You're The Voice | by Efrat Fenigson - Decentralized Montessori Education for the Sovereign Generation - Mercedes Gil Hernández | Ep. 146

Episode Date: June 29, 2026

Mercedes Gil Hernández is the founder and director of Montessori British School, a hybrid school offering on-site, virtual, and residential education. She spent years working in international banking before a growing concern about widespread financial illiteracy pushed her toward education. She discovered Maria Montessori's philosophy of independence and autonomy and built a school around it, starting as a traditional Montessori program in Spain before evolving into a fully personalized, flexible model where no two students share a timetable. In this conversation, we discuss about why she built her school from scratch rather than work within the existing system, how Montessori's principles of self-directed learning let her draw a direct line to Bitcoin's ethos of self-custody and independence, why she got the British accreditation after refusing to restrict families' freedom to travel, and why she believes the most overlooked investment is the next generation.→ Please like, comment, share & follow — to help me beat the suppressing algo's. Thank you!– SPONSORS –→ Download the free report on second citizenships & setting up a plan B in another country with Expat Money: https://expatmoney.com/efrat→ Access liquidity without selling your Bitcoin with Ledn, get 0.25% off your first loan: https://ledn.io/Efrat    → Get your TREZOR wallet & accessories, with a 5% discount, using my code at checkout (get my discount code from the episode - yep, you’ll have to watch it): https://affil.trezor.io/SHUn→ Have you tried mining bitcoin? Stack sats directly to your wallet while saving on taxes with Abundant Mines: https://AbundantMines.com/Efrat - Claim your free month of hosting via this link– AFFILIATES –→ Join me in these upcoming events & use code EFRAT for discounted tickets: https://www.efrat.blog/p/upcoming-events→ Get 10% off on Augmented NAC to detox Spike protein, with the code YCXKQDK2 via this link: https://store.augmentednac.com/?via=efrat (Note, this is not medical advice, please consult your MD)→ Watch “New Totalitarian Order” conference with Prof. Mattias Desmet & Efrat - code EFRAT for 10% off: https://efenigson.gumroad.com/l/desmet_efrat– LINKS –Mercedes on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mercedesgilhernandez Montessori British: https://www.montessoribritish.com/ Montessori on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/montessoribritish/ Efrat’s X: https://twitter.com/efenigsonEfrat’s Channels: https://linktr.ee/efenigsonWatch on all platforms: https://linktr.ee/yourethevoiceSupport Efrat’s work: ⁠https://bit.ly/zap_efrat– CHAPTERS – 00:00 - Coming Up...01:31 - Introduction: Mercedes Gil Hernández01:38 - From Banking to Montessori Education04:58 - Why Build Independently From Traditional Education?07:12 - Inside the School: 100 Students, Personalized Timetables10:18 - Ad Break: Expat Money & Ledn12:34 - How Is A Personalized Program Built & How They Operate14:57 - Vision: Decentralized Home Schooling Support Model16:29 - Model Your Children, Guide Them. They're The Forgotten Citizens17:45 - The Next Generation Is the Most Important Investment21:23 - Ad Break: Trezor & Abundant Mines23:10 - Why Bitcoin in the Classroom24:42 - British Qualifications Instead of Spanish Accreditation29:40 - What Gives Mercedes Hope

it was very difficult to adapt the freedom to a non-free system because it's not so much about learning about bitcoin which we like which we do but using bitcoin to learn about okay freedom yes economy yeah and autonomy and being responsible of your decisions i could see that people was not conscious of what they were doing economically like they were signing up for mortgages for all life and doing all kind of things without being conscious. You don't want the mainstream education, which is teaching

students how to be functionaries, like the teachers are functionaries. Children are always like forgotten citizens. I don't want to leave them out of the conversation. And I want to make everyone conscious of that. You go in the children, you go with children

