Happy Friday Eddies!
We're gearing up for a big one next week: Once Upon a Time Week (Jan 26-30). We're celebrating stories with everything from spelling bees to a live visit from NYT bestselling author Apryl Stott.
If your kid has a favorite book they can't stop talking about (or one you're secretly tired of reading for the 400th time), share it with the community here. We're building a massive collaborative reading list for the week.
A few other community notices for your Friday radar:
February Club Sign-ups: They opened this morning in the OpenEd Marketplace. Whether your teen wants to dive into Coding, Animal Studies, or just dominate in LEGO Engineering, secure your spot before the weekend rush.
Epic Book Battle: Our 8-week reading gauntlet for grades 3-8 starts soon (Wednesdays at 1pm MT). If your student likes competition as much as they like chapters, this is their moment.
Apprentice Energy: I spent a lot of time this week looking at why "College-for-All" is beginning to crack and what's taking its place (hint: it involves getting paid to learn). We've got a full breakdown of that below.
Whether you're tending to a "Wonder Wall" of sticky notes like OpenEd mom Krisy Shaughnessy (read her Day in the Life below) or just trying to navigate the Friday afternoon chaos, I'm glad you're here.
Now let's dive in.
– Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)
DEEP DIVE: Apprenticeships, CTE, and Real-World Learning for Teens
Michelle Rhee is one of education reform's most prominent voices. As the Chancellor of D.C. Public Schools, she championed rigorous academics, high test scores, and the four-year degree as the pathway to success.
After leaving education policy for the private sector, Rhee noticed something that didn't fit her mental model. She and her husband were among the oldest residents in their upscale Los Angeles apartment building—by a decade.
"I kept saying to my husband, like, what do all these kids do for a living?" Rhee recalls on the OpenEd podcast.
Her husband spent two weeks asking every young person he met in the lobby the same question. The answer? Crypto, gaming, content creation. None of them had majored in any of it. Some hadn't finished college at all.
The playbook has fundamentally changed. According to research by Michael Horn, author of Job Moves and a longtime education researcher, college success rates are lower than most parents realize, with half of all graduates working jobs that don't even require their diploma. Meanwhile, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports over 10 million unfilled jobs in skilled trades. We are currently facing what Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe calls a "priorities crisis," where we "lend money we don't have to kids who can't pay it back to train them for jobs that no longer exist."
Modern Career and Technical Education (CTE) is one sane alternative. It covers everything from robotics and cybersecurity to HVAC and construction management. For every five tradespeople who retire, only two enter the workforce—a dynamic creating massive opportunity for what Rowe calls "Blue Collar Arbitrage." A robot might be able to write an email, but it can't snake a clogged drain at 2 AM or rewire a house. These essential roles are hitting six-figure salaries because they require physical presence and human judgment.
The path forward for homeschoolers is flexible. Whether it's community college dual enrollment, youth apprenticeships, or online certifications, the goals are threefold: exposure, doing, and networks.
Our guide also contains a counterintuitive suggestion from career expert Ken Coleman (of the Ramsey network): this is the time to identify a child's "natural edges" and sharpen them into nines and tens. Getting someone other than family to pay you your first dollar for value created? That's a milestone worth more than any report card.
If you're wondering how to actually navigate the college-vs-career conversation with your teen, check out SmartPath. Their recent podcast episode with college counselor Alison Hamar is packed with practical advice - from when to start building transcripts (hint: earlier than you think) to how to keep options open when your kid swears they'll "never go to college" (and then changes their mind three months later).
PODCAST HIGHLIGHT: A Day in the Life of an Accidental Homeschooler
Ela recently sat down with OpenEd mom Krisy Shaughnessy to discuss how a pandemic-era pivot turned into a permanent love for "unschooling with intention." Shaughnessy, a mom of two competitive soccer players, focuses on the relationship and connection over rigid academic checklists. She's found that "sneaking learning into play" - like using math games instead of workbooks - keeps the curiosity alive.
"It's kind of like when you put vegetables in food," Shaughnessy explains. "There's some veggies you can blend up that's totally unnoticeable. They thought it was this privilege that they were getting extra screen time, and they didn't realize they were just solving math equations."
She also shares her "Wonder Wall" strategy, where kids place sticky notes with their random daily questions to be researched later - validating their curiosity without interrupting the mother-as-teacher flow. Speaking of Wonderwall... I said maybe, you're gonna be the one that saves me - from spending another $200 on curriculum we never finish. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
Read Krisy's full Day in the Life guest article here - it's packed with practical strategies you can steal.
