How to Reimagine Learning, Ignite Curiosity, and Prepare Kids for Success
Nonfiction (Education)
Date Published: May 13, 2025
Publisher: Elite Online Publishing
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 In Open Education, Matt Bowman and Isaac Morehouse challenge the outdated norms of traditional schooling and offer a bold vision for the future of learning—one that’s flexible, individualized, and designed to ignite a child’s natural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
About Matt Bowman
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.
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.
About Isaac Morehouse
Isaac Morehouse is the CEO of OpenEd, working to open up all education options to all learners. He has founded and built several companies, served as a CEO and CMO, and loves rallying people around a vision and building teams to do the things he can’t.
Isaac is dedicated to the relentless pursuit of freedom and is deeply passionate about education and entrepreneurship. He loves writing, music, his wife Heather and four kids, a good cigar, and getting angry about sports (especially the Detroit Lions).
He has given hundreds of talks and interviews, authored, co-authored, or ghostwritten over 3,000 articles and twelve books, helped thousands of people launch their careers, and dozens of businesses tell their stories. He is a firm believer in learning out loud and making a daily commitment to creation in all forms. He currently lives with his family in Bradenton, Florida.
Contact Links
