Springwise:

Remember the excitement you felt receiving mail as a child? That’s the inspiration behind San Francisco-based Little Passports, a new educational subscription service that aims to turn 5-to-10-year-olds into world travellers, one country at a time. Little Passports delivers monthly travel packages designed to provide a fun, hands-on way for kids to learn about other countries without leaving home. The first shipment in the USD 10.95 per month subscription prepares little voyagers for their global adventure with a mini suitcase, passport, world map and a letter and photo introducing their travel guides, Sam and Sofia.

Each following month, children receive a personalized letter and package from Sam and Sofia, which includes travel-related items like a passport stamp, suitcase sticker and collectible boarding pass to access online games and activities that teach geography, history, culture and vocabulary. As the months pass, little travellers notch up a jetsetter’s stamp-filled passport, personalize their suitcase, and pack it with country-specific souvenirs.

Related posts:

1. Women Entrepreneurs And Maternity Leave Current Mom: So often, women become entrepreneurs for the...

Washington Post:
As the biggest-ever high school graduating class gets ready to head off to college in the midst of an economic slump, the scramble for tuition — not to mention room and board, books, and airfare home — is on.

Private scholarships account for 7% of all grants awarded, and they average just under $2,000. The typical student applies for five to six awards, and the odds of winning one are about one in ten. You don’t have to be an all-star athlete, a musical prodigy or even an A student to collect, either.

For instance, the Vegetarian Resource Group offers two $5,000 scholarships per year to students who promote a vegetarian lifestyle. Budding free-market capitalists can vie for one of 521 awards from the Ayn Rand Institute, ranging from $30 to $10,000, by writing an essay on one of Rand’s novels.

Start your search in the high school guidance office. The financial-aid officer at the school you’re applying to can help as well. FastWeb.com lists more than 1.5 million scholarships worth more than $3.4 billion, and matches scholarships to your profile. You’ll get the most bang for your buck by staying local. You may have to look no further than an employer (the student’s or a parent’s) or a community group, club or lodge. The narrower the field, the less the competition.

Schools may reduce aid if scholarships and aid combined equal more than a student’s calculated need. But that might mean a reduction in loans. Don’t pay a nickel for services that purport to match you with awards you can find on your own. And never pay an application fee. Scholarships, by definition, are free.

Related posts:

1. Free Resources For Entrepreneurs Toilet Paper Entrepreneur Blog: 1. No Man/Woman Is An...
2. Tips To Save Time & Money In Your Small Biz And At Home Open Forum: These are difficult times and every small...

Success Magazine:
Teaching your children about money gives them a lifelong legacy. “The more control we have over our money, the less control it will have over you,” says financial expert Sharon Lechter, member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy, author and founder of Youthpreneur, an organization that encourages an entrepreneurial spirit in kids. Lechter says it’s important to teach your kids financial literacy because they see you spend money, but they don’t know how to create it, keep it or invest it.

“Kids don’t understand the relevance of earning, saving and spending,” she says. Given the influence of the media and peers on kids today, she recommends starting to teach them about money anywhere from age 4 through 6. Consider these tips:

Allowances for over and above
Don’t hand out allowances for performing the basics of personal and family responsibilities, such as brushing their teeth or doing the dishes, Lechter says. “Give allowances to your kids for showing responsibility over and above their normal responsibility. This could be volunteering to pick up the yard, cleaning out the closet or showing social responsibility such as going through their toys and deciding what to give to Goodwill or a children’s center,” she says.

In addition to allowances, Lechter says it’s easy to build lessons around money into the day-to-day raising of your kids when you consider three more A’s: Awareness, Application and Acceleration.

Awareness abounds… read on.

Related posts:

1. Tips To Save Time & Money In Your Small Biz And At Home Open Forum: These are difficult times and every small...
2. Money Lessons From Michael Jackson Jamaica Observer: Following the sudden passing of pop superstar...

BusinessWeek:
The government is establishing a series of University Enterprise Networks (UENs) in the hope of nurturing a crop of homegrown tech entrepreneurs capable of creating the next Google or Facebook.

