As I go through my day I am teaching my children about daily life. They learn about paying bills, dealing with siblings, parenting, how to handle frustration, making dinner, doing laundry and all the homemaking chores required to run a home. These are important skills to teach both boys and girls. These are skills best learned on the job and not conducted in a classroom setting or at the dining room table. My children learn how to make dinner by making dinner. My son learned how to become the best pancake maker in the house by doing every step from start to finish. He eventually added in his own flair and now this is one household chore he owns. My daughter learns how to care for her younger two sisters and this will teach her how to be a mother one day.
Upon realizing that my children learned homemaking skills without me impressing these skills upon them formally I was quite satisfied. I was teaching children how to live as adults as well as how to add, use grammatically correct sentences and mix chemicals for science class. I then wondered if I could raise wise business people by teaching them how to run a business by doing it and not simply teaching business 101.
A great example of a homeschooling family who run a business is the Virginia Soaps and Scents company. This homeschooling family developed this business after doing a history project about making soap. Now they do it full time and involve the whole family. I have reviewed their products in the past and I can highly recommend them.
Do you have a business you can involve your children in? If you sell items on Ebay you can involve your children from ad to shipping to teach valuable lessons. Do you have a crafty kid? Why not allow your child to sell his or her crafts at a local craft show? If your child is computer savvy, why not have your child design blogs or websites? You can go for classics like babysitting, dog walking or house sitting. A homeschooling family has a schedule that can accommodate starting a small business as a learning experience. Many real million dollar business have been started out of college business classes. The goal here is not to make a million but that’s okay too. The goal is to teach your child about business from an entrepreneurial perspective. This will give your child skills to put them ahead of the pack. My business partner and I have included our children in our new business. Each of our children has real positions and responsibilities which all are proud to have. We trust they will learn valuable lifetime lessons.
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