Podcast

The Raising Lifelong Learners podcast helps parents — especially homeschooling parents — encourage their differently-wired kids to learn, explore passions, cultivate creativity, and become fascinated by the world around them. Join host Colleen Kessler — educational consultant, gifted specialist, author, and speaker — for interviews, audioblogs, tips, and encouragement to help your differently-wired kiddos become lifelong learners — children who know that they can find the answers to anything they want to know if they can just view their world with play, passion, and fascination.

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Kids — you can use the button below to be featured on an upcoming episode of the Raising Lifelong Learners Podcast. When leaving your message: say your name, age, and home state. Then tell what you wish other people understood about your brain, how it works, or how you think about things.

When Homeschool Co-Ops Don’t Work: Friendship Strategies for Neurodivergent Kids

You know the scene—the co-op is buzzing with chatter, your child sits off to the side, hands clenched tight, asking when you’ll leave. Or maybe you’re in the car afterward, replaying the day and wondering, “Why does this feel impossible?” You’ve read all the advice about helping neurodivergent kids find their people, and yet… it’s…
LISTEN HERE When Homeschool Co-Ops Don’t Work: Friendship Strategies for Neurodivergent Kids

When Bedtime Becomes a Battleground

It’s the end of the day, you’re exhausted, and all you want is a little peace and quiet. Instead, your child is up, asking questions, bouncing around the house, or suddenly recalling every single thing they’ve ever wanted to discuss—right when the house should be winding down. If any of this sounds familiar, you’re not…
LISTEN HERE When Bedtime Becomes a Battleground

Helping Kids Who Resist: Low-Demand Homeschooling for Autonomy and Skill-Building

We’ve all been there—standing in the kitchen or at the dining table, cheerful worksheet in hand, excitement about a new science project bubbling over. And then you’re hit with a “No.” Sometimes it’s followed by shut-down silence, sometimes an eruption of tears, sometimes a negotiation worthy of high-stakes diplomacy. Other days, the resistance flares up…
LISTEN HERE Helping Kids Who Resist: Low-Demand Homeschooling for Autonomy and Skill-Building

Meltdowns vs. Shutdowns: Understanding and Responding to Big Feelings in Neurodivergent Kids

It’s the same dance over and over—one moment, everyone is fine, and then, suddenly, your child is either in the throes of a meltdown or quietly disappears, nowhere to be found but wrapped up tight in their own thoughts or hiding under a favorite blanket. Homeschool parents know intimately how quickly a day can turn…
LISTEN HERE Meltdowns vs. Shutdowns: Understanding and Responding to Big Feelings in Neurodivergent Kids