Raising Entrepreneurs, Raising Leaders

We have been carefully defining “education” and implementing a “life-learning” educational paradigm for a while now.  This year, we’re kicking it up a notch.

Besides our basic 3 R’s, fundamental to any life pursuit, we are studying entrepreneurship as our focal subject.  Using a combination of inspiration (reading stories of other young entrepreneurs, casting a vision for the concept of entrepreneurship, etc.) and instruction, each child will develop his own business (the younger ones will help the older ones), implementing what we are learning as we go.

(Our son began his own business last year, and though he’s already making money from it–he’s got a knack for portrait sketching–we haven’t utilized the opportunity as we should to teach him all the mechanics of a working business. That is changing.)

Regardless of what our children grow up to pursue, the skills and knowledge to be gained from studying and establishing a business are priceless.

In simplified terms, I think of entrepreneurship as simply the ability to see lemonade when I look at lemons.  Giving our children the vision and skill sets to see opportunities and to embrace the challenges of life with optimism is an invaluable part of their education–a crucial life skill many young people are missing.

Are entrepreneurs born or made?  Perhaps both. But I can’t help but think we need to be more vigilant about showing our children the advantages and power of being self-made leaders, showing them that families can thrive working together, showing them that there are other options besides “assembly line education” that often just leaves college graduates thousands of dollars in debt with a job that sucks the life out of them.

Kerry Beck has some thought-provoking things to say:

“The first place to start in raising your students into leadership is to change your own education paradigm….Most of us grew up in a public or private school, which can be likened to a factory. All the students come to the factory or the school. They start in kindergarten and move on to first grade, down the conveyor belt. At each stage of the conveyor belt (or grade level), the student learns the exact same information as everyone else. The students are told what to think.”

“Leadership education ultimately involves the family as a whole. Initially, it takes much effort from a parent because you must be involved in learning and growing yourself. You cannot hand over some workbooks and say, “go for it.” Workbooks merely teach your children what to think, not how to think.”

-Kerry Beck

From Curriculum Connection

Kerry Beck is a homeschool mom and wife! She is the author of Raising Leaders, Not Followers, which encourages parents to train their children to be leaders who lead wisely. She would like to give you a free report about Leadership Education in Homeschool Curriculum

Think Outside the Classroom