raising entrepreneurs
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 02:48PM What skills do we need to nurture to help our children be entrepreneurial?
We see project-based homeschooling as being a path of control. Our children get the chance to have their own ideas and explore their own interests and talents. We help them direct and manage their own learning today, and we expect them to build strong thinking and learning habits that will serve them well as adults.
We believe that no matter what they want to do as adults, our children need to be in charge of their careers and treat themselves as a business. That’s the mindset we want to encourage — the mindset of a business owner rather than that of an employee. That’s the kernel of our entrepreneurial curriculum: control, managed risk, responsibility.
Rather than sending the message “You need to do x-y-z so you can get a good job,” we tell them “These are the skills that will help you manage your work life and do the things you want to do in life.”
Focusing on entrepreneurial skills doesn’t mean we pressure our children to work for themselves when they grow up. We simply tell them, you will be working for yourself. No one else is going to care about you or your family as much as you do. No one else is going to prioritize your goals; no one else is going to worry about your savings account. You will be in charge of you. The skills that a person needs to operate a business are the same skills you need to operate a life.
Tomorrow, I’ll start talking about the specific skills we emphasize.
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