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Reimagine Learning With ‘Open Education’

 

Open Education

By Matt Bowman/Isaac Morehouse (Elite Online Publishing, May 2025)

Genre: Nonfiction (Education)

The world is changing faster than ever before, and our education system is falling behind. As technology reshapes the way we live, work, and play, it’s time to rethink how we educate our children for a future full of innovation and uncertainty. In Open Education, Matt Bowman and Isaac Morehouse challenge the outdated norms of traditional schooling and offer a bold vision for the future of learning—one that’s flexible, individualized, and designed to ignite a child’s natural curiosity.

 For over a century, schools have been rigid in their approach:

  • Grouping kids by age rather than ability
  • Teaching at a standardized pace, ignoring individual needs
  • Confining learning to strict schedules and physical classrooms
  • Grading on an arbitrary A-F scale that doesn’t reflect real-world skills

 

But the future requires something different. Today’s job market values creativity, adaptability, and lifelong learning—qualities often stifled by conventional education. Matt and Isaac argue that children should be given more freedom and autonomy in their learning, allowing them to explore their interests, embrace failure as a stepping stone, and cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset that will serve them no matter where life takes them. 

Open Education is your guide to reimagining the learning journey. If you’re ready to break free from the one-size-fits-all approach, rekindle your child’s love of learning, and prepare them for a rapidly changing world, this book will show you how.

Prepare your child for a future where thinking outside the box is the key to success.

 – Excerpt –

 

 STUDENTS AREN’T STANDARD

One evening, when our youngest daughter was about seven, she skipped into our bedroom just to tell us she was going to read a book. As she skipped back out, I turned to my husband, Matt, and asked, “At what point does life take that skip out of you? When do we lose that pure joy in learning?” That question has stuck with me ever since.

 Too often, I have seen how our traditional education system slowly replaces that natural joy with rigid expectations and standardized measures. As we raised our five children—all in the same home environment and with the same routines, house rules, and opportunities—we noticed something that every parent before us already knew: each child is profoundly different. But what struck me wasn’t just their different personalities or interests, it was how differently each one learned and developed.

 

Like many parents, we started with traditional approaches. I volunteered at the local public school and ran the book fair. Matt coached every sport until our kids were teenagers. We did all the “right” things. But our perspective began to shift when our oldest son wanted to transfer to a brand-new charter school, something almost unheard of in our community at the time. Back then, leaving your assigned district school was seen as a rejection of public education. The pushback was immediate. “What are you doing?” people asked. “Do you even understand what you’re giving up?”

 

We were more concerned about our child feeling validated and successful than following the expected path. Each year we asked if he wanted to return to his district school. He chose to stay, and he thrived. Later, when our younger children reached the same age, they chose a different path entirely. Each choice was different, but each was right for that child.

 

During this time, we sat down with a calculator and made a startling discovery. Our children spent about seven hours a day in school for 180 days, roughly 1,260 hours per year. That left 2,390 hours of potential learning time at home. The math was undeniable. Time spent outside the classroom matters. Parents are ultimately their children’s primary educators, whether they plan for it or not. This realization led us to ask a bigger question. If our own children need more flexible, personalized education options, how many other families face the same challenge?

 

In 2009, we created My Tech High (now OpenEd) to help students access different classes, resources, and opportunities that spoke to their individual interests and learning styles. Years later, our conviction about personalized learning was reinforced in a deeply personal way. One of our sons was everything the public school system could want. He was a student body officer, a top varsity athlete in multiple sports, and he earned excellent grades. He was well-rounded, well-liked, and loved to learn.

 

Yet, when it came time to take the ACT, he consistently scored below what colleges expected, despite multiple attempts. Watching him pour his heart and soul into studying, only to feel crushed by the results again and again, confirmed what we already knew. Standardized testing measurements can never capture a child’s true potential nor accurately reflect what they have learned.

 

During this journey, I felt God speaking to me, helping me understand something crucial: God is the author of diversity. A child’s learning style isn’t a flaw to be corrected by the system, it’s a divine design to be celebrated. Each child’s unique way of learning is beautiful, intentional, and worthy of honor. This understanding transformed how we saw education itself.

 

One year, we were excited to see several OpenEd students  earn their associate degree before they turned eighteen. Matt suggested we might want to host an event to celebrate this major accomplishment. I asked him, “Who decides which achievements are worthy of celebration? Why not host an event to celebrate  students who started their own business, or mastered a musical  instrument, or achieved their academic goals in their own personal way through art, dance, sports, or an industry certification?”