educating them, they will educate their parents. It's going to change the world. It's like internet, you know, before and after internet so different stories my students are traveling around i have a lot of digital nomad families that are traveling around and i can serve traveling families but i'm hearing so much talk about investment investment investment yeah and i'm like your most important investment in life is your future generation the kids hello and welcome to another episode of your the voice a flat here from madrid mad bitcoin

day two i'm here with mercedes gil hernandez yeah mercedes nice to meet you same thanks for accepting my invitation i'd love to hear a little bit about your background and if you can introduce people what you do and then we'll talk more okay well my background my studies I'm a philologist Arabic philologist I studied at the university but I was traveling after my studies and everything and I I was recruited by a bank international bank because of my because languages and I started it's again being introduced into economy let's say yeah I had no no idea I didn't have a bank I started working at the bank but then I started training in different things economy and I was surprised that people that was not I could see that people was not conscious of what they were

doing economically like they were signing up for mortgages for all life and doing all kind of things without being conscious by that means that way I started thinking how you could bring this kind of education through people and i discovered maria montessori because maria montessori talks about the independence and autonomy and working with a purpose but in different levels in a childhood zero to six is a physical independence like let me do it myself in the primary years six to twelve it's uh let me think by myself so intellectual independence. And once you have reached the physical and the intellectual, then you are prepared for the social, economical independence. And there's some adults I know that they don't

have even one of it. No one taught them how to be economically independent. That's right. Yeah. So I started in that way. I started training in the Montessori. I had my own family, my kids and then i decided to quit banking the international bank i worked for i'm very grateful for that stage in my life but i turned to education and i decided to do something for the to fix this problem i had detected yeah and then i decided to start my own school i started my own school in spain it started as a montessori school typical with all the materials and everything and when children started growing i wanted to introduce that social education special education that maria montessori talked about in the adolescence and covid came and

pandemics we went online and i discovered online was very possible for this and i started after that i started the hybrid program we have a physical space with the rest of the school and than online. My students are traveling around. I have a lot of digital nomad families that are traveling around and I can serve traveling families as well. It's one of the things we do is not prepare children for something in particular. Of course, we want them to develop their own talents and everything, but being adaptable and able to continue learning for life. And what made you decide to build something from scratch rather than going with the existing system or the existing institutions? I think you can make a lorry fly if you put the wings.

It is very difficult. It's better to start the plane from scratch. And the conventional system has so many things that are wrong. And I could feel it myself when I was at school. And I've seen so many things that are very difficult to change, starting with the adults. Maria Montessori, she discovered that children, they can learn alone. We are prepared.

When we are born, we have an inner master that tells us what we need to learn. And conventional school interferes with that. Of course, you need to have a certificate or a title that says that you have secondary studies to go further in your studies and everything. But why do we have to do just that? We can learn so many things. And so it was very difficult to adapt the freedom to a non-free system. Yes, absolutely.

It was better to start from scratch. It's a little bit like trying to get Bitcoin into traditional finance. It's the same. It's the same. That's why when I discovered Bitcoin, it's just the same. I'm sure if Satoshi Nakamoto was one person, he was a Montessori kid, you know, because it's so... Complimentary. Yeah, yeah.

It's basically the same. is let me do it myself or be my own bank yes it's the same i don't i don't need external validation i don't need nobody to tell me how much i'm valued on my i think this i am the one i'm the my own owner you know it's the same i think that the parallel is perfect they're talking about the same in different domains okay wonderful so take me through what you do in the school with the children what does it look like when a child subscribes to your programs and what is the scale of the operation today how many kids where where are they well our scale is small i'm now considering not going further than 100 students yes i think that's the 200 parents 200 parents 100 students

more or less each student comes with two parents two headaches sometimes no it's a it's a joke but i mean i i i found because we personalize the maximum okay no two students have the same timetable in my school okay i will if i have a student doesn't matter the age because what we have done as well is having the flexibility enough to offer both the academics or the learning programs to any age okay like the online programs the teachers that are on the online programs are more centered in subjects academic subjects like Maths, physics, the subjects, as you know, in the British system, you can get the secondary certificate with just five exams. OK.

