🐴 We need to talk about educational autopilot

If you enjoy this edition, forward this email to a friend! First time reading? Subscribe and learn more at OpenEd.co.

📚 UTAH FAMILIES: MEET OpenEd FOUNDER MATT BOWMAN IN PERSON!

When: June 4th at 6pm MT
Where: Roosevelt City Library (Room B)
Address: 50 N 200 W, Roosevelt, UT 84066

Join our #1 bestselling author for an evening of Q&A, giveaways, and connecting with other families reimagining education.

RSVP and get details →

Can't make it to Roosevelt? Stay tuned for more events coming to a location near you. Want to host Matt for a speaking event in your area? Email [email protected].

💡 DEEP DIVE

STEPPING OFF THE CONVEYOR BELT

"I don't want for parents to be caught on a conveyor belt."

This week, Tuttle Twins creator Connor Boyack joined us to discuss breaking free from what he calls "the conveyor belt." 

His core message? Be intentional about your kids education.

The conveyor belt metaphor captures what many feel but can't quite name—that sense of being carried along by educational defaults, moving through predetermined stages without ever asking ‘why?’

"If at the end of the day, you're going to put your kids in that same system, great—but do it with eyes wide open," Connor explains.

"It's not that any particular route is bad, but that you need to be intentional so that you know the cost-benefit analysis."

The Adjacent Possibile

Connor's own journey illustrates what happens when you step off the conveyor belt. He started with a simple vision: founding a think tank in Utah. When his 5-year-old son asked what daddy did, Connor searched Amazon for children's books about free markets and property rights.

He found nothing.

"We literally created one book and we're like, 'We don't know if this will sell. There's nothing like this on the market at all.'"

Six million Tuttle Twins books later, that single intentional choice has spawned an Angel Studios series and transformed how families teach about economics and liberty. Connor calls this the "adjacent possible"—each intentional step revealing new opportunities that were invisible from the conveyor belt.

Teen CEOs: The Ultimate Belt-Breakers

This principle shows up powerfully in the stories of teenage entrepreneurs we explored this week. They didn't follow the traditional path of "learn for years, then maybe start something after college."

Sanil Chawla hit a legal wall at 16—he couldn't open a bank account for his business. The conveyor belt said "wait until you're 18." Instead, he created Hack+, a nonprofit that now helps hundreds of student founders navigate these barriers.

Caroline and Isabel Bercaw started Da Bomb bath bombs at 11 and 12. No business degree. No years of preparation. Just intentional action. Annual revenue today: $20 million.

These teens illustrate Connor's distinction between two types of learning:

1. "Just in case" learning assumes you need to stockpile information for potential future use. It's the conveyor belt approach—everyone gets the same content at the same pace, regardless of relevance.

2. "Just in time" learning happens when you need specific knowledge for immediate application. It's intentional, relevant, and sticks because it matters right now.

Here’s Connor's advice for parents feeling stuck on the conveyor belt:

"If you're intentional about going to college, there are often much better, cheaper and faster ways to get that degree. Or it may be that that's not your path."

He's not anti-college or anti-public school. He's anti-autopilot.

Context Before Content

The shift starts with simple questions:

• Why are we doing what we're doing?

• What assumptions are we not examining?

• If we designed our child's education from scratch, what would it look like?

One of Connor's most powerful insights is that "context has to precede content." Traditional education crams content into minds without meaningful context, leading to what he calls "pump and dump"—memorize for the test, then forget.

But when information has context—through stories, real-world application, or personal interest—retention and comprehension soar. If your child loves Minecraft, build curriculum around it. If they're fascinated by cooking, that's chemistry, economics, and culture rolled into one.

The conveyor belt delivers the same content to everyone. Intentional education starts with the individual child.

Every family reaches moments where the conveyor belt's direction doesn't match their child's needs. Maybe it's a struggling reader who needs a different approach. Maybe it's a gifted mathematician held back by grade-level restrictions.

These moments offer a choice: Stay on the belt and hope for the best, or step off and create something intentional.

You don't need a grand vision. You just need to take one intentional step and the adjacent possibilities will reveal themselves. The conveyor belt only moves in one direction. But when you step off, you can go anywhere.

🔍 TRENDS WE'RE WATCHING

The Teen CEO Explosion: Meet 16 teenagers who built million-dollar businesses before they could legally sign contracts. They're early adopters of "just in time" learning.

Transcendent Thinking Predicts Success: USC research shows teens who connect personal experiences to bigger ideas have more brain development and life satisfaction—exactly what standardized education discourages.

📖 BOOK REVIEW REWARDS STILL AVAILABLE!

Thanks to the 58 reviewers who've made Open Education #1 in Homeschooling and Parent Participation! We're still giving rewards for the first 100 honest reviews:

Choose your reward:

• FREE OpenEd t-shirt (Ed the horse or logo)

• $10 Amazon gift card

Leave a review then fill out this form to claim your reward!

🔨 TOOLS OF THE WEEK

Create Your Own Privilege Contract (via Coach Meg Thomas)

Transform entitlement into earned independence with this practical system from our mother-of-seven coach:

For younger kids (5-10): Keep it simple with instant trades

• Clean room → 30 minutes screen time

• Complete homework → Choose tonight's dessert

• Help with dishes → Extra story at bedtime

For tweens/teens (11+): Build real-world readiness

1. Identify the desired privilege (phone, mall trips, later curfew)

2. Map required skills together (budgeting, safety awareness, time management)

3. Set clear milestones (demonstrate skill consistently for set period)

4. Celebrate earned independence (they did the work!)

"I want you to win," Meg emphasizes. Work together, not against each other.

Watch her full explanation →

Tuttle Twins History Bundle 

Skip the dry textbook summaries. America's History Volumes 1 & 2 features original source documents from 1215-1791. Originally $432, now $118.88 (72% off). Because context makes content stick. Get the bundle →

Hack+ for Young Entrepreneurs

Got a teen with big business ideas but hitting age barriers? Hack+ provides free fiscal sponsorship for student founders under 18. Founded by Sanil Chawla when he couldn't open a bank account at 16, it's now helped 926 students launch organizations and raise over $1 million.

The Intentionality Audit 

Three questions to escape educational autopilot:

1. If we designed our child's education from scratch today, what would we keep?

2. What are we doing simply because "that's how it's done"?

3. What adjacent possibilities might open up if we made one intentional change?

🤔 PARTING THOUGHT

CHOOSING YOUR PATH

"Don't just go with the default because that's what your parents did with you."

openedhq

1,626 followers

View more on Instagram

Connor Boyack's message about educational intentionality cuts straight to the heart of every major parenting decision.

Your children's education doesn't have to be an unconscious inheritance. It can be an intentional choice.

That’s all for this week!

– Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)

P.S. If you’d prefer to just receive the weekly edition, you can change your subscription settings here.