One of the most influential books I’ve ever read is John Taylor Gatto’s Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling in which he describes the fundamental lessons he was required to teach during his 26 years as a schoolteacher. The book is adapted from a speech given at a ceremony in which Gatto was named the New York State Teacher of the Year for 1991.
Here are the seven horrifying lessons–see if you recognize any of them from your own school experiences.
The reason I share these seven lessons here is to remind each of us not to replicate these appalling lessons in our own homes. When I talked with college admissions counselors while I was writing Transcripts Made Easy, almost every one of them spoke positively of some major differences they’d seen in homeschoolers. These included a lack of peer dependence, the ability to self-motivate, perseverance, independent thought, and often, a lively interest in life and learning. Let’s keep it that way!
One of the best parts of speaking at many homeschool conferences across the country is getting acquainted with the issues that are top-of-the-mind for homeschoolers in different areas. This year, there seemed to be an interesting shift in focus. People were still stopping by to talk about Excellence in Literature, teaching writing, and creating transcripts, but there was also a new urgency of interest in things that could save or make money, such as getting a jump start on college or starting a microbusiness.
The past few years have been an economic challenge for most single-income families, but many have risen to the challenge and are doing constructive things to counteract decreased income. Over and over I heard inspiring stories of parents or teens who are moonlighting or running a microbusiness in their spare time. At the AFHE conference in Arizona, I enjoyed seeing an entire row of Young Entrepreneur exhibits, manned by remarkably professional-sounding young people who had not only learned how to create something useful, but also how to present themselves and market their product.
I believe that entrepreneurship should be part of every education. Creating a small business does more than just provide a bit of extra money– it provides learning opportunities that nothing else can. Here are five reasons it’s important to learn the kind of attitudes, skills, and habits that characterize successful entrepreneurs.
Mindset: Andrew Pudewa coined the term freedomship, and although it’s not found in any dictionary (yet), it encompasses some of the most compelling reasons for learning and teaching business skills. We live in a society that teaches passivity, rather than active exploration and initiative. Conformity, along with its Siamese twin mediocrity is one of the primary lessons taught by schools, government, the media, and the workplace.
For most people, it’s not easy to be different. Homeschoolers have an advantage, though, as we’ve already chosen an alternative approach to education and bypassed the all-too-human compulsion to be like everyone else. It’s already too late. Entrepreneurial training takes this a step farther by teaching students how to act with freedom, integrity, and purpose in their work life.
Flexibility and Preparedness: Our nation was built on a foundation of courage and independence, but modern influences continue to erode personal responsibility and initiative. Entrepreneurial education provides a way for anyone of any age or financial condition to be better prepared to independently generate personal income. Business transitions are a fact of life. Factories close or automate, corporations merge and shift focus. It’s critical to be prepared to observe trends and be ready and able to move into another field or to supplement income with a microbusiness.
Basic business training helps workers understand coming changes and take appropriate action. For example, if you work for an automobile or furniture assembly line and begin to hear rumors that the factory will soon close, that’s the time to start planning an exit. It’s not only stressful, but also financially suicidal to wait until the formal announcement is made and all your co-workers are also looking for options. If you understand how to start and run a microbusiness, you can quickly begin moonlighting in a venture of your own, and have a head start when the axe falls.
Learning: Creating a business of any kind, a full-scale brick-and-mortar business or a tiny internet-based microbusiness, provides a lot more front line learning than any theory-based business class. Teens who choose run a business rather than flip burgers for the summer learn not only the service or product they are selling, but they also learn about business structures, bookkeeping, customer service, marketing, creative problem solving, real-world communication, and much more. Real bookkeeping for a small business is a lot more memorable than exercises from a consumer math textbook. Best of all, the skills and knowledge gained can be applied to many other parts of life.
High-School Transcript: A small business is a great addition to a high-school transcript. Whether a teen is bound for college, trade school, the military, or is planning to build his or her business into a full-time career, entrepreneurship demonstrates initiative, hard work, creativity, perseverance, and other valuable skills and character traits. It’s likely that you’ll be able to grant credit for many of the business functions (bookkeeping, salesmanship, web design basics, etc.) your student learns as her or she builds a business.
Fun: Finally, entrepreneurship is just plain fun. It empowers individuals– moms, dads, teens, pre-teens– to create something of value and share it with others in a profitable way. A young person who starts a microbusiness gains a lot more than spending money. He or she gains confidence, valuable experience, and a host of new skills that can be used for life.
“The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it.”
~Debbi Fields, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies
Microbusiness for Teens: A Curriculum by Carol Topp, CPA
Welcome to the August 9, 2011 edition of Carnival of Homeschooling. Although a few of you are ready to
jump back into school or have already done so, others seem to be stretching those happy summer moments for as long as possible.
I suggest that you pour a frosty glass of lemonade, find a cool spot, and enjoy the delightful posts that have been submitted.
Not quite ready for “regular school?” Tiana Krenz shares a delightful idea in Plan a Vacation, Learn Geography (Awesome FREE project!) posted at God Made Home Grown - Tiana Krenz.
Nikki Olivier invites you to journey along on an interesting family outing in I can officially call them kids! posted at Our Journey in Him, commenting, “spending time together as a family out in nature….there’s so much to learn!”
AnnieKate shares beautiful photos along with many great reasons why a garden can be a wonderful addition to homeschooling at The Gardening Homeschooler posted at Tea Time with Annie Kate.
Can you tell the difference between a plant and a weed? How about in your children’s lives? Joan Girkins presents ~Thoughts from My Garden~ (Part 4) posted at I Love Truth!.