You don't have to go one certain number of grades and you do these five exams. It's like the driving license. You get your license. You don't have to be like following the path. Yeah. And you can study five minutes or five years. Yes. They don't matter.

Yeah. So we do the same. I prefer students for these five exams for the secondary. Some of them need months. Right. And some of them can need more because they are doing other things, possibly. Maybe they are playing tennis. Yes.

I have musicians. I have actor children. So they can do other things. They don't have to spend six or eight hours a day in school. So it's highly flexible. So you adapt the timetable to the child and what they like, what they want, what they need. If they are more centered in academics, they want to go for the exams and get their certificates. They can do.

Okay. Last year, we sent a 15-year-old to university to make a double grade. Wow. She wanted to and she couldn't. Yeah. Okay. And she was in her old school, her former school. She was like being raped, you know, like and had problems.

and then here in three years she did secondary and baccalaureate and she wanted this is there and we can do

the other way as well so I don't see I have the resources and I want the children to go here because well

I have a physics teacher everyone does physics now if they want to do Chinese this is not the exams

but they want to learn let's learn you know so it's Bitcoin is the same they showed some

interests And it's OK, it's going to fit perfectly because it's not so much about learning about Bitcoin, which we like, which we do, but using Bitcoin to learn about freedom. Yes, economy. Yeah, and autonomy and being responsible of your decisions. Yes, I love it. Tired of feeling like your freedom and future are fading away? Do you live in a country with growing inflation, crazy housing prices, weird culture and a chaotic economy? you're not alone. And my friend Mikel Thorpe and his team at Expat Money can help. Mikel is the

world's leading expat consultant on a mission to free you from broken systems. He's been an expat for 25 years, lived in nine different countries and has helped hundreds of people with second residencies and passports, offshore banking, international investing and many other essential tools. If you're serious about protecting your wealth and your family, it's not enough to hope things will get better. You need a plan B in another country. The team at Expat Money can help you build it legally, safely, and without wasting years of research. Head over to expatmoney.com to get a free report on plan B residencies and instant citizenships. This is an easy, free way to help support the show while learning how to protect your freedom with a plan

be. That's expatmoney.com slash efad. Ever find yourself needing cash but refusing to sell your Bitcoin? That's real life for many Bitcoiners. Because most Bitcoin sales aren't financial decisions, they're liquidity decisions. And that's exactly what Ledin solves. Ledin is the global leader in Bitcoin-backed lending. They've issued over $10 billion in loans since 2018 with a perfect track record for protecting client assets. Here's what makes Ledin different. With their custodied loans, your Bitcoin collateral is not lent out to generate interest. No credit checks, no monthly payments, and no penalties for early repayments. You apply in minutes and you repay whenever you want. Ledin also publishes proof of reserves reports every six months with full

transparency. So if your capital is in Bitcoin, but your expenses are not, you still have options. Ledin lets you unlock liquidity without selling your Bitcoin. Learn more at ledin.io slash Efrat and get a quarter percent off your first loan. That's ledin.io slash Efrat. Okay, so the hundred kids that you have today in the program, do you want to have more? What's your capacity? I mean, my audience may be interested to sign up their kids. And let's start with, is it only for people in Spain or EU?

No, actually, we don't have a lot of people from Spain. Most of our families are foreigners or are moving to Spain. They move from other countries to Spain, which is happening a lot lately. Or it's Spanish families that went away and now they are back to Spain. It's like, I would say it's not the typical Spanish family that goes to a typical school. It's more like civilized. But who can register? Anyone from any place?

Anyway, internationally. Yeah, we have international. I mean, you are traveling or you live in a different country. Perfect. We have now, if you go to Latin America, or North America, it's a big span of time. So it's there. Like 3am is our 9am. Yeah. So we have a special evening time for those that are in the time zone. Okay, so we can adapt as well. Wow, that's incredible. Geographic freedom. Yes, that is awesome. And how many people can, like, how big can you be? Or is there no limit? Well, I have, like, the school, I don't think it has to grow more. We have different programs, like in mine.

