Why a Home Business Can Be Your Best Curriculum!

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Kids learn best by doing and kids love to make money!

All of a sudden, math takes on new meaning when it’s calculating profits!

Writing is fun when it’s creating your own newsletters, brochures, and blogs!

Experienced homeschool families know that motivation is critical in helping our children learn what they need to learn. They also know that the best way to teach is by example, so starting and running a family business can be an ideal way to teach your children a multitude of skills, including:

• Practical living
• Math, especially as it relates to budgeting and finance
• English
• Social skills
• Leadership qualities
• Problem solving abilities

In addition, developing an “entrepreneurial mindset” will serve them well for the rest of their lives. Starting a home business is also an excellent family project and you can earn extra money for fun curriculum and field trips, or maybe even college tuition!

Some of my fondest childhood memories are the summer days I spent in my grandparent’s little corner grocery store. Hiding in the maze of boxes in the storage room, watching my grandma make ham salad and sausage by hand, and sliding down the roller belt that took the boxes to the basement still brings joy to my heart. Unfortunately, it was long after my Grandpa’s passing that I realized the amazing feat of starting a business like that at the beginning of the depression. It had provided very well for them throughout retirement, and I never gave it a second thought growing up.

My mother started a rubber stamp company at our kitchen table from a machine she ordered from the back of a Popular Mechanics magazine. I was only 12 going on 18, so it was more of an inconvenience for me because I couldn’t spend countless hours on the phone since a customer might call (no call waiting in those days!). Nine years later, when my father suddenly passed away, that business supported my mother and brother comfortably and also provided well for her retirement.

Absorbing more than I realized while growing up, it came natural to see business opportunities around every corner. As an adult, I found that not everyone thinks that way. In a country where job stability is becoming a historical concept, I discovered that the ability to analyze where your skills can serve a need in the marketplace is priceless. Public schooled all my life, I can honestly say the lessons I learned watching my grandparents and parents run businesses taught me much more than high school and college combined.

How do I know if my child has an “Entrepreneurial Mind?”

Growing up, I had no aspirations of becoming an entrepreneur. despite having a dozen or more money-making adventures as a child. I’m sure you’ve seen many of the “Are YOU An Entrepreneur?” quizzes and standards that are put forth as qualities an entrepreneur should possess. I used to agree with many of them until I realized that having an entrepreneurial mindset is a skill that every child can and should learn. Does a child need to become a mathematician to learn math? Or become a writer to learn to write? In the same way, learning the basics and principles of becoming an entrepreneur can serve anyone throughout his or her life.

Many of you have read John Taylor Gatto’s famous book, Dumbing Us Down, exposing the motives of the public school system to essentially produce enough worker bees for corporate America. That may seem like a harsh summation of a radical theory, but remember, Mr. Gatto was an award-winning teacher in New York City’s public schools for almost thirty years when he wrote it. Teaching your children how to start a business doesn’t require a professional entrepreneur any more than teaching math requires becoming a mathematician. It simply gives him the tools he needs to develop the gifts and abilities God has given him. In the same way math teaches methods to solve problems, thinking entrepreneurially teaches methods to solve problems in the real world.

Do You Know Someone Like This?

This isn’t to say that some children aren’t born entrepreneurs! If your child is always starting little businesses like lemonade stands, you probably already know he has the entrepreneurial gene. These are the kids that make it obvious they’re bound for their own business someday, and usually have a very clear vision of how they want to get there. Giving them ways to express this passion in school projects is often the tipping point between enduring and enjoying their school years.

In contrast, entrepreneurs often lie dormant for a lifetime, but not without a gnawing desire to have their own business. Lacking the confidence to take the steps necessary is often due to an inadequate understanding of basic business principles or simply having no idea where to start.

Then there are the chronic business starters, who never seem to quite make it. Armed with the “I can do anything I set my mind to” mentality of the baby boomer era, they forge forward without knowing the essentials of success in business. It’s like going to war without equipment or training. Sure you’re there, but it’s not a pretty sight.

