Teacher

2026 Eddy Awards: Parent Educator of the Year - Todd Gottlieb. Todd Gottlieb is the 2026 Parent Educator of the Year. The Eddy Awards, presented by OpenEd and Outschool, recognize the people and resources advancing open and alternative education. The Parent Educator of the Year award honors a homeschooling parent whose dedication, creativity, and commitment have made a measurable difference in their children's education and in the broader community. Todd has no website. No Instagram. No newsletter. No podcast. His story exists entirely through the people he raised - and through the one who sat down and wrote about what it meant. His daughter, Ivria, nominated him. At 17 years old, carried a 4.0 GPA, and earned her associate's degree before most of her peers finished their junior year. She also captains the University of Utah Girls Hockey team, and teaches ice-skating to children with special needs. She used her nomination to talk about her dad. Here's what she wrote: "My dad, Todd Gottlieb, quit his corporate job to homeschool me and my brother two decades ago, well before it was 'cool' and way before we knew anything called Covid. And it's one thing to decide to homeschool your kids; it's quite another to do so as a guy. Without exception, I recall my dad being the only male in our homeschooling groups and co-ops." As Ivria put it: "He believed homeschooling was more about the relationship he created with us than the ABCs. In addition to skiing, skating, and camping, he taught us practical life skills like balancing a checkbook, budgeting, and investing. In essence, my dad created an environment and curriculum where we had ownership of our learning." There's a version of this award that goes to the parent with the biggest platform, the most visible results, the loudest proof of concept. Todd Gottlieb is none of those things. He's a man whose work is measured in a person, not a platform. The results. The nomination didn't stop at philosophy. Ivria listed what that ownership produced: "My brother and I graduated high school with our associate degrees debt-free. Both of us captained our respective high school hockey teams to state championships. We also have credit scores in the 'exceptional' category, and have started saving for our own homes, and have our own retirement funds. Love you, Dad!" When a 17-year-old with a resume like Ivria's decides the most important thing she can do with a nomination form is point it at her father, that tells you what you need to know. In Todd's words. "First, I'd like to thank OpenEd for creating this award to recognize the hard work and dedication that parents put into their kids' learning and education. As homeschooling parents, we don't often receive tangible accolades of our work, so I am deeply humbled and honored. I'd also like to congratulate all of the nominees and finalists. Their stories are truly inspiring, and having to choose could not have been an easy decision for the judges. And of course, an enormous thanks to my amazing family who probably thought dad was a little crazy to get us on this journey but believed in the method to my madness and stuck with me. I love you VERY much." Charlie Deist Charlie Deist (aka "the OpenEd newsletter guy") is the editor of OpenEd Daily and Head of Content at OpenEd, where he curates compelling thoughts, trends, and tools for parents rethinking education. When he's not writing or wrangling content calendars, he's tending to a small homestead in rural Northern California, where he lives with his wife, four kids, and a rotating cast of cows, pigs, and chickens. Most of his best ideas come while hauling feed buckets or chasing animals that found a new way to escape. Join 20,000+ families receiving curated content to support personalized learning, every school day.

An open education day in the life. Today OpenEd, Inc. is launching a new format - OpenEd Day in the Life - and kicking it off with its Oregon parent ambassador and supermom, Brettani Shannon. Brettani is the founder of Options for Education, a non-profit that acts as a network of support and directory of resources for families navigating school choice in her region. But even supermoms have to figure out Tuesday mornings. In this inaugural edition, OpenEd, Inc. breaking down Brettani's unit studies curriculum, the AI tool she uses to replace textbooks, and the math game that saved their sanity. P.S. OpenEd, Inc.'d love to share what a typical day in YOUR family looks like. If you want to be featured fill out this form. Interviews usually take between 20 and 35 minutes, and you'll maintain full editorial control. The late start. In a traditional school, that sentence is a diagnosis. It means 12 years of alarms, fights, rushing, and starting every single day with conflict. Instead of forcing a circadian rhythm that didn't exist, they sleep in. They stay in pajamas. They make tea. They read books. They don't open a laptop until 10:00 AM. By the time "school" starts, her daughter's brain is actually awake. The cortisol is low. The connection is high. Skipping the two-hour morning battle, they get more done in four hours of focused, happy work than they ever could in six hours of resistance. Perplexity kills the textbook. The old way to teach biology: Buy a $50 textbook, read Chapter 4, fill out a worksheet on mammals, forget it in two weeks. The new way? Ask AI to build a custom curriculum for you that your child will never forget. Brettani uses Perplexity - an AI-powered deep research tool - to build custom "Unit Studies" based entirely on her daughter's obsessions. "Create a 4-day-a-week unit study for a 4th grader who loves animals. Focus on Pet Adoption. Give me book lists, movie suggestions, and hands-on activities." AI didn't deliver the lessons. It just gave them a roadmap. They baked homemade dog treats (math), watched Rescued by Ruby (media literacy), and visited a local shelter to donate the treats (civics). OpenEd, Inc. can't teach everything. And sometimes, OpenEd, Inc. shouldn't teach the things that cause the most friction. For Brettani, that was math facts. Video lectures were boring. Worksheets caused tears. Her solution was to outsource the "grind" to Synthesis. Synthesis turns the drudgery of mental math into a competitive, high-agency game. Her daughter named her avatar "Pimples," competes in mental math challenges, and is mastering division without a single lecture from Mom. When the software handles the drills, you can focus on the relationship. Tweet of the week. Ana Lorena Fabrega, aka "Miss Fab", is Chief Evangelist for Synthesis. She wrote a great book called, The Learning Game, which OpenEd, Inc. covered here. Charlie Deist (aka "the OpenEd newsletter guy") is the editor of OpenEd Daily and Head of Content at OpenEd, where he curates compelling thoughts, trends, and tools for parents rethinking education. When he's not writing or wrangling content calendars, he's tending to a small homestead in rural Northern California, where he lives with his wife, four kids, and a rotating cast of cows, pigs, and chickens. Most of his best ideas come while hauling feed buckets or chasing animals that found a new way to escape. Join 20,000+ families receiving curated content to support personalized learning, every school day.