Schedule 2025 | AERO Conference

Friday Schedule - 6/27/25

5:00 pm - 5:30 pm Check-In Check-in & Registration

5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Dinner Dinner, Registration, Networking, Check-In, Bookstore

6:30 pm - 6:45 pm Opening AERO Opening & Welcome

6:45 pm - 7:15 pm Mini-Talk Mason Ember - A Look Into the Lives of Homeschooled Teens ( A Documentary Project)

7:30 pm - 9:00 pm Keynote Pat Farenga - “Schooling as Social Ritual: Reclaiming Public Spaces for Learning and Friendship”

9:00 pm -10:00 pm TBD TBD

Saturday Schedule - 6/28/25

7:15 am - 8:45 am Breakfast Breakfast, Registration, Networking, Check-In, Vendors, Bookstore

9:00 am -10:15 am Breakouts The Magic Formula for Engaged Learning - Laurie Spigel

Unschooling, Ungrading, Unlearning: How the

Unschooling Movement is Changing the Educational Landscape - Gina Riley

Sociocracy: A Consent-Based Model for Democratic

Governance in Education - Catina Franklin Sweedy

Let's Redefine PDA - Monica Cochran

10:15 am -10:30 am Break

10:30 am -11:45 am Breakouts Building a Self-Directed Education Center from Scratch -

Ben Draper, Kerry Kilroy, and Vanessa Niro

Navigating Education through Human Design: A Personalized Approach - Julieta Duvall

Unlocking Potential Through Educational Freedom -

Amber Baud & Donna Johnson

Creating Democratic Classrooms with Youth Voice -

Amanda Maguire

11:45 am -12:35 pm Break Lunch, Registration, Networking, Check-In, Vendors, Bookstore

12:45 am -1:15 pm Special Special Virtual Session - One Crazy School in Ukraine - Democratic

Education In Time of Conflict

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm Keynote Peter Gray - How Restrictions on Children's Freedom Impair Their Mental Health: A 75-Year History of

Childhood in America

3:00 pm - 3:30 pm. Break

3:30 pm - 3:55 pm. Mini-Talk Kate Baker Demers - Live Free and Learn: Education Freedom, the New Hampshire Way

4:00 pm - 4:25 pm. Mini-Talk Tim Carney - The Breadth of Educational Options in New Hampshire

4:30 pm - 4:55 pm Mini -Talk Annmarie Timmins - Using Local Media To Tell Student's Stories

5:30 pm - 6:45 pm. Break Dinner, Networking, Vendors

6:45 pm - 8:15 pm. Keynote Mikel Matisoo - Learning Democracy? A Perspective from the Sudbury Valley School

8:15 pm - 8:40 pm. Mini-Talk Joe Ringlehan - Communication Skills Important for Democratic Schools

8:45 pm - 9:45 pm Open Session

Sunday Schedule - 6/29/25

7:15 am - 8:30 am Break Breakfast, Registration, Networking, Check-In, Vendors, Bookstore

9:00 am - 10:15 am Breakouts Learning They'll Love: Personal Interest Projects to Empower Learner Freedom and Creativity - Elizabeth Radday

Teaching Democracy by Living It: Collaborative Governance for Schools - Will Gowen

So You Want to Start an Educational Alternative? - Here's How -

Jerry Mintz

Problem Solving with Students - Nelly Sepulveda & Elizabeth Gonzalez

10:15 am - 10:25 am Break

10:25 am - 11:45 am Keynote Vedananda Pandeya - Democratic Process at the Ashram School

11:45 am - 12:45 pm. Break Lunch, Networking, Vendors, Bookstore

12:45 pm - 2:00 pm Breakouts The Self-Directed Path to College - Ben Draper, Vanessa Niro, and Kerry Kilroy

Empowering Educators: Teacher-Powered Schools as a Model for Democracy in Education - Zaynab Baalbaki & Skylar L. Primm

Why Democratic Spaces are Good For Mental Health & How to Create Them - Peter Berg

Education and Democracy Through the

Janusz Korczak's Lens - Mariola Strahlberg

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm. Feedback Session & Closing