I am building my witnessing
skills, and they are mostdefinitely different skills.
The way that I use it, the waythat I understand it, noticing

(17:01):
is one that is more actiondriven.
To notice is an invitation tomake a change in something, to
adjust, whereas to witness is toallow and to accept something
from what.
It is not necessarily to acceptit for you, but to accept it,

(17:22):
so you could be a witness tosomeone choosing something that
you do not necessarily agreewith, but you can notice
something about, say somethingyou tend to do that you want to
do differently.
You can notice in efforts toshift and you can witness in

(17:43):
order to be more informed aboutthe realities that you're
working with.
So when we talk about ourpersonal leadership skills and
developing a personal manifestoas a point of orientation, it's
really important to be clearabout the difference between
noticing and witnessing.
We'll talk more about thesepersonal leadership skills,

(18:05):
these glow-ups in personalmanifesto path, a framework for
orienting yourself towardconsistently feeling exactly how
you want to feel.
Available only on patreon.
com/akilah at all donor levels.
Come check it out.

(18:26):
Make sure you are subscribed toour YouTube channel.
That link will be on the shownotes page, raisingfreepeople.
com.
I'm so looking forward toconnecting on this final season

(18:52):
of Fare of the Free Child.
I'll see you guys very soon andmuch love.
Chat to you next week.

(19:16):
I am light.
What I am is connected toeverything else.
that is, the decisions I makeare never made in a vacuum.
I'm never rooted in any oneemotion that I might be
experiencing.
I am vast.

(19:37):
I am made of the samecomponents of the universe, And
so I draw from resources farbeyond the ones that my eyes can
see, my nose can smell, eventhe ones that I can sense.
far beyond my intellect, farbeyond my trauma, far beyond my

(20:05):
issues with whoever, whenever,whatever.
I'm vast.
Audio byraisingfreepeoplenetwork.
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