Is it learning or is it just plain fun? Lisa Nehring offers a bit of both Summer School Shop Class posted at Golden Grasses.
Tasty treats from the garden.
In her evocative post, “Degrees of Separation” or “Your Child’s Future Sanity” posted at Sage Parnassus, Nancy reminds us to make time to touch, taste, and smell the reality around us.
Robin Phillips offers nine creative ways to connect real experiences with real learning in How To Homeschool At the Zoo: A Mini Unit Study - Crack the Egg posted at Crack the Egg Blog.
Adam Faughn shared Homeschool week #3: Some of Our Preparation Steps posted at The Faughn Family of Four, saying, “We started our first week of home schooling this week, and this post shares some of the memorable steps we took to prepare for this change in our life.”
It’s awfully hard to homeschool in chaos, and it’s really not necessary when you have a built-in team of helpers. Carol J. Alexander talks about how to make it work in Getting Your Kids to Do Chores posted at Everything Home with Carol.
In This Year’s Homeschool Curriculum at her blog, MrsMamaHen.com, Conni Smith shared a rundown of the core subject curriculum her family will be using this year.
The longer you homeschool, the more likely it is that you’ll forget what you’ve taught to which child. If you do, it’s easily remedied. Elena LaVictoire presents helpful tips on Making sure they get it all covered academically and otherwise! posted at My Domestic Church.
Is it ever too early to start reading to your child? Read Aloud … Dad presents When To Start Reading Aloud To a Child? posted at Read Aloud Dad.
It's never too early to start reading to your child.
Denise shares a great visual tool in Do You Mix Up These Words? posted at Blogging 2 Learn.
Billy Hart presents Danbury Baptist Association to Thomas Jefferson, Separation of Church and State posted at HistoricWords | American History | Founding Fathers | Politics | Faith | Quotes, saying, “The Danbury Baptist Association wrote this letter to Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson‚Äôs reply is where the phrase Separation of Church and State comes from. The Danbury Baptist Association said, ‚ÄúThe legitimate power of civil government extends no further than to punish the man who works ill to his neighbor.‚Äù”
Denise presents The (Mathematical) Trouble with Pizza posted at Let’s Play Math!, saying, “My daughter thinks her way through a challenging middle-school math problem.”
Laura O muses about learning a foreign language as a high school homeschooler.Tackle a foreign language? Which one? posted at Day By Day in Our World.
What’s it like to be the graduate of a Charlotte Mason education? Kaley Struble shares what she’s learned in Starting in the Right Direction on the ChildLightUSA blog.
Kaye Swain shared Bible Memory Verses Fun-Teaching The Ten Commandments to Our Children & Grandchildren-1 | SandwichINK for the Sandwich Generation posted at SandwichINK.com, saying, “The 10 Commandment Bible memory verses for children and grand kids was a fun summer project for my grandkids and me, but it’s also great for a homeschooling project any time in the year.”
HomeGrownKids presents Through the Bible overview (Week 1-4) posted at Kerugma, saying, “Kerugma Family Bible reading guide for use with young children. This guide is a no-fuss, easy to implement, overview of the Bible for the whole family. Preschool to highschool, homeschool, family bible reading.”
Does technology have something valuable to contribute?
Merit K presents Back to School with Tech? posted at Mission Possible!, saying, “Modern technology has some drawbacks and dangers, but there are ways to make technology work for us as parents and educators too!”
Angela Gray presents On Digital Media in Education - Team Gray! posted at team Gray!, saying, “While public education has come to mean crowd control and classroom management, digital media could mark the return of true learning–if the teachers would just get out of the way.”
Henry shares some thoughts about the nature of education and the benefit of homeschooling in Can education be automated? Should it? on Why Homeschool.
Trisha Poff reminds us of the importance of taking the time to give good words to those we love in Letters Never Written posted at A Multitude of Mercies.
Remember to take time for things that matter . . .
Are you at a difficult place in life? Learn more about Homeschooling Through Sicknesses, Pregnancies and Other Distressing Times at Beyond The Silver and The Gold - A Filipino Family’s Homeschool Journey.
If you’re in the early years of homeschooling, and juggling many children of different ages, don’t worry–it won’t always be this hard. Nebby offers encouragement in Homeschooling: Some Parts Get Easier posted at Letters from Nebby.
My contribution for this carnival will be the Of Daffodils and Diesels Revisited post from the archive. It was hard to choose– there are articles on everything from literature to caregiving to learning styles to homeschooling boys– but Daffodils and Diesels is especially worth reading at the beginning of a school year. It’s important to teach the student we have, rather than teaching a particular curriculum. Enjoy!
That’s all for now. I hope you enjoyed the carnival!
Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of homeschooling using the official carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page.
- Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child by Anthony Esolen
The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics
- Epic: The Story God Is Telling by John Eldredge
- Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive by John Eldredge
- For the Children's Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
The Crosswicks Journal Collection by Madeleine L'Engle; Four Book Set: A Circle of Quiet; The Summer of the Great Grandmother; The Irrationial Season; Two-Part Invention (Crosswicks Journal, 1, 2, 3, 4)
Hi, I'm Janice Campbell, and I'm glad you're here! I invite you to join me in focusing on things that matter- family, literacy, creativity, growth, and service. It's so easy to be entangled by the mundane, but it doesn't have to happen.
Among other things, I'll write about home-schooling through high school, and some of the opportunities you can explore with your teens- entrepreneurship, travel, early college, college alternatives, and more.
I'll also share favorite poems, classic literature, announcements of special events and reviews of good resources, as well as a dollop of opinion on mostly education-related topics. I welcome your comments!
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Do What Matters, Make it Pay
- Earn what you need, doing what you love, wherever you are.