We started two years ago a work experience program in Northern Ireland. if we see a child needs to experience this work program or is interested in, for instance, we had a student, she wants to do vets, be a vet. It's a lot of time, a lot of effort to discover final ideas like it. So she came to a farm in Northern Ireland to see how it's like and now she decided to contribute. But we can make different sites for the school.

Okay, so you're starting like little physical hubs. Yeah, and probably in Philippines, in Asia as well, for these time gaps, we will start another thing. But it's like units. Each unit cannot have more than 100. That's the way of expanding. It's not like the school is going to grow, but different regions of the school.

And actually, I was thinking, sometimes moms, new moms, want to start their own school or homeschool their children. So maybe it can be, this can be a model. I can provide. That is interesting, like homeschooling, but guided by you. Yeah, I can provide the academics. That's amazing. In a respectful way with the Montessori approach. Yes.

and then you can be wherever or come to school because the adolescent program we have is oriented to business and the financial freedom and everything so they can spend time in the school or travel or be abroad like so maybe that's the second phase of the school you know like the decentralized yeah it's a decentralized point absolutely i love it i love it okay and i'm assuming uh parents can pay in bitcoin for the tuition fee right no problem yes that's incredible welcome okay you were participating in a panel here yeah what were your key takeaways from that panel what's one thing that came up in that conversation that stuck with you or something that shifted like out of that panel okay for me well there was different stages of

university of adult trainings but for me my message and my what i want to convey convey here is that we need children yes and it's the responsibility of all of us that are in this world which someone told me because it's a beer market now we are just the most convinced but when it's bull market a lot of people will arrive and it's us that we all even if you have children or not we all have children around yes and we need to model them and to tell them what we are doing so they don't get just the messages from the ministry that are very negative sometimes to make them be comfortable with the ideas and uh they don't have to unlearn what we have to they have a big advantage yeah and it's gonna be if we spread the word in in children and adolescents

good for them and good for us because we need adoption yes so i think this responsibility and it's i don't want to leave them out of the conversation and i want to make everyone unconscious of that yes that's my point it's a it's a golden point i love it and i think that i'm hearing so much in this conference uh these days which i love i think it's great but i'm hearing so much talk about investment investment investment yeah and i'm like your most important investment in life is your future generation the kids this is the first thing you need to think about what are my kids being fed with what kind of education are they receiving what kind of ideas someone's putting in their head and what kind of person they are growing up to be and i'm not

hearing enough of that so i it's just like so refreshing and beautiful that you're here and many of the other people that care about education yeah it's very important and that has to be uh like remind it yes all the time children are always like uh montessori said they were the forgotten uh citizen absolutely they are not being considered they are very potent you know they are so fresh and clean minds and uh and you know how smart they are we forget that especially now we we're moving to a fully digital era they are so much more sophisticated than us in so many things A funny story the other day, I was in Vietnam and my son was with me. He's 16 and a half years old, but he was born in 2009, right?

So he was born essentially already into the digital era, smartphones, everything. So we're in the hotel room and it's Vietnam. So some of the hotels are a little bit older. Yeah. So they still have the normal phones, you know, with the handset that you pick up the phone. No, it's not one of those. It's buttons, but it's like a phone with a dial tone. so I'm telling him can you call reception to tell them whatever whatever we needed and he goes

yeah sure but how do I use it and what he goes do I first pick it up and then I dial or first I dial and then I pick it up are you serious you don't even know how to use a phone yeah yeah it's a completely total different generation with different you know stuff in their head about that we forget yeah we have to make them our you know Maria Montessori as well she used children to get in in the houses like she showed them how to clean their hands and everything they went home and they showed their maps you know like sanitization and hygiene and all that you know she started as a doctor when was she alive she she was the first woman doctor in University of Rome

La Sapienza okay first year years of at the end of the 19th century okay

she started the first school in 1906 okay wow so it's like more than

120 years now yes and she started as a doctor but then she was observing children because she decided not to

control them but to observe and and change the environment. Yes. And she switched it to education because she understood that medicine was late. Yes.