 

We’ve been guided by this perspective ever since. Today, at various in-person OpenEd events, parents I have never met approach me with tears in their eyes, grateful that their children finally have the freedom to learn in ways that work for them. I’ll never forget one parent who shared with me that her eight-year-old son was deeply discouraged. He was profoundly gifted in science and was convinced he had learned everything there was to know. He believed his local school had no more challenges to offer him. When he was given the opportunity to attend a college physics class with his grandfather, the professor opened his eyes to ongoing discoveries in quantum mechanics and dark matter. His natural curiosity reignited, and he realized that human knowledge wasn’t finite. We’re all still learning, still discovering. This changed his life forever.

 

As a teenager, my father encouraged me to become an expert in something people would seek out. I struggled with that advice as I thought every field of expertise was already claimed. Now I see the irony. Through building OpenEd, I have been fortunate to become an expert in finding ways to help families trust their instincts about their children’s education. Today, even as two of our own children are public school teachers, we understand that education isn’t about choosing between traditional and alternative approaches, it’s about having the confidence to combine different learning opportunities in ways that work for your unique child.

That’s Open Education.

 This book offers a roadmap for that journey. Matt and Isaac break down the practical insights and systematic approach we’ve developed over fifteen years of working with families who want more for their children. The tools to build something better are already in your hands, and they’re simpler to adopt than you might think.

 

– Amy Bowman, Co-founder, OpenEd, mother of five children (all married), Grammy to four grandchildren

Matt Bowman is an innovator in education and technology, and is deeply dedicated to transforming the way children learn. He and his wife, Amy founded OpenEd together, and the Bowmans have spent over three decades championing personalized education, combining cutting-edge technology with an entrepreneurial spirit to help students thrive in a rapidly changing world. Matt and Amy focus every day on empowering young learners by offering them the tools and flexibility to pursue their passions and develop the skills necessary for future success.

Author Matt Bowman

A former sixth-grade teacher and tech executive, Matt has been at the forefront of online education since the 1990s. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in education, and is an alumnus of Stanford’s Executive Business Management program. In addition to his professional accomplishments, Matt has been a speaker and panelist at numerous educational and technology conferences. His insights into the future of education have been sought after by educators and industry leaders alike.

 

The Bowmans’ unique approach to education has earned them recognition across the country, with OpenEd collectively serving more than 100,000 student enrollments over the years across multiple states, including many military families worldwide. Their work is driven by their core belief that “Learning happens inside learners, not inside classrooms.”

 

Matt and Amy live in the mountains of Utah, where they enjoy spending time with their five adult children and their spouses, plus four grandchildren (and counting). They continue to explore new ways to innovate within the educational landscape to help all children access the resources to help them be successful, today and in the future.

 

 


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First-Hand Account of Everest Disaster a Riveting Read

The Climb

By Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt (St. Martin’s Press, 1997)

Genre: Non-Fiction

Pages: 255

Via; Library Book Sale

On May 10, 1996, two commercial expeditions headed by some of the finest, most experienced climbers in the world set off on the final leg of a five-day climb to the top of the world. Along the way, things went terribly wrong. Traffic jams along the route, miscommunications, inexplicable delays that burned up vital oxygen. Questionable leadership and decisions. A ferocious rogue storm. Time. All at the cruising altitude of a 747. All conspired to kill. Eight climbers from three expeditions died on Mount Everest while attempting to descend from the summit.

It remains one of the worst disasters in the history of Mount Everest.

Several survivors wrote memoirs after the disaster. Climber and journalist Jon Krakauer published his first-hand account of the tragedy in 1997, Into Thin Air.  It was a bestseller. Anatoli “Toli” Boukreev, a guide with Scott Fischer’s Mountain Madness team, felt impugned by the book.  Toli co-authored his version of events in The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest, also published in 1997.

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Cornwallian Walk a Winner – or – Curmudgeons of the World, Untie!*

