The Clearing
Parent deschooling support, community conversations, and audio gatherings.
For parents and families choosing a different way to learn
frē DAO
For the ones who left school to be frē.
You may have left school. You may be thinking about leaving.
Or maybe you already homeschool or unschool — but still find yourself wondering: “What do we do now?”
frē DAO is a self-directed learning operating system + ecosystem for families who want freedom without having to figure everything out alone.
We combine gentle guidance or “strewing,” real-life learning documentation, parent community, and online connection for kids and teens.
Not back to school. Back to being frē.
Enter the frē DAO app frē Member Sign In
Gentle guidance, real-world learning documentation, and community for families choosing self-directed learning.
One ecosystem
Four ways frē DAO supports your family
The Scaffolding
Gentle self-directed learning guidance, rhythms, prompts, reflection, and strewing without recreating school at home.
GENIE
Document real-life learning and translate it into recognizable academic subjects, skills, and learning records.
The Geniīverse
An online self-directed learning community where kids and teens build friendships, collaborate, and create learner-led Collab Studios.
What is frē DAO?
frē DAO is a community for families choosing a different relationship with learning.
Instead of beginning with curriculum, grades, or what a child is “supposed” to know, we begin with the person.
Who are you?
What do you care about?
What are you good at?
What do you want to create?
What kind of life do you want to build?
Inside frē DAO, families can receive gentle support for self-directed learning, document the learning already happening in everyday life, connect with other families, and give kids and teens a place to create and belong.
You don't have to recreate school at home.
And you don't have to be frē alone.
Who is frē DAO for?
frē DAO may be for your family if:
- You recently left public or private school.
- You are considering homeschooling or unschooling.
- You are already homeschooling, but school seems to have followed you home.
- You want self-directed learning without having to invent everything yourself.
- Your child needs community with other kids and teens.
- You want a way to document real-world learning without reducing it to worksheets.
- You want support transitioning from school-thinking into trust, curiosity, and self-direction.
- You believe children deserve more ownership over who they are becoming.
Learning documentation
GENIE
Real learning is already happening. GENIE helps you see it.
GENIE helps families document those experiences and translate them into recognizable academic subjects, skills, and learning.
For older learners, that documentation can also help build a record of learning toward a high school transcript.
You live the learning. GENIE helps you capture it.
Cooks dinnerBuilds in MinecraftStarts a businessWrites a storyResearches a curiosityMakes musicFixes a bikeTravelsDebates an ideaCreates art
Gentle structure
The Scaffolding
Freedom does not have to mean figuring everything out alone.
The Scaffolding gives families gentle structure for self-directed learning without recreating conventional school at home.
Families receive rhythms, invitations, reflections, and experiences built around The Genius School's Five Pillar Invitations of Life:
The 5 Pillar Invitations of Life
- 1Know ThySelf
- 2Know Thy Source
- 3Know How to Be Financially Sustainable
- 4Know Thy World
- 5Know How to Create Solutions for Others
The Scaffolding is not a curriculum telling your child what they must learn.
It is something to lean on while your family discovers what learning can become.
Connection for Learners
The Geniīverse
Kids need freedom. They also need each other.
The Geniīverse is our online self-directed learning community for kids and teens.
Learners meet, create, collaborate, and build relationships with other young people who are also learning outside school-as-usual.
Instead of spending the day moving from online class to online class, learners create Collab Studios around what they actually want to explore.
DramaCookingGamingArtMusicDebatePodcastingAnimationCreative writingDanceLanguagesMinecraftScienceWhatever they invent next
Adults provide safety, support, and scaffolding.
Kids help create the culture.
The Geniīverse gives children somewhere to be frē together.
The entry point
The Clearing
Before we build something new, sometimes we need somewhere to put down what we carried from school.
The Clearing is the entry point into the frē DAO community.
It is a space for parents and families to talk through deschooling, fear, uncertainty, identity, freedom, and what comes next.
Inside The Clearing, members can join conversations and audio gatherings with other families asking many of the same questions.
You don't have to have everything figured out before you begin.
Sometimes you just need a place to clear.
How it works together
A whole ecosystem for becoming more frē.
01 · Clear
The Clearing
Put down some of the fear and school-thinking.
02 · Scaffold
The Scaffolding
Create a gentle rhythm without rebuilding school.
03 · Document
GENIE
Notice and capture the learning already happening.
04 · Connect
The Geniīverse
Give kids and teens somewhere to create and belong together.
Membership
Choose the level of support your family needs.
The Clearing
$5/month
For families who want to begin with community and deschooling support.
Includes access to The Clearing and community conversations.
GENIE + The Scaffolding
$50/month
For families who want gentle guidance and a way to document the learning happening in real life.
- GENIE learning documentation
- The Scaffolding
- The Five Pillar Invitations
- Self-directed learning rhythms and prompts
- Community access
The Geniīverse
$110/month
For families who also want an online self-directed learning community for their children and teens.
Includes access to The Geniīverse and its learner-created Collab Studios, along with the frē DAO ecosystem.
In-Person frē DAO / Genius School Communities
Local options may also be available for families seeking an in-person or hybrid experience.
The roots
About Karema Akilah + The Genius School
frē DAO grew from years of building The Genius School and asking a deceptively simple question:
“Who do you never get to be in school?”
“What becomes possible when children are trusted to know themselves, follow their curiosity, build real things, and participate in creating their own learning community?”
Karema Akilah is the founder of The Genius School and frē DAO, a mom of six kids, former public school teacher, longtime homeschooling and unschooling parent, author, and creator of self-directed learning communities.
frē DAO brings that experience into a digital ecosystem families can access from anywhere.
The goal is not to create another version of school on a screen.
The goal is to help families practice freedom together.
Family Stories
What does being frē look like in real families?
This is where we will share stories from parents, kids, and teens using frē DAO, GENIE, The Scaffolding, The Geniīverse, and The Genius School.
Stories of leaving school.
Stories of rediscovering curiosity.
Stories of finding community.
Stories of parents realizing they don't have to know everything.
Stories of young people becoming more of themselves.
FAQ
Questions families ask
You do not need to have self-directed learning figured out before you begin.
You left school for a reason.
More time.More trust.More curiosity.More creativity.More ownership.More room.
More room for your child to become themselves.
Leaving was one step.
Now let's learn how to be frē together.
frē DAO
for the ones who left school to be frē.
Enter the frē DAO app