TPP 190: Dr. Melanie Hayes Talks About Her Big Minds Micro-School and Educating 2e Children
episode
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
40 min
2 speakers
4 chapters
transcribed 5 hours ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What inspired Dr. Melanie Hayes to create the Big Minds micro‑school?
If we don't acknowledge that they have these extremely high intellects And they're being asked to Rain it in, you know, so you've got this racehorse that's locked in a stall all the time. That is so damaging to who they are as a human being and what their potential is.
Welcome to Tilt Parenting, a podcast featuring interviews and conversations aimed at inspiring, informing, and supporting parents raising differently wired kids. And I just have to say, welcome to a new decade. This is the first episode not only of the year, but the first episode of the 2020s. I'm gonna have to get used to saying that, but I kinda like it. I'm your host, Debbie Reber, and this week I am talking with Dr. Melanie Hayes, an expert in gifted education and the founder of Big Minds, a micro school designed for twice exceptional learners. Dr. Hayes holds a master's in gifted education, a doctorate in educational leadership with a focus on twice exceptionality, and is also the parent of two differently wired children herself.
In our conversation, Melanie shares her story of going from teacher to homeschooling parent to doctorate to school founder. We also discuss how the educational model and philosophy of Big Minds seeks to support the intellectual, social, and emotional well-being of two E students. And Melanie also shares some really practical and doable strategies for how these needs can be met in traditional educational settings. As you'll hear, Melanie's insights are profound. They're rooted in professional, academic, and personal experience, and her passion for supporting the two E population runs deep. I hope you enjoy our conversation. And now let's get to the interview. Here is my conversation with Doctor Melanie Hayes.
Hey Melanie, welcome to the podcast. Hey Debbie, thanks so much for having me on your podcast. I'm looking forward to this, especially having finally gotten a chance to meet you in person at Bridges Twee Symposium. I guess last month and I'm just excited to learn more about your work and clue listeners into your school and I guess as a way to get started, maybe just take a few minutes to introduce yourself. I've already read your official bio, but tell us a little bit h about how you introduce yourself and and what you do.
Sure. Well also I just wanna tell you I'm a mutual fan of both Differently Wired and of the Tilt podcast. I think You're doing some really amazing uh support for everybody. who has differently wired kids around the world. So thank you for that. Oh, thank you. And you know, I think I got started the way most of us do. I have uh two neurodivergent children. Um I had twins at forty one. And I was a public school teacher at the time, so I took time off after they were born and Uh, stayed home with them and then we went back we all went back to school happily for kindergarten and my kids who are eighteen now jokingly say they're kindergarten dropouts. because we only g made it through about halfway through kindergarten.
Um And it it was actually at the time pretty devastating for me because I had this career as a teacher and um I thought my kids would do great. We were in a really great school, one of the distinguished schools in the a very sought after community in California. And um My daughter was severely bullied, and my son just completely shut down. Um, what happened with my son was he was doing fifth grade math and read at a twelfth grade level in kindergarten. And they refused to do any kind of acceleration. They said to me, Well, if he's doing fifth grade math in kindergarten, what are we gonna do next year? 'Cause we only go to sixth grade, so I realized I was gonna have to do something drastic. Um and so I pulled
them from school and quit my job and stayed home home schooling. And that was kind of a shock because I I tried to do sort of school at home and that didn't work. Um and then a as we went along we found out that um they were both uh considered to be twice exceptional children, um, both my kids and they I have their permission. to talk about them, but um both of them have anxiety disorder.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What inspired Dr. Melanie Hayes to create the Big Minds micro‑school?
0:00–8:43
2
How did her experience as a teacher and parent lead to homeschooling?
8:43–22:49
3
Why did she decide to leave traditional schooling and start a home‑based program?
22:49–37:13
4
What is the core philosophy behind Big Minds’ attachment and strengths‑based model?
37:13–40:32
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
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