In a society where choosing to raise and educate your child outside the mainstream can often feel lonely, we have each other. Liberated Kids is more than a program—it is a village of young people, parents, caregivers, facilitators, and community members learning how to raise liberated kids together.

We hang out, give each other rides, share resources, and talk honestly about parenting, healing and deschooling. When someone in our community needs help, we find ways to show up—including through our Mutual Support Fund.

Families don’t just bring their children here. Parents and caregivers share their expertise by leading offerings, supporting events, and serving on teams and committees that raise money, think through health and safety, and help hold the community as a whole. Everyone contributes in different ways, and those contributions make Liberated Kids possible.

The young people feel this village around them, too. They form meaningful relationships with adults beyond just their parents and “teachers”—adults who know them, listen to them, understand them, share interests with them, and care about who they are becoming. At Liberated Kids, being self-directed doesn’t mean being on your own. It means having the freedom to find your own path while being deeply held and supported by a community.

Our Facilitators

Bree

Charlena (they/them)

Malcolm

Raj

  • What's something you could teach others? What's something you can nerd out about?
    I can teach outdoor skills, connecting with earth beings & elements, environmental education, natural history, Indigenous/land-based wisdoms

    I can nerd out about the Sierra Nevada mountain range, where I lived for the better part of a decade.

    What were you obsessed with as a kid? What were you passionate about?
    Making art, writing, singing, sports, being with my siblings and cousins, connecting with animals, climbing trees, alone time, cats, teaching myself guitar, reading, and sitcoms/cartoons.

    What do kids/young people deserve? What’s something you believe kids should get to experience, explore, or be curious about?
    Our young ones deserve tenderness, protection, honesty, and freedom. They deserve a community of adults and Elders who are committed to confronting our wounds lovingly to keep creating safe and joyful spaces for them. Children deserve to grow safely into adults and Elders.

    Kids should have space to cultivate and share their inherent wisdoms and emerging medicine. They should be able to be curious about their human experience as earthly beings and feel at home in their bodies!

  • What's something you could teach others? What's something you can nerd out about?
    I really enjoy learning about the lives of visual artists and the way artistic movements mirror society. 

    What were you obsessed with as a kid? What were you passionate about?
    As a kid, I was passionate about pink dolphins and thought I wanted to become a marine biologist. I learned everything I could about them by checking out books at the library and online research. My parents got me a pink dolphin plushie for Christmas one year.

    What do kids/young people deserve? What’s something you believe kids should get to experience, explore, or be curious about?
    I believe kids/young people deserve to be respected as active members of their communities. I think all kids should get to experience the joys of creating and imagination without the pressure of society and capitalism.

  • What's something you could teach others? What's something you can nerd out about?
    THIS is what I can nerd out about—education, childhood, liberation, decolonization, community, autonomy... ALL of THIS! 

    What were you obsessed with as a kid? What were you passionate about?
    I was (and honestly, still kind of am) obsessed with SPORTS—playing them, following them, fantasy sports, collecting sports cards... all of it. I loved the team aspect, the collaboration it took, and the competition.

    What do kids/young people deserve? What’s something you believe kids should get to experience, explore, or be curious about?
    Young people deserve to be valued, talked to, and treated the way adults want to be valued, talked to, and treated. That doesn't mean ignoring someone's individual personality, needs, or developmental stage—it means recognizing that young people are whole human beings, worthy of the same respect, dignity, and consideration we expect for ourselves.