Walking Wet: A Journey Along England’s Salt Path
By Rick Rogers (2025)
Genre: Travel
Pages (Print): 208
Via: Author request
Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Heavy fogs. Dew. Drizzle. Sea spray. Sprinkles. Rain showers. Rain squalls. Cloudbursts. Steady rain. Occasional rain. Driving rain. Coming down in sheets, torrents, or buckets. Along 630 miles of English coastline known as the Southwest Coast Path, aka: The Salt Path.
Are we having fun yet?
You will in Rick Rogers’ latest tome, Walking Wet. We’ll get to that in a min. So kindly keep your hair on, Cookie. First a wee bit of background:
Some Background
We met Rick the Hiking Dude a few years back when we reviewed his book, Walking Home: Common Sense and Other Misadventures On the Pacific Crest Trail. You can read our full review here.
So when we heard that Hiking Dude has a new book out about his adventures hiking in Cornwall, we jumped at it. Like this:
Kimber: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
Mom: Kimmi, what are you doing?
Kimber: I’m gearing up for a review of that new walking book by Mr. Walking Guy.
Mom: Okay. But I’m pretty sure George Lucas beat you to the punch on that opening line.
Kimber: George Who?
Times
Yes, friends. There are times when the serenity and simplicity of walking the English coastline does indeed feel like “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” In a really soggy galaxy, in fact, as evident in this lithe and lively tome by Rick Rogers.
More
Cuz this book is about a lot more than racking up miles on the ‘ole ankle express. Or in this case, soggy boots and squishy socks. Peering through his “agreeably comfortable and hazy absentmindedness,” Rogers takes us on a journey of resilience, reflection, and introspection. It’s all seasoned with light and laughter as only he can. Along the way Rogers fills us in on some of his personal background. Ditto smartphones and “the art of selective hearing.” (Kimber: Huh? What? You say something, Mom?) How hiking a long trail “is the perfect antidote” to living “inside the chatterbox.” (Kimmi: You rang?”) Much more.
Entertaining
Entertaining and eminently engaging, Walking Wet takes us on England’s 630-mile Southwest Coast Path, aka the Salt Path, with his son Matthew and sister Rhonda. Matthew is fourteen-years-old and less-than-thrilled to be here. Rhonda is a rehabbing heart patient.
Along the way, we’re treated to pages packed with observations on local flora and fauna, food, geography, customs and culture and architecture. Also dino eggs. Earworms. Burger King jingles. An investment banker from Scotland. Concrete pill boxes. Mayberry. Muppet. Curly. Eavesdropping cows. “Are you okay?” (You’ll get that if you read the book.) “Walker’s Brain happens.” Chiddleypump. The “home base-and-foray” hiking method. Ditto “muddy tramps under unruly rain squalls.” Sheltering from a nasty storm in the middle of a herd of dairy cows. Sulphury sea breezes.
When Matthew and Rhonda cut their trip short and fly home, Rogers continues the walk alone – for about 450 more miles.
There’s also rain. Lots and lots of rain. As in, 38 out of 39 hiking days it rained. So, you may want to grab a sweater. Or a trash bag. (You’ll also get that if you read the book.)
“I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail back home, and I met some folks out there hoping it would change their lives. But most of the time, it didn’t. Whatever it is that you find on a trail is difficult to hold on to when you leave it. Those things are often situational and ethereal, and they slip through your fingers when you get back home.”
Warm, Winsome
En route, Rogers serves up a warm and winsome combo of outdoor camping adventures and misadventures, memoirish musings, travel guide talking, and reflections on farming life and teenagers. In fact, the snappy back-and-forth between the author and his son Matthew will sound familiar to anyone with teenagers. (Take two Tylenol and call me in seven years.)
There’s also:
– Tetley tea and Irish coffee.
– Mandolin music.
– Playing chicken with “wrong side” vehicles trying to kill you.
“Doers can also be dreamers.”
– Ross and Demelza! (Sort of.)
– “Tony Orlando and Dawn.”
– Andy Taylor.
– Exorbitant rise in home prices.
– Chocolate cake with frosting for breakfast. (Mom: I’m in!)
– Vertigo.
– Texting.
– Face-timing and video chatting.
– PODs (Photos of the Day).
– The snail whisperer.
– The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
– “Emma, the Oracle of Understatements.”
Nothing gives you a sense of belonging like sharing wine in a circle of kind souls and their dogs in a building that’s housed countless similar scenes, re-enacted by generations through the eight centuries of its existence.
Also ruminations about fatherhood and parenting a teenager later in life. Notes on the topography, history, culture and cuisine of the region skim the story amid nearly non-stop storms and wet weather. For example, shifting sand and the author’s “chronic anxiety about tomorrow’s world” and how son Matthew’s generation will “navigate themselves within it” – while Rogers is being blasted by raindrops and soaked to the skin.
It felt like home, a place to curl up in. It felt like it should. It felt like enough.
POV
Told in the first person, Walking Wet includes stops in Personal Reflection and Introspection. There’s a lot of room to connect here for readers of a certain age. Pages will also resonate with any parent who’s raised or is raising a teenager and lived to tell the tale. (Don’t ask how we know that.)
Perhaps some of the most fascinating portions of Walking Wet are the author’s observations on the differences between hiking the PCT and hiking the Salt Path. And we don’t mean just weather. Good stuff!
Style
The narrative style is a little Peter Jenkins’ A Walk Across America with a chaser of Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods. Or maybe it’s the other way around? Anywho, the style is piquant. Pithy. And percolating with wry wit. Razor-sharp writing propels the narrative forward like … a hurricane on the Cornish coast. The tone is light-hearted in places and pensive in others. Maps are provided so you can follow along. Chapters are headed with helpful stats like days walking, path miles walked, and total miles walked.
Poldarkian!
So whether you’re a long-distance hiker looking for your next challenge, a casual stroller scouting a vicarious walking adventure, or a hapless Poldarkian (Kimber: New word I just made up. Hi, Mom), you’ll find all of the above and much more in this engaging and enjoyable tome.
The storm raged, but where I stood in it now made moving through it easier. I was reminded again that how badly a storm hits you has less to do with the force of its wind than it does with where you stand when you’re in it.
Extras
You can find photos, videos and info. for each path section in its respective chapter. You can find more here along with some other cool stuff related to Walking Wet.
Speaking of “finding,” we found a stray typo or two roaming the paper countryside. But no biggie. We found the following paragraph confusing. On page ii:
“This is largely a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.”
Wait. What?
And that ‘goosey bagpipe’ thing? Not. Funny.
Kimmi’s Question
That being said, Kimber has one question: When is Rick the Hiking Dude gonna head back across the pond and walk the (Thomas) Hardy Way, “meandering or no”?
Soaked in waggish wit, this clever and keen book had one of us laughing so hard in places, she snorted lemonade out her nose. Indeed, Walking Wet is a delightful read for anyone who enjoys “their wit dry, their socks wet, and warmhearted misadventures laced with doubt, resilience, and the occasional perfect pint.” This one’s a winner.
Mom: I’d bring a rain slicker ‘fize you. And extra socks. Just sayin’ again.
Kimber: About that Lucas guy and that galaxy far, far away. Do they have burgers?
*That’s not a typo. It’s deliberate. As in, untie your shoe laces. Grab a hot cuppa. And give this book a whirl. Got that, Cupcake?
Pages & Paws Rating
Our Rating: 4.0
Cornwall photo credit: Public domain


