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
In this episode, we talk with Ben Feliz (14) and Addison Harding (13), home-educated children and contributors to the anthology “Hidden Voices Speak.” Addison came up with the idea for the book, Ben designed the cover, and they worked together with others to publish it. Both care deeply about children’s rights and wanted to respond to recent news stories and new UK legislation affecting home education.
They discuss the...
We sit down with Andrew and Heidi Schrum, just three weeks away from starting their life as a full-time nomadic worldschooling family. They ask us direct questions about our seven years of unschooling and worldschooling.
We discuss how the biggest changes happened in us as parents—not our children. We describe letting go of academic pressure, seeing teenagers choose their own academic interests, and how travel creates ...
We sit down with Heidi and Andrew Schrum, who are about to leave home and begin travelling full-time with their two young children.
They ask us what we wish we’d known at the beginning, and we talk through everything from reluctant kids and screen time to preparation that doesn’t help and the emotional crash that often comes six months into travel.
We also get into how to parent while unschooling—w...
Charles Eisenstein is an author and speaker whose books and essays explore themes of community, human connection, economics, and social change. He is known for works such as The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible.
Charles joins us to explore how modern family structures have evolved and what's been lost in our transition from community-based living to isolated nuclear families.
Wh...
What if our traditional education system is fundamentally misaligned with how humans naturally learn? Jesper and Cecilie Conrad continue their conversation with Jamie Rumble, exploring the philosophy and practice of unschooling within a nomadic lifestyle.
Jamie shares how his background, including influences from Paulo Freire and the concept of eco-pedagogy, shapes his approach to teaching and learning.
The discussion c...
We got an email from Jamie Rumble... "I’m a Master of Education student at Cape Breton University, Nova Scotia, Canada. For my thesis, I’m researching how digital nomads are adapting their lifestyles in response to climate change, and what insights their experiences might offer for future education and planetary citizenship."
We thought it could be an interesting talk and said yes, given that we could use th...
What happens when a single mom chooses to reject conventional norms, embraces van life, and takes her daughter out of traditional education? Vanessa Woozley joins us to share her inspiring story of courage, resilience, and transformation.
Vanessa’s adventure began with short trips, gradually evolving into full-time worldschooling in a van. She dispels myths about needing significant resources or a traditional two-paren...
When Jack Stewart turned off the internet, he discovered that digital connection often acts as a “social appetite suppressant”—satisfying on the surface, but not deeply nourishing. In this conversation, Jack explains how removing online distractions led him to seek out in-person connection, from literally knocking on neighbors’ doors to organizing his own book and writing salons.
We discuss the qualitative difference b...
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...
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