Welcome to Raising Kind Humans, the top parenting podcast for raising empathetic, compassionate, and community-minded kids. If you want to move beyond basic manners and teach deep, actionable kindness, this show is your practical guide to purposeful parenting and family service projects.
Hosted by Katie Doughty, Raising Kind Humans gives parents, educators, and caregivers the tools to turn social-emotional learning (SEL) and empathy into everyday practice.
Episodes weave together the building blocks of the KIND Method, a 4-step framework for kid-friendly service projects and character building:
• KNOW: Learn facts and read books to build foundational empathy.
• INQUIRE: Connect with nonprofits, local helpers, and community leaders.
• NOODLE: Explore big concepts through fun, hands-on activities.
• DO: Take real-world action with impactful, age-appropriate family service projects.
Featuring interviews with child development experts, bestselling parenting authors, and nonprofit directors, you’ll discover actionable parenting tips, book recommendations, and weekend volunteer ideas for kids. Subscribe now to learn how to do the work, navigate tough conversations, and raise the next generation of compassionate leaders. Let's turn kindness into a verb.
Follow along on Instagram @teamkindhumans, or check out the website: www.TeamKindHumans.com
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Raising Kind Humans. I'm your host, Katie Doty. And yes, I have been MIA for a little while on this podcast. But I have a good reason. And that's what I want to talk to you about today. Because sometimes I feel like I am just cruising along on this path I've created for myself. And I think this is great. This is where I'm going. And then bam, I am going in a different direction than I anticipated. And I was talking to a dear friend, my dear friend Michelle, about Team Kind Humans and everything that I was trying to create and what I wanted. And I had this bolt of lightning hit me with one word. And that word was kind schooling. And as soon as that hit my brain, it like filled my body. And it felt like everything made sense. That word perfectly summarized what I want team kind humans to be and how I want to present it to families and teachers and be able to help them create a world of kindness in their homes and in their classrooms. And so kind schooling has taken off now. Once that idea hit my mind, I couldn't let it go. And so I have spent the last few months revamping everything. Um I have started a kids podcast called Super Kind Kids, which I am very excited about because I absolutely love podcasting and I love this podcast and I love communicating with other parents and experts and growing and learning alongside all of you. But I miss talking to kids. I miss the kids. I want to talk directly to them too. Um, I miss being in the classroom. I taught elementary school for several years, and that is where my soul belongs. And so the idea of starting a podcast for kids just really resonated with me and it really made sense. So super kind kids is now a thing. It is now out in the world. We are six episodes in, and I love it. So if you have a kid or you know somebody that would love a podcast for kids that's centered around kindness, send them over to Super Kind Kids. We are having a lot of fun. So I wanted to talk a little bit about kind schooling and what that is, what that means, and how you can use it and implement it in your home. Kind schooling is it's a philosophy, it's a way of keeping kindness at the center of your family, at the center of your homes or your classroom. You know how there's there's homeschooling and there's unschooling and there's road schooling and there's world schooling and Charlotte Mason and classical. I feel like kind schooling is the next version for homeschoolers, but also in the classroom. And it's really simple. At its core, it's so ridiculously simple, but it's something that I think we need to focus more heavily on. And so kind schooling is taking, putting kindness at the center of whatever it is you're doing. So we focus on um nonprofits and charities, just like we did here on this Raising Kind Humans podcast. And we take that and put it into our learning. So, what I'm doing now is creating lessons, creating activities. I actually call them quests, kind schooling quests. And I take all the learning that you would hope would happen around a topic. So, for example, we did a kind schooling quest on eagles. And we interviewed Sandy from Friends of Big Bear Valley. They have an eagle cam that you can watch the eagles as they grow and lay eggs and have babies. And it's really an incredible experience. And so we have the kind schooling quest centered around eagles. Its focus is on Friends of Big Bear Valley, but we learn all about eagles through science and math and art and language arts and writing. And then there's a community service project attached to it that centers around helping Friends of Big Bear Valley. So, really, it's just inserting that kindness piece, that awareness of others and what other people are doing to help our environment, our planet, other people. And that's basically kind schooling. It's centered around kindness, but it incorporates all of that amazing learning that you want in your classroom or your homeschool. I'm kind of obsessed with creating lessons that incorporate all the subjects. It's one of my very favorite things to do. I used to love to do that in the classroom. Pick a topic and then find so many other activities that center around that topic. Um, so now I feel like this is just my way of bringing it to you in a nice, neat package with a bow. So, kind schooling is now here for you. And I hope you'll take a look at it and tell me what you think and let me know your thoughts on this. And if this resonates with you, this is something that you're interested in learning more about. Um, I do have a free guide, a kind schooling guide telling more about what exactly this is. And it has five free lessons that you can use in your home right now. And you can go to teamkindhumans.com uh to grab that kind schooling guide. But yes, I just wanted to update you and let you know that that's something that I'm working on, something I'm very excited about. I still do plan on moving forward with this podcast, Raising Kind Humans, because I love connecting with other adults and other caregivers. Um, but I'm also focusing on the kids podcast and kind schooling. So those are the things that are happening in Team Kind Humans right now. And I just wanted to take a minute to share that with you and um kind of tell you where I'm heading and check in with you. And I hope you're doing well and you can look forward to more episodes here. And if you know someone or you have kids that would be interested in super kind kids, send them on over to that podcast. There's several that you can start with right now. I have a kind schooling unit on eagles and on um growing and giving flowers with the Growing Kindness Project. I also have one that focuses on Ridwell and Isati Cisei, the queen of recycling. Um, and then another one on Reserva, where you can write a letter for nature. And that one features Vicki Conrad, the author of A Voice for the Everglades. And that one's really fun too. So lots of choices to get started, and then so many fun things coming up. I have some guests scheduled that I cannot wait to tell you about. Um and I think the kids are going to love it. So head on over to Team Kind Humans and see all of the new things that are going on. Also, Leaping Letters is taking off. There's so much stuff going on there, too, that if you have a preschooler, about ages four to six is usually appropriate. Three can work too if you're working with them. Um, I have that video series for preschool that's just play through the alphabet. And it has book recommendations and kindness activities uh for every letter of the alphabet, as well as every time we start a new letter, we do a play-doh activity. We do letter formation and letter sounds. We have movement activities that go through shapes and numbers and colors. And then we have gymnastics and um just lots of fun things to do in there. There's over 26 hours of video. You just have to press play. And I can keep your kid entertained and educated. Um, so that's at teamkindhumans.com/slash leapingletters. And then I also do live classes with these preschoolers, which honestly I think is one of my favorite things. I had no idea that zooming with preschoolers could be so incredibly fun. But that was born out of the pandemic. I learned that it's something I absolutely love to do, that we have so much fun together. Um, so if you're interested in that, if you're a member of Leaping Letters, you can join for free all of the live classes. Otherwise, I have one coming up and it's called the Growing Kindness Preschool Party. And we will be learning all about Miss Rumpheus, which is one of my favorite books and how to spread kindness with our art. And then we'll be learning about flowers through movement and play-doh and different activities. That one is actually coming up next Thursday, April 25th at 10 a.m. Pacific time. And you can register at teamkindhumans.com/slash leaping letters if you want to come join us because it's going to be a lot of fun. So again, thank you, thank you, thank you for being here. Thank you for listening to this podcast. Thank you for sticking with me as I figure out exactly the best way to serve you and other families on this kindness journey. And I am always here for questions, feedback, suggestions, want to talk it through, have ideas, hit me up because we are definitely in this together. So I hope you are having a beautiful spring and I look forward to all the amazing things to come. See you soon.
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