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Prepare to be Blown Away by ‘The Lucky Seven’

The Lucky Seven

By Norman W. Holden

Published by: Indie, June 2023

Genre: Non-Fiction – Biography/History

Pages: 380

We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

 

Suit up and strap in for an incredible ride and harrowing close calls when a heavy bomber is mortally wounded and the crew bails out over occupied Belgium in this World War II stunner. Exciting and absorbing, The Lucky Seven is a remarkable story of courage, sacrifice, and heroism. It’s one of the best World War II stories we’ve ever read. And we’ve read a ton.

Grounded in “true wartime events,” The Lucky Seven is the story of First Lieutenant James J. Goebel, Jr. and the brave men and women of the Belgian and French Resistance. Much of the book covers Goebel’s evade and escape experiences after Goebel and his crewmen parachute out of their wounded B-24 over occupied Belgium.

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Why ‘Cross Roads’ Will Make You Want to Sing

Cross Roads

By Wm. Paul Young (Faith Words, Hachette Book Group, 2012)

Genre: Fiction/Inspirational

Pages: 286

Via: Library Book Sale

Kimber: Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay/My, oh my, what a wonderful day…

Mom: You’re awful chipper today.

Kimber: I’m always chipper. Especially when there’s a nice, juicy pot roast hangin’ around unattended. Or when we stumble upon a gem of a book at a library book sale.

Mom: You mean Cross Roads? That we picked up for like, a quarter at the library book sale?

Kimber: Bingo! I’ll let Her Royal Momness fill you in:

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Missed Opportunities in ‘Russian Legacy’ Memoir

Thread of Life: My Russian Legacy

By Jennifer Kavanaugh (CollectiveInk, 2025)

Genre: Non-fiction/Memoir

Pages: 153 + Chronology and For Further Reading

Via: Author/Publicity Request

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“This is a story of contrasts: the beauty of St. Petersburg and the brutality which took place within its walls; the gentle beauty of Dora and the atrocity of her treatment. A story that gives glimpses of the paradoxes of the human spirit: the ugliness and beauty of which humanity is capable…”

Thread of Life looks at the 20th century through the lives of three Jewish women. At its heart is Dora, a romantic and tragic figure, a concert pianist born in Riga, Latvia. She lived in St Petersburg and was killed in the Riga Holocaust. Her daughter is Genia. Born in 1915 in St. Petersburg, Genia lived in many places around the world before dying in England at the age of 102. It’s also about the author and her life and perspectives.

