Self Directed
Self Directed - A Podcast on Life, Learning, and Raising Free Thinkers. Hosts Cecilie and Jesper Conrad, full-time travellers since 2018 and parents of four, invite a new guest on the podcast every Thursday.
Episodes
Sociologist Jennie Germann Molz joins the podcast to discuss her book The World Is Our Classroom: Extreme Parenting and the Rise of Worldschooling. Jennie is a professor at the College of the Holy Cross whose research explores mobility, technology, and alternative forms of family life. Drawing on both academic insight and her own experience traveling the world with her ten-year-old son, she examines what happens when ...
After her eight-year-old son was expelled from school in the UK, Corianda Shepherd and her partner Joel left behind a life that no longer worked. They moved to rural Spain, bought the first house they saw, and slowly built Shepherd’s Rest—a worldschooling community where families live together, learn in nature, and reject the idea that difference needs to be managed or corrected.
This episode is not just about homescho...
What if the real magic happens not when you push harder, but when you let go? We explore surrender as a powerful, often misunderstood key to living a fuller life.
Kute Blackson is a transformational teacher and bestselling author of The Magic of Surrender. Known for his dynamic presence and multicultural background, he’s guided thousands worldwide through teachings on surrender, purpose, and authentic living.
Kute share...
In this episode, we explore how modern culture has stripped childhood of the freedom it needs to thrive—and what can be done to bring it back. Our guest is Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids and co-founder of the nonprofit Let Grow, launched with Jonathan Haidt, Peter Gray, and Daniel Shuchman to champion independence, resilience, and real-world learning.
Together, we unpack how fear, measurement, and control ha...
What happens when your child simply won't fit inside society's educational box?
When Anna Vestlev Sandfeld realized her son didn’t fit into the structure of kindergarten—and likely never would fit into traditional school—she and her husband chose unschooling. In this conversation with her cousin Cecilie and co-host Jesper, Anna reflects on the first year of stepping away from the system.
Anna shares how the l...
Outschool founder Amir Nathoo explains why education built on passion—not curriculum—may be the only way to truly prepare kids for a rapidly changing world. We talk about his shift from traditional schooling in the UK to building Outschool, how becoming a parent deepened his beliefs, and why interest-led learning offers more than just flexibility—it offers resilience.
Amir shares the emotional challenge of stepping awa...
Ever wondered what life could look like if you broke free from the conventional 9-5?
David Cole and his family sold their home in Chicago in 2019 and haven’t stopped moving since. Cecilie and Jesper talk with him about how they made the shift from occasional travellers to full-time nomads.
"I think what stopped us the most was mindset," David reveals, reflecting on their journey from dreaming to doing. After y...
Dr. Cam joins us to discuss parenting teenagers and why efforts to control them often create more distance. She explains how control can undermine trust and why focusing on connection leads to better results.
We discuss the difference between respect and obedience, and how letting teens say “no” builds confidence and self-trust. Jesper shares his shift from being a “parenting by volume” dad to being more present and co...
In this conversation with author and speaker Jacob Nordby, we explore the paradox of freedom in modern life. Is it simply doing whatever we want—or does real freedom require something deeper?
While many consider freedom to be about doing whatever they want without constraints, Jacob challenges this perception. "A lot of people assume that freedom means the ability to do whatever they want," he reflects, "...
Yasmin and Andy left a comfortable life in the UK to join a small off-grid community in the jungles of Belize.
Fifteen years after cycling through Central America, Yasmin and Andy returned—this time with three kids and a desire for a different kind of life. What began as a plan to visit intentional communities in Europe shifted during the pandemic, eventually landing them in a small permaculture community in Belize.
The...
In this episode, we speak with Amanda Diekman about how her parenting changed when her six-year-old son went into autistic burnout. He lost verbal communication, stopped eating most foods, and couldn't follow basic routines. Faced with a crisis, Amanda chose to stop trying to fix him and instead removed demands to create safety.
She explains how this shift became the foundation of low-demand parenting—an approach ...
Luz and David from Evolving Education left careers in biotechnology to explore and document alternative education models worldwide. Frustrated by rigid schooling systems, they traveled to over 170 learning centers to understand how children learn best outside the traditional classroom.
In this episode, we talk about how compulsory schooling originated in 19th-century Prussia as a system designed to produce obedient so...
Iris Chen, author of Untigering: Peaceful Parenting for the Deconstructing Tiger Parent, shares how she shifted from a strict, high-expectation parenting style to a trust-based approach.
Raised in a Chinese-American household, Iris grew up with academic pressure and obedience as the norm. She carried those expectations into her own parenting—until she saw how control and punishment were harming her relationship with he...
The moment you carve, knit, bake or start folding paper, something remarkable happens in your brain. The anxious spiral of thoughts quiets, stress hormones recede, and you enter a state that Dr. Anne Kirketerp calls "meaningful self-forgetfulness."
Dr. Anne Kirketerp is a psychologist, researcher, and craftsperson who pioneered Craft Psychology—the study of how hands-on creative activities impact me...
What does it mean to truly connect in a world that’s becoming more digital by the day?
Asger Leth is a Danish filmmaker, writer, and creative visionary known for his documentary and feature filmmaking work. He gained international recognition for Ghosts of Cité Soleil (2006), a gripping documentary set in Haiti, and later directed the Hollywood thriller Man on a Ledge (2012). Asger has spent years living and working gl...
Much of modern work is defined by routine, efficiency targets, and the need to appear productive. But how much of it is actually necessary? Dennis Nørmark, Danish anthropologist, author, and speaker, argues that a significant part of today’s work culture is built on pseudo-work—tasks that maintain appearances rather than create real value. As the co-author of Pseudo-Work: How We Ended Up Being Busy Doing Nothing, he e...
Traditional education often fails to nurture curiosity, creativity, and deep engagement. In this episode, we explore a different path—one that is flexible, self-directed, and built around each child’s unique interests. We discuss homeschooling, unschooling, and modular education, breaking down how families can step away from rigid school structures and embrace learning that feels natural and meaningful.
Our guest, Mani...
What makes Danish parenting unique, and how does it raise happy, resilient kids? In this episode, we talk with Jessica Joelle Alexander, bestselling author of The Danish Way of Parenting, about Denmark’s highly regarded child-rearing approach.
The Danish approach to raising children is shaped by principles from Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783–1872), a Danish pastor, philosopher, and educator who emphasized per...
How can unschooling create a safe and empowering educational path for children? In this episode, we talk with Essie Richards about her transformative journey from traditional schooling to unschooling in rural Cornwall, UK. Essie shares how her family chose this path after her son faced bullying, leading them to embrace self-directed education as a way to foster curiosity, confidence, and emotional well-being.
Our conve...
Sugata Mitra is a renowned educational researcher and innovator best known for his revolutionary "Hole in the Wall" experiment, which demonstrated the incredible capacity of children to teach themselves when provided with access to technology. A TED Prize winner and creator of the "School in the Cloud," Sugata’s work challenges traditional educational systems and advocates for self-organized and em...
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