The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Berr) has announced the launch of three UENs—including one focusing on science, technology, engineering, maths (the so-called Stem subjects), and another one more broadly focused on innovation and the application of web-based technologies. A third aims to serve the nuclear sector.

Berr said the UENs will enable a total of around 100,000 students and graduates to get the chance to develop their skills as entrepreneurs and business leaders by providing training, advice and encouragement to help develop their business ideas.

Shriti Vadera, minister for economic competitiveness and small business, said boosting graduates’ business savvy is key to ensuring the UK’s long term competitiveness.

The networks are being sponsored by companies from the private sector—including BT, Cisco, HP and Microsoft—which the government says will help budding innovators gain first hand experience of “enterprising workplaces” as the companies will be involved in designing and delivering coursework and activities.

Related posts:

1. Advertising Techniques For Entrepreneurs BlogMix.Info: One key in gaining success in advertising online...

Pacifica Tribune:
Parents interested in enrolling their K-8 children in the Home School program of the Pacifica School District have an opportunity to participate in a highly-innovative on-site program this school year, says director Kathy Green.

The home school program is located in classrooms at the newly-renovated Linda Mar Educational Center at 830 Rosita Road.
“We offer families the flexibility of self-paced instruction in a child centered environment,” she said.

Green sought to clear up some of the misconceptions concerning the home school program and outlined its plan for growth this school year.

“Our program is designed for families who choose to school children at home and those who’s outside activities, whether they be sports or the arts aren’t suited for the traditional school day,” Green said.

Pacifica has more than a few talented young students who excel in the arts and sports and find home school better fist their busy schedule.

“Parents may choose to home school for a specific reason, or for a short period of time before returning their child to the traditional classroom, Green said.

The Pacifica Home School program is actively recruiting new students and provides an important learning site for traditional K-8 students to receive academic help with their school work from credentialed teachers.

There is no cost to participate in the Pacifica home school program. Parents are simply required to submit a transfer request form.
“Our participating parents are very committed to the program,” she said. Focus is on accountability and tailored to the learning styles of each student.

Two credentialed teachers with over 50 years of combined experience, Kathy Green and Sandra White-Sanders lead the program. Read more.

Related posts:

1. Home Biz Ideas That Thrive During Recession PowerHomeBiz.com: 1. Food business. Food is one business that...
2. What’s Your Swine Flu Game Plan? With swine flu expected to affect one in three people...

No related posts.

US News:
There’s no law saying you have to go to college to start a business.

There’s also a carrot and a stick that might lead entrepreneurial minded members of Generation Y to want to skip college. The stick is that hiring prospects might be grimmer than they thought.

The carrot? All the examples of wildly successful entrepreneurs who dropped out of college and went on to make big bucks. Current young adults have grown up hearing about Bill Gates as the paragon of success. Why not try to follow in his footsteps?

1. Study entrepreneurship while developing an outside niche. Tina Seelig, executive director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program at Stanford University, says that while successful company builders have a natural inclination to be entrepreneurs, sometimes it takes education to bring that inclination to full bloom.

2. Expose yourself to as many different courses and experiences as possible. What if you don’t go to a school that lets you study entrepreneurship directly? Seelig says she would advise trying to get as exposed to lots of different disciplines. Having broad knowledge can make it easier to identify opportunities as an entrepreneur.

3. Consider even more education. Depending on your field of interest, going on to graduate school can help a lot. Litan says that the stakes are now higher for tech startups because the world of technology has grown so much more complicated and expansive.

Related posts:

1. Useful Sites For Entrepreneurs CareerOverview: Entrepreneurship and Startup Find investors, business opportunities, business...
2. Quirky Pet Businesses Worth Barking About Forbes: The unemployment rate may be north of 10%,...

Voice of America:
The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship www.nfte.com/ helps youngsters from low-income communities to build skills and unlock their entrepreneurial talent. In San Francisco, VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan spoke with aspiring entrepreneurs who took part in a competition to prepare a business plan.