A thoughtful weft of memory, history, love, loss, and learning, this memoir includes insights from the author in which she shares her moments of discovery while addressing themes of Russia, Jewishness, motherhood, music, home, and language, as well as the vagaries of memory.

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5 Most PAWsome NEWish Authors

‘Yo! Listen up!’

Kimber here. With a newsflash: We’ve read over 200 books thus far this year. Some were Pawsome. Some were Stinkers. Most were somewhere in between.
Is this place great, or what?

Go Ahead, Guess!

So guess which books have been the best? Most engaging and enjoyable? Most fun. Inspiring. Entertaining and informative.

Go ahead! Guess!

Never mind. I’ll tell ya:

The Most Pawsome books we’ve read thus far this year are by indie authors. Not best-selling authors. Not “over a million copies sold.” Not “soon to be made into a major motion picture.” Nopers. None of that jazz here. Because frankly, that “bestselling author” stuff is so over-rated. We’ve seen wilted brussel sprouts with more flavor than some of those “best-selling” titles.

So here’s our 100% unscientific, totally subjective version of Best Books We’ve Recently Read in 2025 So Far. All are by indie authors. In no particular order:

  1. Letters From the Saddle – Michael Wegner
    Check out our review.
  2. Even If – Dwayne Harris
    Check out our review here.
  3.  Twilight of Evil – George Alexander.
    Here’s our full review.
  4. Stay, Girl – Angelica R. Jackson
    See our full review.
  5. Two Weeks Till Sunday – Caleb Backholm
    Here’s our full review.

What are some of your top reads thus far this year?


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Story Set in Afghanistan Brings Gravitas, Authenticity

Wanting Mor

By Rukhsana Khan (September 2010)

Genre: Teen and YA Fiction

Pages: 192

Via: Library

Another book we read awhile back. But worth a revisit.

The Basics

Young Jameela is determined to follow her mother Mor’s advice: “If you can’t be beautiful, you should at least be good.”  Growing up in a post-Taliban Afghan orphanage, shy, sensitive Jameela finds this easier said than done, especially since she’s not really an orphan.  Her father is alive, but her mother, Mor, has just sickened and died.  the rest of Jameela’s family was wiped out when bombs fell on a wedding party they were all attending.

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What’s ‘Secret’ About “The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez”?

The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez

By Alan Lawrence Sitomer

Hyperion Books, 2008

Via: Library

Genre: YA

Pages: 332

Note: We read this book awhile back. Recently re-discovered it. Thought it rates a revisit. So here ya go:

Sonia Rodriguez is the family work camel.  The oldest daughter in a family of nine, the 15 year-old wants to keep her grades up and the first member of her family to graduate from high school.

But the demands of caring for her pregnant-with-twins mother (“Sonia….. Ayudame!”) who spends all day, every day watching Spanish soaps, plus cooking, cleaning and caring for her younger siblings as well as endless trips to the tienda for cervezas for her loutish “drunkle” are overwhelming.  “In mi cultura,” Sonia explains – a culture she both loves and hates – “familia es todo.” (Family is everything.)

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‘Worst Hero Ever’ Has the Right Stuff – And Milk

Worst Hero Ever

By Archer Thorn (Blackstone Publishing, April 2025)

Genre: Fiction: Fantasy/Sci Fi/Humor/Action-Adventure

Pages (print): 211 + Glossary)

Via: Author Request

Riddles? Secret doors? Some faceless evil pulling the strings? A dead sister who may not be dead? Double-crosses? Betrayals? All kinds of techno gizmos and mechanical doodads with minds of their own? What could possibly go wrong?

Kimber: Wait! Wait! The first thing you need to know about this book is that it’s about me! Kimster the Amazing! Kimster the PAWsome! Kimster the marvelous wonder dog and stupendously splendiferous and seriously stunning super hero!

Mom: Dial it back a little, will ya Kimmi?

Kimber: What? Okay, okay. I s’pose we better go on with the book review?

Mom: Not much gets past you, does it?

Kimber: That’s what super heroes do. Nothing gets past us! Unlike that Jim Riven “worst” guy in this new fantasy book. So just remember. I’m the Real Deal, okay?

Since you asked Real Nice, here’s the 4-1-1 on the book:

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