If you don't clean your hands, you don't wash your hands, you're going to possibly die from a disease. Yes. So you first educate people and then you don't have the problems for medicine, you know. So she saw it so clearly. She was smart.

So this is the same. we have to educate to avoid to avoid the same problems we're experiencing today and if you go in the children you go with children educating them they will educate their parents yes a hundred percent you're the voice is brought to you by trezor the original bitcoin hardware wallet company pioneering the development of self-custody for crypto assets since 2013 empowering individuals with an open source device enabling beginners and experts to easily and securely hold their coins. I find my Trezor super easy to use and recommend it to my friends and family. Enjoy my 5% discount on Trezor products by clicking the link in the show notes and using

the code FLAT. I want to introduce you to Abundant Mines because they take a very different approach to Bitcoin mining. Most people buy Bitcoin, but the smart ones mine it straight into self-custody. With Abundant Mines, you can do it without giving up your privacy. Abundant Mines was founded by Bo and Christine Marie Turner, a couple who lost more than half a million dollars to providers making empty promises. Instead of walking away, they built a company that raises the industry standard and puts client first. And that's why I like them. With Abundant Minds, you own your machines. They never touch your Bitcoin, never skim a revenue share, and you choose your own mining pool. Their customer care is unusual. Clients speak to a real person for self-custody

education, privacy consulting, and even visiting their site. They serve clients from around the world, but U.S. investors specifically enjoy a big tax benefit and 100% bonus depreciation. This is more than just mining Bitcoin. It's about freedom, privacy, and purpose. You can book a free strategy call see how it works and mine some of your first bitcoin for free with a special offer for my audience learn more on abundantminds.com slash effort okay and um why bitcoin i mean how why why for you bitcoin is an important tool how are you integrating that into the school Well, I integrate it. Personally, I consider it a store of value, which is going to change the world. I think the world is like internet, you know, before and after internet, so different

stories and before and after becomes different stories. But, well, regarding the school, accept it as a payment yes yes way of payment no not everyone is using it you know still and it's but yeah it's a way of showing children that they can do all this is we are doing we've made this workshop introductory workshop now we're starting a note and the minor starting doing things and i think when they start doing that parents will start considering yes right so integrating it that way through children but now we are in a very city phase let's say with Bitcoin it's more like a philosophical tool still like sharing values with Montessori philosophy that's a hundred percent yeah that's beautiful I spent a lot of time in El Salvador in the last couple of years

and they're doing amazing work with children education of Bitcoin they have special classes they have textbooks that they're putting in place it's so inspiring to go there and see what they're doing with children i loved it okay you offer official british qualification yeah can you say a bit about that why that way and yeah we started as a spanish school yes well uh british school but in the spanish system because you still have to comply with 20 of the curriculum in spanish system what happened is after covid when we implemented the online and the virtual programs we gave families the freedom to stay home or travel and the spanish authorities apparently didn't like that no no then they removed our spanish license and you know what i thought

this is where like a toxic husband or something a toxic husband it is yeah it's a toxic partner for sure for life if he hits you that's when i felt when i worked in corporate for 20 years and this the government the state was always taking a cut of my salary in the form of tax it's like i've got a partner i've got a toxic partner here right yeah cutting from my salary every month and if they do something it's very like a hit yeah don't allow to have a second hit so it's like i divorced i went you divorced from the toxic part like i i thought if they can remove the license so easily yeah it's not so worth it no they are always going to try and tell me what to do and i don't like that a lot so i turned i we had already the british accreditation from personal excel is

one of the best awarding bodies in the world it's better than spanish accreditation because children can go directly to a lot of universities and we have the What is it called? Pearson Pearson? Pearson, okay

We have, you know it's the University of Cambridge Yes Oxford and London is Pearson Yes And we are accredited for secondary

