Today we’d like to introduce you to Loren Sack.
Hi Loren, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
As a mother of 5 children trying to navigate the big boxed buisness that education has become, I found myself discontent with the options that were available for our children. My husband Darren and I started our family in the Silicon Valley, where things change at the speed of light, are innovative, competitive and not entirely family oriented. After several trial and errors over 4 years and an answer to prayer, I decided to homeschool. The year was 2017, I started with our eldest, then eventually the whole crew.
Not having ever considered education, the entire idea of teaching was foreign to me, and yet there is irony in this statement as all parents are their children’s first educators. At first, I was impatient and frustrated, not with my child, but with myself. How could I be so bad at this? I absolutely would not fail my children. From there the journey began, I was my own first student, or the “lead learner” as some like to refer to it. We joined a local Christain co-op, I learned from other moms, devoured books on Classical Education, child-led, passion-driven learning, and listened to hours upon hours on the subject of children and learning. The more I learned the more the entreprenuer inside me began to awaken and develop ideas on how we could make something meaningful in education that included the supporting family unit, assuring students had confidence in learning, and created close community. Thus, Venture Prep was born.
Venture Prep is a non-denominational Christian school serving grades 1-10 this year and growing. We focus on Bible, financial literacy, public speaking, debate and civics. We meet each student where they are and focus on their abilities, no student is ahead or behind, they simply are where they are. Together with their families, Venture creates an academic plan and path for each student. Students are encouraged to participate and to share their thoughts in discussions. Each morning begins with chapel, the students say the Pledge of Allegiance, Pledge to the Bible, sing and dance with lots of movement, and close in prayer. We have found that this time gives students both the chance to wake up and to get their wiggles out before class time begins. The campus is filled with green spaces, colorful crepe myrtles and sits above a peaceful creek making for a beautiful setting for learning and play.
Venture Prep was created to welcome families who want to be a part of their child’s learning and bridge the gap between traditional school and homeschool. We offer full and part-time options, and are adding more extrcurriculars each year. This year we have added music 5 days a week, and musical production will be a part of our program. P. E. is also daily. Fridays are a full day of enrichment classes, free of testing and core material, allowing families the ability to take Friday as a family day should they choose. Family time is encouraged, and should families decide to travel during the school year, Venture Prep will set up a plan with the families to ensure, school does not take away too much from family time and also make sure that key concepts are learned in their absence.
We launched last year, starting out small and intentional allowed us to make changes as we went. We were able to add to the program and grow organically. We have been adding new famlies regularly, and are happy to see the program expand.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Is anything ever easy? The path to this eventual business was full of twists and turns. We relocated to Austin, Tx in the beginning of 2019. Then there was Covid. Covid, which as it turned out, was a wonderful time for our family. We had a great set up with space for the kids to play, other working families sent their kids to our home, while they worked from home. I led classes for the children on financial literacy, entreprenuership, and animal husbandry. We even started a little farm, the children learned “chicken math”, what it cost to make an egg, set prices and then delivered fresh eggs around the neighborhood. They also had lemonade stands and learned about business management with employees, multiple locations, marketing and splitting of profits. The children still talk about this time and some of my students, who were not my biological children, came back to me as teens asking for financial direction as they got their first jobs. It was a blessing for us to have our whole family grounded together. No crazy sports or work schedules were interupting family dinners, and life was slowed down for a while.
The part that was hard was finding community in a new place with everything on hold. That took a little longer, I’ve heard it takes 3 years for somewhere to feel like home, it took us more like 5. Not having connection can be a real downer, but having a large household helped a lot.
There were also the normal growing pains that all business start-ups have, and I am sure we are not out of the woods just yet. We will leave what was difficult behind us and count our blessings moving forward. I have learned through the years, it does us me no good to focus on the negatives, it seems to me to only slow me down. Positives however, give you the boost you need, like gas in an engine, focusing on the good, no matter how small is highly motivational.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
What sets me apart:
As an entreprenuer, you’ve got to be fearless, a little crazy, and laser focused to make things happen. For me, when I really need to focus, I find the discipline of fasting helps me to hone in and get a clear vision of the path ahead. Visualization is key, and then, the challenging and most fun part comes; the build out and fruition of vision. The tenacity and intensity I bring to seeing something through is what I’ve been told, makes me different from others. Something for a long time, I didn’t know, made me different.
If you were to ask me what my passion is, it’s not found in the success of any one thing, it’s found in the journey along the way, especially in helping people. I find great joy in lifting people up, bringing people together and supporting needs within communities. We have been purposeful as parents to include our children in outreach for other children. Our eldest served in China with me at an orphanage, and with my husband in Mexico, building homes with AGAPE. Seeing how our son’s perspective changed after serving, we opted to become a home that welcomed children from orphanages in Ukraine during their summer and winter breaks. Our children, from a young age, made friends with children from completely different backgrounds who didn’t have much. They shared their space, their possessions and helped the children learn English. As a mom, I can say, I am proud we have instilled a sense of giving in our children, and I am proud that we were able to serve children who were in need within a balanced happy household.
We have a motto we live by in our home: A little bit of crazy is a whole lot of fun, a lotta bit of crazy turn around and run!
So far, most people have stuck around, which I guess means I’m still fairly sane, or they’re waiting around for the train wreck. Either way, it’s entertaining.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Risk – it comes down to fear, are you afraid or aren’t you. How tollerant are you of fear vs remaining in comfort? Some people call it gambling, but really I think it’s more about fear. I weigh everything against death because ultimately that is the worst thing that could ever happen from the perspective of being on earth. When you believe in heaven, which I do, death isn’t so scary. So when you measure things like this, risk for me isn’t scary, and the chances of death happening are low, just ask any life insurance agent. Stepping into faith and into what you know you are called to do can be overwhelming and sometimes, as a human, my logic gives way to emotion. For the most part, however, I have always taken the step forward because it’s really exciting to find out what is on the otherside. It seems to me FOMO is worse than any loss.
Pricing:
- 1st-8th grade $12,500
- High School $15,000
- Part-time $7500
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ventureprepatx.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/venturepreparatory_?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=YWRwYjNseDIyb2tx
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576160372117
