
This topic is one that is near and dear to my heart—rethinking education. I’m here with Matt Beaudreau, founder and president of Acton Academy, creator of Apogee Strong Mentorship Program, host of “The Essential 11 Podcast,” and speaker.
You might have heard me talk about Unstitute, a curriculum I developed for my own children. Matt developed a similar curriculum at a school that has locations all over the country and the world. We go in-depth about how you can apply some of these same things at home, should you decide to homeschool your kids. He goes deep on how the current educational systems aren’t actually addressing what kids need and are zapping their motivation and how character development is much more important than bookwork.
I absolutely loved this episode, and I think it will answer a lot of the questions I’ve received from you about how to start something like this in your own area or even in your own home. So without further ado, let’s jump in.
Episode Highlights With Matt Beaudreau
- Why he turned down a job at the White House
- The reason I dropped out of college
- How current educational systems aren’t addressing what kids actually need in the future
- Why education has become a religion in our country
- The reason young people need more time to play
- How character development is much more important than bookwork
- What Acton Academy is and why they require all kids to run a business
- How students at Acton learn to drive their own academics
- Their structure for character, civil discourse, problem-solving, and other skills
- How and why to create a better system from the ground up
- The way to nurture motivation in kids, so they want to self-learn
- “Your kids will do what you do before they ever do what you say.”
- What the paperclip challenge is and how they use it with kids
- How the last two years were a net positive for education (but a net negative for schooling) and why this is a good thing
- Ways to start implementing these things at home and why it’s easier than you’d think
- Top educational resources for kids
- His top resources for starting a program like this at home
- Why homeschooling can be easier than other school options and how you can absolutely do it
- A popular opinion that he completely disagrees with and why
- Why college is a net negative for almost everyone
- And more!
Resources We Mention
- Matt’s TED talks: It’s About to Get Uncomfortable: Education in America, Education post-COVID; The Great Reset
- Acton Academy
- Matt’s Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter
- Apogee Strong mentorship program
- The Essential 11
- John Taylor Gatto books
- Ivan Illich books
- The Education of Millionaires: It’s Not What You Think and It’s Not Too Late by Michael Ellsberg
- The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined by Salman Khan
- A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-First Century by Oliver DeMille
- The 5-Hour School Week: An Inspirational Guide to Leaving the Classroom to Embrace Learning in a Way You Never Imagined by Kaleena Amuchastegui
- Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
- Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner
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- 085: Margot Bisnow on How to Raise an Entrepreneur
- How to Set up a Homeschool Classroom
- How to Create a Homeschool Schedule That Works
- 6 Favorite Practical Homeschool Resources (My Kids Love)
- Why We Are Creating a Business Incubator for Our Kids (And How)
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Thanks to Our Sponsors
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This was the most amazing podcast! Please have him on again for a follow up soon!!
Katie!! You mentioned in this podcast your hesitation in releasing your Unstitute curriculum because it’s so simple! I want you to hear that that is EXACTLY why we need it! Because so many of us (me!) get hung up and paralyzed in the overthinking! Having something that lays out just how basic and simple it can be is so needed amount those of us wanting to be successful at homeschooling with all the shoulds and voices we have around how complicated it feels! Love your work and selfishly waiting desperately for this exact release from you!