Is your child interested in starting a business? If so, it is important to help them understand some essential elements of being an entrepreneur. Especially when it comes to managing their books. You want to set your child up for success to run a profitable business. The Budding Entrepreneurs Combo from Beanstalk Knowhow Ltd. is designed to give your child an understanding of the economics of running a business.

My eleven-year-old son has been enjoying this set of online courses. For $136, you get access to four different courses. One is Jack’s Kids – Growing Entrepreneurs Who Know Business Numbers, and the other three focus on using Xero, an online accounting program.

The courses are hosted on Teachable, though you go to the Xero website for those modules. In the Jack’s Kids course, you and your child will have access to PDF printables in addition to text-based lessons. The course is story-driven, which my son found engaging. In the course, Jack (from Jack and the Beanstalk) has two kids. They want to start a business. So, Jack helps them learn more about the money side of entrepreneurship.

As your child progresses through the course, there are discussion papers, examples, and exercises to complete. You can access answers to all the exercises, which makes grading straightforward. The exercises are hands-on, practical tasks. Your child will be asked to use different accounting methods to record expenses and income, and track profit.

By taking each of these topics in bite-sized chunks, they were not overwhelming for my son. He could see how they related to the lawn mowing business he is starting, and because he could relate to it, he was motivated to work through the material.

The lessons were age-appropriate for a child who has a basic economic framework and some solid math skills. Pre-teens and teens are a great audience, though some younger children could also benefit.

While this course is written in kid-friendly terms, I found it helpful to sit next to my son while he completed each lesson so that I was there to answer any questions and to check his work.

The other courses focused on using Xero. They included some text directions and several videos on the Xero platform. This program is a practical accounting solution for many business owners. My son enjoyed learning more about how it works.

If you are looking for a simple way to teach your child about business economics, and how to track profit and loss for a business of their own, I highly recommend this course set from Beanstalk Knowhow Ltd.

 -Product review by Lisa Tanner, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, March 2020