You can just build things

Greetings Eddies!

This week we officially launched our summer learning challenge - the Independence Project: Write, film, build, or make something you actually care about, in the spirit of the American tradition of independence.

It felt like cheating to hand out homework (even optional homework) I wasn't doing myself. So this week I built a thing: a diploma maker. You type in the student's name, your "academy" name (you can make one up), and a graduation date. One minute later you have a print-ready diploma.

It's a common misconception among parents that a home-made diploma doesn't count. A parent-issued diploma is legal and accepted in nearly every state.

I learned this from OpenEd high school pathway specialist Maecy Palkki. When her oldest daughter applied to work at the Mayo Clinic, they asked for a diploma she had never been issued. So Maecy printed one, signed it, and that was the end of that.

"They don't care if it's accredited or not," she says. "They just want a paper to file in their diploma spot."

Maecy’s story reminds me of a meme-phrase that's been going around: "you can just build things."

This is today’s theme, and it's also a good five-word summary of the whole American idea. The original Independence Project - the one that kicked off in 1776 - was a group of people who decided the status quo wasn't working and built something new.

So whether your child/teen structures their project as a two-week learning sprint or a single afternoon, there are very few rules. Make something, and share it with us in whatever format makes sense.

We'll take submissions through July 3, but get yours in by July 1 for a chance to be featured in our special semiquincentennial edition (yes, that is really what you call a 250th anniversary).

- Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)

Speaking of July 1 deadlines: fall program applications are due in less than 2 weeks! If you've been waiting for a sign, consider this your sign.

And if you're already set for fall, the most useful thing you can do is forward this email to one family who's looking for something different.

A few words from real parents:

A while back, OpenEd founder Matt Bowman made a short video about the birth of the worst idea in the history of education as a deadpan, Nate Bargatze-style parody. Matt wrote the script, hired the actors, found the one-room schoolhouse, and it became our most-watched video.

The premise: in the 1840s, a man named Horace Mann toured Prussia and came home in love with a system that sorted kids by birth year, graded them like cattle, and rang a bell to tell them when to think. We imported it. We are still running it - a model built for a world of factories and farms, decades before the electric lightbulb.

America's 250th birthday is a good moment to do the opposite. So if your kid wants a starting point: a short film, a comic, a model, an essay, a song, a diorama, or a working invention. Any format, any age; no rubric, no grade.

A few other things that crossed my radar this week, all of them in the spirit of 1776 - people who saw a gap and just built the thing.

Annilyn Spjut, an OpenEd staff member and mom, built her own America's 250th reading challenge overnight: a tiered book list that runs from picture books to McCullough and Chernow, a stack of writing and hands-on activities, and a points economy where kids cash in 250 points for a trip to the waterpark (with a candy bar and an ice cream outing as checkpoints along the way).

Connor Boyack couldn't find kids' books that taught the ideas he cared about, so he wrote them himself. The Tuttle Twins (tuttletwins.com) has now sold more than seven million copies. For the 250th he is wearing a George Washington “7-6” tee, and he didn't ask his kids’ permission:

Jesse Genet (@jessegenet), a former tech founder, uses AI agents to run a big chunk of her homeschool (with no coding background). One of her many home-made tools generates educational posters and worksheets from a one-line request. Check out her interview with a16z.

Today's 14-year-olds have less outdoor freedom than 5-year-olds did a generation ago. Peter Gray walks through the new data.

A thousand microschools, all fifty states, and a founder demographic almost nobody predicted. The 74 has seven things worth knowing about microschools in 2026.

Michael Horn takes us inside Primer, one of the fastest-growing school networks in the country.

For generations, more school meant a better job. Now that AI can do the entry-level work, Chalkbeat asks whether that quiet bargain is coming undone.

Teach Your Kids has a gentle, complete guide to homeschooling an 11- or 12-year-old, minus the overwhelm.

A two-minute writing trick: mangle a good passage on purpose, then let your kid play editor. Brave Writer calls it reverse dictation.

Christy-Faith makes the case for giving your kids a boring summer on purpose, and the brain science behind why it works.

A free, printable Montessori curriculum for ages 3 to 6, from The Natural Homeschool: one download, no prep.

A short end-of-year checklist so the summer slide doesn't quietly undo everything September will test. Homeschool Boss has the list.

Math tutoring built for kids who can't sit still: short sessions, the same tutor every week, a visual approach. From our marketplace partner, Savvy Learning.

For you: Peter Gray's Restoring Childhood: How to Set Kids Free in the Age of Anxiety is up for pre-order and ships September 15. It's his argument for handing childhood back to children - more free play, fewer adults hovering.

For your kids: Jonathan Haidt and Catherine Price wrote The Amazing Generation: Your Guide to Fun and Freedom in a Screen-Filled World, a book aimed straight at 9-to-12-year-olds about taking their attention back from their phones.

On Monday we passed along Isaac Morehouse's golden rule for YouTube: create before you consume. Make something before you watch something. Here are three additional resources in that spirit:

That's all for this week. Go build something.

- Charlie