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Teaching Business Management Skills

Home schooling gives our children business management skills in the course of natural learning and we have the benefit of flexibility to explore these opportunities.

Have you ever thought of a part-time job or business for your children? I'm sure they have.

cockatiel

Cottage Industry?
Mowing lawns?
Pamphlet run?
Card making?
Jewellery making?
Pet minding?
Book making?

Our eldest son has always been entrepreneurial and When he was about seven, he began his first business selling fudge. He learned to search for the cheapest price when buying the ingredients, make the chocolate fudge,clean up, package it and sell it. He earned a good sum of money this way and was able to buy his first bike.

He then grew veggies in the backyard - researched when and what to plant, bought the seeds or seedlings, planted, weeded, watered and picked. He then sold his veggies to me and we all ate and enjoyed. After a while, he decided just to grow the veggies and provide them for the family without charge.

After that, he mowed lawns. More business management skills needed.

The next iniative was training birds. This job was well paid. He was given a baby bird from a pet shop and he would train it, and give it back to the owner. The owner then had the possibility of selling this bird at a higher price.

At one time, the three boys set up a stand at the park across the road during netball season. They cooked sausages and sold cold cans of drink. The business wasn't that great and they only did this once!

Then he became involved in a pamphlet run and would take on heaps of extra rounds which were paid $20.00 more just because no-one wanted to do that round. He did this for many years before he took on a part-time job working at a supermarket.

Now, he continues to work part-time at the Supermarket and has set up two businesses. Bit by bit, as he needs, he acquires business management skills to suit the unique business requirements. The businesses are still in the infancy stage, but he has been making profits. With the use of expensive software, he has become very apt in transferring video tapes into DVDs. He has done all our videos and we are extremely grateful to him for that. We've have noticed that our own videos were wearing out and it is good to know that our information is safely stored now on DVD.The second business he has set up with a friend is a Computer Business. He buys computer components and makes computers according to certain specifications determined by the need of the customer and what the computer will be used for.His most recent project which he is working on presently, is building his own website. Check it out here: Computer-Hardware-Explained.com

Whenever a new idea has budded in his head, he has researched ways to go about it, learned enormous amounts of information and put it into practice, acquiring and refining his business management skills all the time. (For those classically minded homeschoolers, - it is the Trivium in a nutshell: Knowledge - Logic - Finishing off.)

Now, I am not listing all this to just tell of Nathanael's achievements, but to show a natural progression of any child who thinks of a contribution they can make to their family and society in which they live. Home schooling gives our children more flexibility to explore these opportunities.

All of these initiatives are "business".
Al of these initiatives develop business management skills.
All of these initiatives are learning experiences.
All of these initiatives are building knowledge on knowledge.
All of these initiatives teach responsibility.
All of these initiatives put money in its proper place - not to be treasured too highly, but also, not to be spent so easily. You need to work hard in order to earn it, but there is a way. Find out more in the Free E-Course: How to Build a Profitable Web Business

Or perhaps you prefer to learn in an online small group setting? Read more about a 12 weekly web-building course here!

Why not build a web site or web business?

My seven year old likes to make cards and sells them to the family when we need cards.

My ten year old bakes muffins to sell in order to earn some money for a mission.

My thirteen year old does a pamphlet run. He includes his younger siblings in the job by giving them the folding part of the job and delivering it himself. He pays them for each pamphlet they fold.

My thirteen year old makes all sorts of games - board games, card games and so on and is wondering if this could be a market for him some time.

My sixteen year old also has a pamphlet run, which he has had for many years.

Every age has some business idea which is suitable for their level of skills, interest and motivation. I wouldn't ask my seven year old to create a website, even though she does have her own mini-site!

But....What about the older teen?

Perfect time to create a web site!!

It can either be a hobby - learning the skills of writing, uploading images, some html, and seeing the site in the world wide web. Giving time to write about their interest and tell others, just for the fun of it - and to inform others!

...OR...

It can be a web business! A way to earn an income without leaving the comforts of your home! Depending on your goals and time, it can provide the teen with an income while they continue to study or work at another job. Building a web business is extremely flexible. Did you know that a Harris Poll showed that 72% of households are thinking about starting a work-from-home business. What an opportunity for our high school home schooling teens! For example, Computer-Hardware-Explained.com is a site which is being built by our teenage son.

Where to from here?

Benefits of building a website