Our Homeschool Students Will Start and Run Thier Own Business

As our homeschool charter makes clear, Self-Reliance and Self-Sufficiency are key competencies for our daughters (II. Mission Statement).  Self-Reliance and Self-Sufficiency span every area of life, and one area in particular is woefully underrepresented in school environments (be it public, private, hybrid, or home): how to make money.  Maybe this is by design, maybe this is from ignorance, maybe this is simply an oversight, maybe this is a byproduct of the school's operating constraints ..... I'm not sure, but we will not miss this important societal requirement.

Our Homeschool model requires each of our daughters to have their own business.  This is explicitly listed in the Operations portion of our school charter (VIII.2).  This is to be a multi-year activity and will carom through law, scams, deceptive business practices, planning, public presentations, liability, risk, and so much more.  By having their own companies, in areas of interest to them, they get an excellent crucible to learn both sides of the business game, and in a consumer driven society like ours, this brings forth many powerful lessons that can materially impact their lives as adults.

We are now a few months out from our 11 year old becoming a full time homeschooler, so the discussions of business ideas will gain some weight and dimension as one of the first deliveries in homeschool will be a formalized business plan. This will require her to spend a few months, for example, doing market survey work, analysis, choosing a model, sourcing goods (if needed) and the like to see if her business could be viable. She will present the plan to a few business owners we know to collect their feedback.  Once a solid plan has been created, she will enact the plan, measuring and monitoring its growth and adjusting the business as needed.

We've been speaking with them about business models, marketing, selling, end-goals, operating costs, capital expenses, customers, durability, competitive advantage, pricing, scale-ablity and more ever since they were old enough to talk. Having owned three companies ourselves, we have plenty of personal experiences to share with them making the car ride discussions far more rich and valuable. Now they will get a chance to try it out, and do one their way.  Proving to themselves that they can make money on their own is one of the most powerful gifts we can give them.  Self-Reliance and Self-Sufficiency.  Amen!