🐴 Stop overscheduling your child's learning

Attention all families with young creators, makers, and problem-solvers: The Youth Entrepreneur Award (YEA!) application deadline is approaching fast.

Co-founded by Matt Bowman and Matt Barnes, YEA! celebrates youth entrepreneurs 18 and under who can articulate what they're LEARNING through entrepreneurship. Up to $5,000 in prizes available! Apply at yea.education before March 15th.

Oh, and if your teen is worried that they don’t have time to put together a polished application, don’t worry. The “double-Matt-B’s” are looking for authentic learning – not perfect pitches.

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💡 THOUGHT

THE POWER OF BOREDOM

When was the last time you let your child get truly bored?

In our rush to fill every moment with structured learning, we often miss the magic that happens when children have nothing they have to do. That empty space is where genuine curiosity begins.

As Matt Bowman explains in our latest podcast episode, "Sometimes you need to let a child get bored enough to then wake up and say, 'I have nothing I have to do. What do I want to do?'"

Watch, listen, or read why doing less structured schooling can lead to better results.

📊 TREND

YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THE ULTIMATE EDUCATION

Entrepreneurship isn't just about building businesses—it's becoming one of the most powerful educational experiences for young people.

Why? As Matt explains: "There's something unique you can learn from trying to be an entrepreneur that cannot be learned any other way."

Through entrepreneurship, young people develop skills that traditional education often misses:

• Applied problem-solving with real-world consequences

• Financial literacy through actual transactions

• Communication across diverse audiences

• Resilience through trial and error

This is exactly why the Youth Entrepreneur Award (YEA!) was created, with its $5,000 prize pool for entrepreneurs 18 and under. Again, the deadline is March 15th!

🔨 TOOL

THE 20-MINUTE METHOD FOR OVERWHELMED PARENTS

If you're feeling completely overwhelmed by your day, this minimalist approach can help you reset:

• 20 minutes of focused math

• 20 minutes of reading

• 20 minutes of writing

• 1 hour of free exploration between each

"If you're overwhelmed, your kids are gonna be feeling overwhelmed," explains Matt Bowman. "Take a break. Take a little time where you reduce whatever you're doing by 50%. Just cut in half whatever you're doing so that you can breathe a little bit."

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Once you've established this sustainable rhythm and identified your child's genuine interests, you can gradually add more structured learning around those areas of curiosity.

WORD OF THE DAY

Kairos (KAI-ross): noun

From ancient Greek, meaning "the right, critical, or opportune moment." Unlike chronos (sequential time), kairos refers to the perfect moment for action.

In education, it's recognizing when a child is truly ready to learn something—not when the curriculum says they should be.

That’s all for today! See you tomorrow.

– Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)

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