High school student Vivian Chau, like most Asian American youngsters, loves a drink called boba, a sweet milk tea with jellied tapioca balls. Boba can be found in cafes around San Francisco, but Vivian says it is not sold in supermarkets. So she came up with the idea of a company called Jelly It! to make a ready-to drink bottled tea mixed with jelly. She admits the idea is a gamble.

“Because I have talked to a lot of cultures, different people from different cultures, and they said they do not know what this jelly is, and they are kind of scared and hesitant to taste it. So hopefully, people will be willing to try something new, and once they try it, hopefully they will like it,” she said.

Chau was a finalist in a recent competition in which students prepared plans for actual businesses. Full article.

Related posts:

1. A Tweet For Would Be Entrepreneurs Buckinghamshire Advertiser: A successful Gerrards Cross businessman is giving...

Denny Strecker’s Blog:
Summer time is one of the most wasted times of the year for children here in the United States. Parents allow their children to become slugs – sleeping all day, laying on the couch, watching TV or playing video games. This is not a good habit to allow children to learn. Today’s article talks about how successful parents stimulate their child’s thinking and using those creative thoughts to create a way of living for them as they grow older.

“Pint Sized Entrepreneurs” By Joel Boggess
As the excitement of school children builds to super-charged levels as they prepare to shift gears and fly into summertime, there has never been a better time for students to let their entrepreneurial wings catch the wind and soar. There are at least two reasons for this.

Number one: No one dreams better, about things that aren’t, than kids. Take 11 year-old, Richie Stachowski. In the crystal-clear waters of Hawaii, his imagination swam beneath the ocean’s surface with him and the idea for an aquatic walkie-talkie bubbled to the surface. Ritchie shared his deep-sea thinking with retail giants Wal Mart and Toys R US and they bought into it, hook, line, and sinker. Two years later, the young inventor, not yet old enough to drive himself to the bank, sold his toy company for a cool million.

The second reason for students to climb aboard the entrepreneurial flight deck is what John Maxwell calls the “law of timing.” Let’s just call it the “cuteness quotient.” Simply put, kids will never be as cute as they are today. Ask your local Girl Scout troop about the cuteness quotient and they’ll not only tell you that sales are good, they’ll also tell you that “Thin Mints,” “Samoas” and “Caramel deLites” make up about 44% of all Girl Scout cookie sales. The million-dollar question for pint-sized rain-makers is easy, “What is it that my school, church, or community is hungering for that I can provide with enthusiasm and excellence?” Read full post.

No related posts.

PR Web:
Trump University’s free online course How to Write a Business Plan teaches aspiring entrepreneurs the first step involved in building a successful business.

The How to Write a Business Plan course was developed and is presented by Paul Wimer, one of the world’s top investors and Partner at Topspin Partners, a $213 million venture capital and private equity firm based on Long Island, New York.

Students of the online course will learn how to organize their ideas through logical, insightful analysis of their product or service offering; anticipate questions and prepare precise, convincing answers about their market potential; and think like an investor as they write a business plan.

‘Many aspiring business owners have a vision of a product or service that has enormous market potential, but they don’t know how to develop a professional, business plan that will support their idea,’ said Josef Katz, Vice President of Marketing at Trump University, the Trump organization’s educational arm that provides investment advice and business management strategies to investors, entrepreneurs and small to mid-size companies. ‘Our free, mini-course is packed with insights and tips that will not only help these entrepreneurs with writing a business plan that supports their vision, but also convinces investors to fund their company.’

‘Trump University emphasizes real-world knowledge by providing entrepreneurship courses that give our students the opportunity to learn from today’s most accomplished entrepreneurs in an engaging, interactive ‘learn-by- doing’ environment,’ said Katz.

Related posts:

1. Free Resources For Entrepreneurs Toilet Paper Entrepreneur Blog: 1. No Man/Woman Is An...
2. Useful Sites For Entrepreneurs CareerOverview: Entrepreneurship and Startup Find investors, business opportunities, business...