Teaching by Doing – Family Entrepreneurship

Families that homeschool have the unique opportunity to allow our children to be a part of a family business and learn family entrepreneurship at early ages. Whether you have your own business, work from home for a business, or even work outside the home, your children have opportunities most school-aged children do not experience.

Our family has been blessed to share this with our own children through the years. My husband works for his family-owned company, and I own a graphic design company. Our kids have been a part of both of these since birth. They have had opportunities to help both businesses and learn life skills from early ages.

When they were young, they loved to help shred documents, seal envelopes, and organize. Now they work side by side with us learning many of the skills within each business.

The flexibility of homeschooling along with the shorter homeschool days allows our kids to work earlier than those children in traditional schools. Add this to the family entrepreneurship they learn day to day from watching their parents work, and they are able to see things in action other children may miss when they are in a traditional school setting.

Early Opportunities

As homeschoolers, the school day is much shorter and can be done at any time of the day or week. Many homeschoolers choose to do school in the morning, leaving an afternoon and evening free. Some homeschool in the evenings, allowing the day to be used for other activities. Whatever way you choose, your children have more flexibility than most traditional school children.

Homeschooled children can start working at a younger age whether at home with a parent or in a company. Having extra time means more time to work when most kids are still in school.

Getting early experience will be a great addition to their resume, and they will be a step ahead of other applicants.

Family entrepreneurship allows parents to have their children learn skills in their own businesses, even before they can work for an employer. These skills can help them throughout their life.

Time Management

One of the most important things kids can learn through family entrepreneurship is time management. Juggling multiple things in one day can be challenging. Setting certain times for schoolwork and business are important in making sure you can get it all done.

Children begin by watching their parents organize their schedules. As they get older, they become a part of the process. Soon, they can set their schedule themselves.

Time management is a life skill that will prepare them for every area of life now and later.

Customer Service

Any line of work requires people skills and customer service. Without these two things, it is hard to keep clients and customers happy.

Seeing parents work hard to make sure their clients are happy is a great way for kids to learn not only how to treat people in a business environment but also in everyday life.

The way parents deal with a difficult customer helps their children learn this skill as well. If parents are respectful even during a difficult situation, their children will see that respect is important even when it is hard.

Being a Part of the Team

One of the ways family entrepreneurship can teach children skills before they can get a job is by being a part of a team. Their parent’s team. As a member of the team, they can offer feedback, brainstorm, help with tasks like cleaning and organizing, as well as deliver and pickup when needed.

These skills help them later when they are entering the workplace. Working as a team member is a life skill that will help them be a great employee or to lead a team of employees.

If you’re not sure how to have your kids be a part of your team, Kidpreneurs has a great article on teaching kids to give and receive feedback to get you started.

As children get older, more tasks can be added to their skillset, and they can begin to be a more integrated member of the team. Taking on harder tasks and more responsibilities will show them that they are trusted and will stick with them throughout their lives.

Opportunities to Start Their Own Business

Starting their own business is another way children can learn from their parents. Kid entrepreneurs begin with parents that are willing to put in the time and effort to help their kids pursue a dream.

The flexibility of a homeschool schedule gives children more time to pursue their dreams. With a bit of support from their parents, these children can start their own business, learn many life skills, and become an entrepreneur at an early age.

Kidpreneurs has many more great resources to help both kids and parents when it comes to starting their own business.

The opportunities that can arise from homeschooling and running businesses are numerous. Kids gain many skills and experience in family entrepreneurship settings. These skills and experience put them ahead of the game when they begin searching for a job later in life. As homeschoolers, we can give our children early opportunities which help our kids understand the benefit of time management, customer service, teamwork and more.

This article has been written by homeschooling staff writers of The Canadian Schoolhouse (TCS). Enjoy more of our content from TCS contributors and staff writers by visiting our Front Door page that has content on our monthly theme and links to all our content sections.