A-levels HSCC A-levels And now we have something it's called BTEX It's Business and Technology Education Council Beautiful

It's no exams It's equivalent to A-levels which is which gives access to university Yes and it's completely amazing because we have different areas like art and design music

performing arts esports which you know the children that love video games yes they can do video games projects for two years and then go to university to study any related can be computing or can be music for video games or can be marketing anything you know and it's is very oriented to that mindset of doing business or starting your own uh yeah entrepreneurship yeah so that's a lot of our profile in the families as well that people that start their own companies and have yeah they then they choose and not or look for another kind of education you don't want the mainstream education which is teaching students how to be functionals like the teachers are functionals they're modeling for friction yes so this is

more like no no we do business here we have the capacity the ability or the skill to go to university if you want because it's academic presentation as well or start your own business or work for a company directly because you are trained professionally yeah and this person has it and it's amazing it's very very good so we stuck with that yep and we are sending students university now so we are in a way accredited yes we are in the system because we can show that our studies drives you to a official accreditation so we don't need the spanish one fantastic let's go we don't need you toxic partner we're okay without you i love it okay so my son is 16 and a half can And he joins?

Yes. From Australia? Yes. He's in Australia. He can do it. Yeah, yeah. That can be amazing. He loves cooking.

He's perfect. Yeah, he loves cooking. He loves tennis. He loves singing. Well, we have music, B-Tech. There you go. You know, in Murcia, you know Carlos Alcaraz, the tennis player? Yes.

He's from Murcia. He has the academy there. So some of our students come to play. Yeah, they are students from that academy. And they can train for, I don't know, six hours, six hours a day. We adapt the timetable for them. So they are... I love it.

Yeah. Why do you have to... Okay. And so lastly, looking into the future with what you're building, with the type of people that you work with, whether it's on the teacher side, education, staff, And on the children's side, in the families, what gives you hope? Hope.

Well, everything in school. I mean, it's almost a miracle. It is. It sounds like too good to be true in a way. I love it. I think the school itself is anti-fragile. You know this concept. Every time that something happened that was like going to destroy or...

Break you down. Yeah. made us stronger and more interesting it's always been standing I don't know because the environment you know I had this very

very true and funny phrase the other day it's you don't you don't have to marry for money but if you go to a place where the money is then you marry for love if you get

I love that oh bring it on you get the you get the conditions you just you just you have to avoid what is not working for you yeah you go where you are comfortable and when you want to be yeah and i think that's what's been happening not very conscious now i'm more conscious about this but in a way unconsciously and i think because as well i was always looking at the kids the children And they gave me this, like, hope and, like, strength. Motivation, strength, yeah. You are amazing.

You're doing the Lord's work. Thank God that you are doing what you're doing. And thank you so much for what you do. You're welcome. It's been a pleasure. How can people find you and the school and reach out to ask questions? Yeah. We have a website.

It's MontessoriBritish.com. Montessori is with two S's. We'll put a link in the show notes. Yes. Yeah. Well, in my LinkedIn, it's Mercedes Hill with an H-I. Yes. We'll put a link to that too.

Yeah. And I have a calendar there. I'm always happy to talk to anyone. So people can set up a meeting with you and talk? Okay, great. Great. How do you have time to sleep? Do you?

I do. You're busy or you're... No, no, I try to keep things balanced, and I have a big care, because they are great persons in my team, these great people, so it's, I can sleep, I try to sleep more than I normally want to, but, yeah. Awesome, it's very important. Thank you so much. Is there anything else, like, anything you want to add, or say?

No, no, just thank you very much for being here, and it's been my pleasure. You can invite me anytime you want. Of course, of course. I have a feeling we're going to stay in touch. Fantastic, thank you so much. Thanks for being with us. Please take a minute to give this episode a like, a comment and subscribe or follow

and please share it with your friends so they can also get value and choose to take some positive action in their lives. Till next time. Thanks for watching!