Trends We're Following
Google and Khan Academy Team Up for AI Coaching A new partnership between Google and Khan Academy is bringing Gemini-powered "Writing Coaches" to students. Unlike typical AI that just spits out a finished essay, this tool guides students through outlining and drafting, focusing on the process of learning rather than just delivering a product. It's like having a tutor who refuses to do your homework but will sit there and watch you do it. Progress?
Maine Blends Math with the Real World A new initiative in Maine is helping students connect algebra and geometry to hands-on projects. By moving away from abstract worksheets and toward career-ready math, the state aims to fix stagnant post-pandemic scores through immediate relevance.
The Rise of Georgia's Hybrid Ecosystem Georgia has grown into one of the nation's most diverse homeschooling environments, according to Atlanta Magazine. The surge isn't just about home education; it's a boom in forest schools, microschools, and hybrid models that blend the flexibility of home with the community of a classroom. It almost sounds like something we've been touting as "open education."
Merlyn Mind Wins Big at CES Merlyn Origin, a voice-enabled AI teaching assistant, walked away with a top innovation award at the Consumer Electronics Show. The tool helps teachers control classroom tech and generate lesson plans through voice, allowing them to focus on students instead of fiddling with chargers and tabs.
The Homeschooling Outcomes Debate Re-enters the Frame A memoir review in The Atlantic by Stefan Merrill Block highlights the extreme variance in homeschooling outcomes. As the movement grows to over 3% of the U.S. student population, the conversation is shifting from "should families do it?" to "how do we ensure quality without bureaucratic overload?"
A helpful reminder from Classical Learner on X: before we generalize from one memoir about one family, let's keep the big picture in view. Homeschooled students consistently outperform their peers on standardized tests and college outcomes. And if we want to talk about who's falling behind, we might look at the school districts where not a single student is reading at grade level. The variance in homeschooling is real - but so is the variance in everything else.
Tools We're Bookmarking
Khanmigo Writing Coach — This AI-powered tutor helps students in grades 7-12 refine their writing through active guidance rather than simple answer generation.
Savvy Learning — If you're looking for live 1-on-1 tutoring for reading and math, this platform uses 25-minute sessions to meet kids where they are and build confidence.
My Teaching Library — A modular resource offering 80,000+ pages of lessons so you can "boutique" your curriculum with interest-led units instead of a single rigid book.
Apprenticeship.gov — The federal government database for finding registered programs across the country, organized by state and occupation.
February Student Clubs — Sign-ups are live for OpenEd virtual clubs covering everything from Animal Studies and Chess to LEGO Engineering and Coding.
Library of Things — Many public libraries now offer a Library of Things where you can borrow science kits, board games, and even musical instruments instead of buying them.
Prodigy Math — A popular way to gamify math practice that makes solving equations feel like a privilege rather than a chore for younger learners.
Knowledge Pillars — These browser-based certifications allow teens to earn real industry credentials in Python, WordPress, and JavaScript from home.
The Wonder Wall — A low-cost curiosity tool consisting of simple sticky notes used to capture kid questions like "Do slugs have guts?" for future research.
EdSurge Data Roundups — For parents who want to see the latest career trends, these visualizations map where the demand for majors and skills is heading in 2026.
SmartPath — A college and career planning platform built for homeschoolers. Their podcast features conversations with counselors and experts on everything from transcript prep to keeping your options open.
Community Spotlight: Free Webinar from Coach Meg Thomas
If your homeschool feels more chaotic than calm, Coach Meg Thomas has a free training for you: From Chaos to Calm: The 3 Shifts That Change Your Homeschool.
In this webinar, Meg teaches: - How to stop reacting emotionally to negative behavior - How to notice and grow the good - How to set firm, calm boundaries that actually work
Live call: Thursday, January 29th at 7pm MT (recording available after).
Ed's Stable
They say it takes a village to raise a kid, but we often forget to ask where the village actually is. As Krisy Shaughnessy noted in our podcast this week, "If you want to be part of the village, you have to be willing to be the villager." That means being the one to pick a park, send the email, and invite others to the messiness of community.
What's one book your family is obsessing over right now? Reply to this email and let me know - or add it to our community Padlet. I'll be sharing the top picks in next week's special "Once Upon a Time" wrap-up.
Meme of the week:
This is why we do nature journaling.
That's all for this week!