Last, but not least, there are the entrepreneur-wanna-be’s that have done the research, know more than they need to start, but still never move forward. Why? Fear. It’s because they have read too much, know the statistics of business failures, and just can’t seem to bear to cross the line between planning and doing. Fear is conquered by facing it, and if perhaps if they had been given opportunity to experiment and learn in a safe arena as a child, without the pressures of a family and everyday life, it might have made a difference.

Homeschooling with Purpose

The beauty of homeschool is having the freedom to shape your children’s education around your values and the uniqueness of the individual. While entrepreneurialism will serve your children well, what if they don’t want to learn how to start their own business? How many kids go kicking and screaming to their first music lesson only to discover music as a love of their life? My second son wasn’t interested in math whatsoever, until he discovered it was a way to figure profits in his business. Knowing how to start a business can be applied to ANY vocation, and may not be their major, but then again, it may be! There are definite aptitudes and qualities a person should possess as a lifestyle entrepreneur, but anyone can learn how to successfully start a business to simply market their skills.

Two Common Misconceptions

There are two common misconceptions about starting a small business. The first one is that starting a business is difficult. And the second is that it’s very simple. In a sense, both ideas are correct, it is relatively simple for anyone to start a business, but it’s difficult to make it work. This is why we believe entrepreneurship should be a part of every high school curriculum. Knowing exactly what it takes to start and successfully run a business gives confidence and the tools necessary to make it work. The reason over one half of new businesses fail within the first four years is usually lack of knowledge. It’s really not surprising that many new entrepreneurs go into business without knowing some of the most important business and financial basics. The ocean of resources online is a great value, but it’s like winning a 5 minute shopping spree in a giant warehouse. It’s a terrific opportunity, but where do you start?

A “start a business class” as part of your child’s high school curriculum can serve as at least one elective credit towards graduation, as well as open doors to new interests your child didn’t even know he/she had. The traditional textbook business course will always have its purpose, but is very different from what it takes to teach the entrepreneurial mindset. Gearing your course around a real business venture is always a fun way to do this, but the extra money is nice, too! Running a documented business during high school also translates into scholarship dollars as many universities realize the value of and adopt entrepreneurial programs and majors.

How does teaching business fit into training our children to serve in the Kingdom of God?

Thankfully, the “business as mission” movement is changing the way business is viewed by the church. Running a successful business is more than just a way to fund missionaries to spread the gospel, but is becoming a coveted skill set needed to start businesses in areas where community ministry is the goal. Integrity as a business owner and employer in poverty stricken areas can minister to the unreached at their deepest need. This mode of ministry is seeing unprecedented success, and there is a multitude of ways that an entrepreneur can serve in this capacity, both here and abroad. Marketing goods manufactured at one of these “Kingdom Companies” here in the US is one obvious way you could help. To learn more about this, just Google “business as missions” and you will have enough reading to keep you busy for months! You can find a list of the top 25 books on Business as Missions at – http://www.businessasmissionnetwork.com/2007/07/top-25-business-as-mission-books.html

Whether taught as one class or incorporated as a high school major, entrepreneurial skills will always be useful. In addition to earning money for college expenses, running a business opens the door for a multitude of scholarships! Your child may not be interested in having a business right now, but as we all know from personal experience, things change. Entrepreneurial skills can serve them at any stage of life, as well as give them a confidence they never knew they had. Involve them in a family business and they will ‘catch’ many more of your values than you could ever ‘teach’.

Next issue we’ll cover how you can get started teaching the ‘entrepreneurial mindset’ to any age.

Check out my article on page 14 of the funky flipbook edition of Heart of the Matter Magazine.

Bob & Debbie Maubach live in middle T and have been homeschooling for 20 years. With three of four of their ‘entrepreneurs’ graduated (all homeschooled, of course!), they are now spending more time helping other homeschoolers make home business a fun and profitable part of their homeschool. You can read more about them at their website, www.Homeschool-Entrepreneur.com.

Homeschool-Entrepreneur.com is also developing a directory of businesses started by homeschoolers. If you would like your business to be included free of charge, email us at directory@homeschool-entrepreneur.com and mention you saw us in Heart of the Matter Magazine.