Saving the Seeds of Self-Directed Education

In episode 10 of Saving the Seeds of SDE, we talk with Iris Chen, founder of Untigering, and an ASDE Compendium contributor, about the link between decolonizing and SDE, her and her family’s journey to unschooling, some of the deep internal work we need to do to deschool ourselves.The ASDE Compendium Guided Cohorts are open! Learn more and sign-up here.———We recently made all of our podcast episodes free, but we still rely on donations and paid subscriptions to keep this work going. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber.The ASDE Guided Compendium Cohorts are now open. You can sign up for any of our individual cohorts, pick and choose, or join all three remaining cohorts! Learn more here. Get full access to Alliance for Self-Directed Education at seedsofsde.substack.com/subscribe

In episode 9 of Saving the Seeds of SDE, we talk with Melissa Crockett-Joyoue, an ASDE Compendium contributor, about her family’s personal journey, and finding connection and support for ND families in SDE.The ASDE Compendium Guided Cohorts are open! Learn more and sign-up here.Resources Mentioned Today:Weave ND CommunityWeave ND InstagramThe Unschooling Summit 2026Alliance for SDE is a reader/listener-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.If you missed the opportunity to join us for the first guided cohort of The ASDE Compendium, you can get on the waitlist for access to later this summer! Get full access to Alliance for Self-Directed Education at seedsofsde.substack.com/subscribe

In episode 8 of Saving the Seeds of SDE, we talk with Chantrisse Parks, an ASDE Compendium contributor, about her experience and wisdom about conflict engagement in SDE spaces.The self-guided version of The ASDE Compendium is now available! Get it here!Alliance for SDE is a reader/listener-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.If you missed the opportunity to join us for the first guided cohort of The ASDE Compendium, you can get on the waitlist for access to later this summer! Get full access to Alliance for Self-Directed Education at seedsofsde.substack.com/subscribe

in episode 7 of Saving the Seeds of SDE, we talk with Nollaig Rydz, an ASDE Compendium contributor, about her approach to screens. We cover a wide range of hot screen topics, including scarcity mindset, addiction, safety on the internet, and outside time.Note: This episode was, in fact, recorded over a screen. ;)Alliance for SDE is a reader/listener-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.If you missed the opportunity to join us for the first guided cohort of The ASDE Compendium, you can get on the waitlist for access to later this summer! Get full access to Alliance for Self-Directed Education at seedsofsde.substack.com/subscribe

In this conversation, Bria and Meghan (staff people for ASDE) speak with a Compendium Contributor from Denton Texas, Aspen who attends Wild Roots. She tells us all about what her days are like there, how they spend their time, make decisions and even CLEAN UP aka “Contributions”. Aspen wrote about her Day-in-the-Life for the Compendium to give folks a glimpse into the life of a self-directed teen who chooses to be a part of a community and what that experience is like for her. We hope you enjoy this conversation and will share it with others! We hope you enjoy this conversation and will subscribe and share it with others! ASDE is always looking to engage with and amplify the experiences of youth — if you are a young person (or know of one) looking to share your experience as a self-directed person, please reach out to us [email protected] Get full access to Alliance for Self-Directed Education at seedsofsde.substack.com/subscribe

In episode 5 of ASDE’s podcast, Saving the Seeds of SDE; hosts Bria and Meghan speak with long time unschooling parent Domari Dickinson. She shares so much wisdom on parenting wounds and triggers in this interview and in her contribution to the ASDE Compendium. We hope you listen in on this and join the conversation to let us know what you took away from this episode.If you missed the opportunity to join us for the first guided cohort of The ASDE Compendium, you can get on the waitlist for access to later this summer!Saving the Seeds of SDE is a listener-supported podcast. Please subscribe to know when we share new episodes! Get full access to Alliance for Self-Directed Education at seedsofsde.substack.com/subscribe

In episode 4 of ASDE’s podcast, Saving the Seeds of SDE Bria and Meghan sat with Compendium contributor, Chevanni Davids to talk about grief and how it relates to our periods of transition. He speaks candidly about the ways we shed parts of ourselves, how we grieve those parts and even what unschooling invites us to do with it. He articulates the way that young people expressing their full range of emotions, in public even; allow us to disrupt the systems that limit us by embracing the negative capacities. Listen in to this episode to hear about risk, grief, initiation, ritual and play as we break down old stories that perpetuate adultism while living without coercive schooling. Find Che on Instagramhttp://www.reimaginedlearningcommunity.com/ Get full access to Alliance for Self-Directed Education at seedsofsde.substack.com/subscribe

In Episode 3 of Saving the Seeds of SDE, hosts Bria and Meghan are speaking with Compendium1 Contributor, Jonie Broecker. They have a conversation about the internal work of deschooling. Jonie speaks about this individual work she was doing and how there were some internal strings for Jonie, that seemed to have tuned to a particular resonance. Bria and Meghan ask her to share how things physically felt, what this practice of getting out of the way looked like for her. We invite you to join us and listen to this beautiful conversation about love, trust, embodiment, power and pain… and living life a different way. One that resists domination and subjecation through Self-Directed Education. Watch Ted Talk by Akiliah S. Richards, that Jonie mentioned Connect with Jonie Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joniebroecker https://www.joniebroecker.com Get full access to Alliance for Self-Directed Education at seedsofsde.substack.com/subscribe

content warning: the first 5 minutes have an introduction to Vivek’s lived experience that include child abuse and violence. In Episode 2 of Saving the Seeds of SDE, hosts Bria and Meghan are speaking with Compendium Contributor, Vivek Patel. They have a conversation about raising children with Non Coercive Collaborative Parenting. They examine the inherent power of parents and discuss ways to create connected, safe relationships through collaboration, co-learning and divesting from what he calls a well entrenched mindsets that are rooted in domination and control of children. Find Vivek in Instagram and YoutubeJoin a free course with Vivek on Guiding Without Control. Get full access to Alliance for Self-Directed Education at seedsofsde.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to the latest offering from The Alliance for Self-Directed Education, our podcast! Saving the Seeds of SDE was born out of our organization’s desire to preserve the seeds of knowledge, wisdom and lived experiences of people all over the world practicing Self-Directed Education. Your hosts are 2025 Staff Members, Bria Bloom and Meghan Suniga-Davies - they will be bringing you conversations throughout the year that are part of a larger Compendium of knowledge that is being assembled by The Alliance.In this first episode, you’ll hear about the beginnings of ASDE and what we stand for in the movement of Self-Directed Education and Collective Liberation. You’ll also hear a bit about our upcoming plans for 2025 and ways you can connect with us, and the larger community! Read Our Mission, Vision and Values Read Our Anti-Oppression Statement ASDE Resource Directory ASDE Peer Support + Facilitator and Founder Support Listen to the podcast episode about the term, “Self-Directed Education"This podcast is housed inside our Substack by the same name and is part of our efforts to stay funded and active as an organization, since we rely solely on donations. We have a policy at ASDE that we will never turn folks away for an ability to pay so if you find yourself in that position and need access to this resource, we will make sure you’re covered! Just send us an email at [email protected] Get full access to Alliance for Self-Directed Education at seedsofsde.substack.com/subscribe