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Akilah S. Richards is an unschooling podcaster, writer, and founding board member of The Alliance for Self-Directed Education. Her work both challenges and encourages social justice minded people to explore privilege and power in their relationships with children. In her own family, Akilah, her partner, and their two daughters, use unschooling as a tool for decolonizing education and liberating themselves from oppressive, exclusive systems. Find her conversations and commentary at Fare of the Free Child Podcast where Akilah supports, connects, and highlights people of color designing their own liberation through Self-Directed Education and love-centered community building.
Akilah S. Richards came to unschooling by, in her own words, “banging her head against the wall.” Her journey began when their first daughter was labeled as ‘gifted’ at her public school. The entire family was soon initiated into a bizarre and bewildering educational experience.
First, the school moved her daughter forward a grade. And soon they resorted to creating a special program for her. But, the whole family soon noticed a pattern. Regardless of what solution they tried, it was always an attempt to mold their daughter. It was never an attempt to facilitate her natural learning.
There was no thought given to her own unique interests, or even what was best for her. They assumed that a gifted child should simply do more, faster than what the other kids were doing.
The entire family, especially their daughter felt the program was too limiting. And Akilah’s daughter questioned it. She wondered why she was allowed to talk about certain things at certain times but not other times. Her brain was making connections and she wanted to explore things. But her ‘special’ program didn’t allow for much freedom.
Taking the Leap to Educational Freedom
This experience of frustration led the family to pull their daughters out of the system. They went to Akilah’s home country of Jamaica, and her plan was to school her daughters with textbooks.
It was a similar experience to our family’s. We also went to Jamaica. And we also planned on bringing school to the home.
And, like us, Akilah and family soon realized that the idea of bringing school to the home was not going to work. She tells a funny story of bringing textbooks to the beach to do a schooling session. But, in that beautiful Caribbean environment her kids rejected the textbook approach. They wanted to explore and learn about their surroundings instead.
She was doing the same thing as the school.
So, she decided to wait and allow everyone to acclimate to the new surroundings. But after experiencing a bit of educational freedom, they never went back. And eventually they settled on unschooling. But she didn’t even know such a thing existed. They thought they were inventing a new way of education. And when she found others already doing it and discussing it online, she was surprised and delighted.
This was the beginning of her family’s path to educational freedom. And her own family’s journey has led Akilah to see this freedom as essential. The traditional education system is restrictive and prescriptive.
Akilah believes everyone, including children, thrive in a free environment. And she’s made it her mission to spread this message of freedom. Akilah’s goal is to inspire and support other families, especially people of color. Akilah believes that unschooling is a right everyone should have.
Akilah and I share some great laughs on this episode. We connected about our mutual connection to the great island of Jamaica. And she has a strong message of freedom and liberation to share.
Give it a listen. And as always, I’d love to hear what you think. You can email me at robyn@imhomeschooling.com.
