🐴 What happens when a school actually trusts parents?

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💡 DEEP DIVE

THE ARCHITECTURE OF DISTRUST

We need to talk about trust in education—or rather, how the lack of it in many traditional systems has created unintended consequences.

Teresa King, the mind behind the brand-new OpenEd Academy, puts it plainly: "Schools don't typically seem to trust parents."

Of course, there are incredible schools and amazing teachers doing extraordinary work. But in many traditional systems, there's an underlying dynamic we all recognize but rarely discuss. It's that feeling in parent-teacher conferences when your insights about your own child seem to get lost in translation. When the dedicated teacher—working within rigid constraints—has to follow protocols that don't fit your unique kid.

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Here's how the pattern often unfolds:

• When systems don't trust parents' insights, parents begin doubting themselves.

• When parents doubt themselves, they stop trusting their instincts about their own children.

• When they stop trusting their instincts, they defer entirely to institutional decisions.

• The institution reinforces its expertise.

• Teachers, constrained by standardized requirements, can't adapt to individual needs.

• Students learn to wait for instructions rather than follow curiosity.

It becomes a self-reinforcing cycle—not because anyone wants it that way, but because that's just how systems are structured.

Teresa saw it from every angle. She'd been a public school teacher working within these constraints, then a virtual education pioneer, and finally a mother watching her own kids navigate this maze. She noticed how well-meaning policies created the same limiting message: The system knows best.

"He's 12, so he's in sixth grade, and this is what we do for sixth grade math," Teresa says, paraphrasing the standard “system” line.

Whether you're ready for algebra or still mastering multiplication, the structure remains the same.

You're 12? Sixth-grade math.

Marilyn vos Savant (certified genius, highest IQ ever recorded) identified this pattern decades ago:

"Children are sitting there and they are taught and told what to believe. They are passive from the very beginning."

Passive. That's what happens when any system—however well-intentioned—doesn't make room for individual thinking. When we don't trust someone to think, they learn not to. When we don't trust someone to choose, they stop choosing. When we don't trust parents to know their own children, everyone loses something vital.

But here's where the story turns hopeful.

Maybe it started with the pandemic. Maybe it was already building. But families began questioning this dynamic and asking: What if we tried something different?

What if we acknowledged that parents might have valuable insights about their own children? What if we recognized that learning happens everywhere, not just in classrooms? What if that shift leader job at Chick-fil-A really is teaching leadership skills worth academic credit? What if we trusted families more?

Forty percent of families have already made this choice, and have found alternatives to their assigned schools.

That’s not a rebellion against teachers or schools. That’s just families seeking something that fits their child better.

That's why OpenEd built a virtual private school around a different question:

What does it look like when a school trusts parents to know their child?

OpenEd Academy doesn't hand you a preset curriculum with a "trust us" label. They ask, "What does your child need?" and trust families to be part of that answer.

They don't claim learning only counts within their system. If your kid learned something valuable, it counts. Period.

Real job experience? That's learning. Civil War battlefield visit? History credit. Building a Minecraft world that requires understanding complex systems? Put it on the transcript.

This represents a fundamental shift—a school saying: You know your child. You see their learning. We trust you. Let's work together.

And maybe that trust creates positive ripples. Maybe parents rediscover confidence in their insights. Maybe kids reconnect with their natural curiosity. Maybe teachers find more freedom to teach. Maybe we can build something better together.

The OpenEd Academy is now open for applications nationwide. If you know a family looking for alternatives, please forward this email or send the to the Academy website:

http://OpenEdAcademy.com

🔍 TRENDS WE'RE WATCHING

The Great Educational Unbundling: Michael Horn reports that 40% of students have left their assigned schools. Read the full Forbes article to learn why.

The Workplace Revolution: This week, our OpenEd teachers pulled back the curtain on how they're successfully balancing remote work with homeschooling. From 4am wake-ups to gymnastics office hours, they're proving that the traditional 9-5 is obsolete. Read their full strategies in our new blog post →

The Validation Revolution: OpenEd Academy gives credit for real-world learning. Watch for this to spread as families demand recognition for learning that happens outside classroom walls. Watch the podcast →

🔨 TOOLS OF THE WEEK

From OpenEd Teachers: The Work-From-Home Survival Kit

After Wednesday's newsletter about remote work balance, our incredible teacher community shared even more strategies for juggling work and kids. Here are their battle-tested tools:

The Special-Occasion Activity Box (Nicole A.): "I have a box full of things she does when I am working, and that is the only time that box comes out." Contents: puzzles, kinetic sand, bubbles, Leapfrog tablet, lacing animals. The exclusivity makes it special rather than a consolation prize.

The Strategic Mess Method (Rachael D.): "Bubble foam, mud pit in the yard, kinetic sand... They make a mess, but it buys me an hour of time completely uninterrupted."

The Whiteboard Hack (Emily B. via Rachael D.): "Get dry erase markers and have them make a masterpiece on the washer or dryer!" Genius mess containment.

The Early Bird Strategy (Liz K. & Juliann A.): Wake at 4-5am for uninterrupted work before kids wake up. "I wake up at 4:10 so I can have coffee and work until 6:10-6:30 fairly uninterrupted."

The Boundary System (Becca M.): "If mom's door is closed, she is probably on a Zoom call and they need to wait until it is opened."

The Independence Builder (Hayley B.): "A huge flex was teaching them to make their own lunches since a lot of meetings/events fall during those hours."

See more strategies in our full blog post →

This Week's Other Tools:

• Monument Valley ($3.99): The puzzle game teaching kids that frustration is temporary but problem-solving is forever

• OpenEd Academy: Nationwide, fully-accredited private virtual school starting at $2,900/year nationwide (tell your friends!)

• The Two-Newspaper Method: Read opposing viewpoints daily to build critical thinking (via Marilyn vos Savant)

🔥 MEME OF THE WEEK

Life hack!

That’s all for this week!

– Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)

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