Episdode 26: Unconventional Education with Janeen Gacek

Redefining Education With Jeneen Gacek
Janeen Gacek is a serial entrepreneur ever since she was young and has started many businesses. Jeneen is the founder of Remindful Life, where she offers a step-by-step guide to awareness and clarity. She believes children can teach us more than we often teach them.
In today's episode of The Building Heroes Podcast, Jeneen shares ways to step outside chaos and develop self-awareness and trust. We also chat about homeschooling and designing our own life by learning what works best for us.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:
[00:49] Jeneen's background
[03:45] The self-design program and how it improved their lives
[13:15] Unlearning with kids
[17:31] What do we want for our children?
[25:50] The benefits of learning together with kids
[30:50] Other changes experienced from the self-design program
[35:25] The school system
[37:36] Trusting ourselves

While running their business with her husband and another business partner in Bali, Jeneen says everything wasn't doing great, and they weren't sure how to move forward. At this point, she felt like something had to change. They decided to close down the business, sell their house and figure out what to do next. They also decided to look for different schooling options that were more flexible for their kids.
Jeneen and her husband find a program in Canada, the Self Design Program, which "offered a lot of freedom, autonomy, and a great way to self-design."
"It was everything I had ever thought education should look like."
They enrolled the kids in the program, marking the beginning of a new family journey.

Self Designing Process
As part of the unlearning and unprograming process, the facilitator started by scheduling the day for the kids to allow them to know that life can look different and what works for someone might not work for another person.
Jeneen and her kids later went through the unlearning process as they experienced new things. She says not knowing what the next step would be created mutual respect between them and helped create conversations and discussions.
While societal expectation has created a template of how life should look like, Jeneen insists on the importance of knowing what we want for our kids and then thinking about how to offer it.
"When you decide what you want for your kids, you can learn along with them."
She says there's joy in learning with the kids, and it allows them to teach back. This way, they develop interest and know much better.
The program also made her feel alive and engaged, something she says set a good example for the kids.
It also made her realize that everyone in the family and their values are different. This allowed them to work with the dynamics of each person.

With the initial instinct towards significant life changes being fear, Jeneen says homeschooled children have an advantage and are much more welcoming to change than kids who have been through the school system. She says the school system provides no flexibility and provides just a pattern that should be followed.

However, with homeschooling, kids are taught about trusting themselves as it helps them realize what they value. This creates confidence "because our journey is our own, and no one can tell us how to navigate. They can only advise."

As much as we can offer our kids the things we have learned in our lives, they also need to experience life in their way. Although parents don't want to mess up or see their children struggle, they should let their children trust and listen to...