Uncategorized
Sep
15
The Reader’s Choice Award, 2009
Well, it was close, but the Reader’s Choice Award goes to …
A Day In The Life was only one vote behind her, and HomeschoolWAHM, Homeschool Hangout Zone and Gardening For My Family were next in line.
While all the blogs were great, rounding up comments was what was needed to win this round. For those of you that are new to blogging, you are not alone in wondering how to get your readers to comment. Hopefully, we can cover that in the next few weeks and there’s a few of you out there that I would love to talk to about how you get so many comments!
If you have ideas or things you have done in your blogs that have helped you receive more comments on your blog, please share them with us! Leave a comment here and I’ll return the favor. (be sure you leave your blog address in your comment)
Benjamin drew the name out of his favorite hat….
AND! The winner of the drawing from all the comments voting for our Reader’s Choice was won by: Chrystal Gilliam. (please email us, I don’t have a link for you)
Congratulations to everyone that entered. I’ve learned so much from running this contest and look forward to trying this again next summer!
(Remember to leave a comment telling me what you do to get comments on your blog – and I’ll stop by your blog to comment!)
Sep
11
Scholarships For Teen Entrepreneurs
The term ‘teen entrepreneur’ was hardly used 10 years ago, if at all. The thought of a teenager with a business usually brought to mind images of an ambitious young man mowing several lawns per week, or a geeky 10 year old genius in a suit about to enter Harvard Business School. There weren’t very many of them, and no wonder, there were few places they could go to learn what they needed to know.
The internet has been a huge factor in leveling the playing field for all of us, teens included. However, credit is due to entrepreneurial foundations like The McKelvey Foundation, who awarded $40,000 to entrepreneurial teens this year. I recently read an interview with Christine McKelvey, president of the foundation and encourage you to take the time to read it, too. The numbers of applicants for the scholarships are rising every year, and how the image of a teen entrepreneur has changed are a few of the insights given. (She also gives you some tips in case you are thinking of applying for one of their scholarships!)
There are many other foundations that award scholarships to teen entrepreneurs now, and many more are applying for these than ever before. Teens are finding out that they really can start a successful business, and there are people out there that really want to help them succeed.
Some other places to look for scholarships and funding for teen entrepreneurs:
Business-minded high school seniors can win scholarships of up to $10,000 in an award program sponsored by the National Federation of Independent Business Young Entrepreneur Foundation.
Another site for scholarships and college information is http://www.morethangrades.com With their new re-release, they will be posting the “Show us why you are more than a grade” contest. The award will be $20,000. Besides that scholarship, there are numerous other scholarships based on talents and skills.
A list of resources for young entrepreneurs can be found at http://www.score.org/resources_young.html
Check with your local Chamber of Commerce and Scholarship Search portals like FastWeb for many more privately funded scholarships programs directed at entrepreneurial-minded teens.
Sep
04
5 Sources of Free Business Curriculum For Homeschooling Entrepreneurs
There is a wealth of free homeschool curriculum online since the internet has come of age, and places to find free ways to teach your young entrepreneurs are no exception. However, you do need to be a little creative in using some of these resources. Those ‘eclectic homeschoolers’ out there, you know what I mean.
Computer training is one of those areas homeschoolers are almost forced to create their own curriculum. There are a few done-for-you resources out there like Phyllis Wheeler’s Computer Books, but most computer curriculums are changing so quickly it’s difficult to print books before they are outdated. However, most computer programs come with tutorials and it’s not too difficult to create a curriculum yourself. We did this with Microsoft Publisher many years ago when it was still at the top of it’s game. I created an outline from the tutorial walking them through creating a file all the way to making brochures, newsletters and catalogs. Checking with our umbrella school, it was considered a communications elective and was used as a 1 semester high school credit. Both of my over-20 sons have found it very useful in work and college.
Here are 5 great places to find free materials to teach your young entrepreneurs:
Microsoft Accounting – available free, it’s the “express” version of their business accounting program. Walking them through the tutorial from start to finish can equip them with a very useful skill in business! Could easily become a 2 semester course.
BeanCounter’s Bookkeeping Course - Much easier than the Microsoft version, this one is outlined for you, 7 lessons in all. Many other very useful resources on the site.
My Own Business – A 16 session course from the SBA that is written for adults and targeted at brick and mortar businesses. It’s a multi-media course that most older high school students wouldn’t have a problem with along with some help from you.
Television Production – a free, interactive award-winning course in field and studio production. Knowing nothing about the field, I couldn’t tell you if it’s outdated or not, but if you have a student interested in video production, the market is HOT for those that know their stuff.
Download.com – A virtual candyland of downloads, on the left you can check ‘free’ and search for a number of downloads that can be a tremendous asset to your homeschool. The link will take you to the category named “Educational Software” and a variety of choices within like Math Tools, Science Tools, Language, Maps, Music, Reference, Student and Teacher’s Tools and more. If you haven’t discovered this yet, you will love it. Download.com is part of Cnet and all available software has been tested to ensure it’s 100% free of spyware, viruses, and other malware.
If you know of more, please share it with everyone by leaving a comment or email us. Thanks!
Aug
31
MORE Winners? Actually, just MORE finalists.
So, here we go again, just when I thought I was done trying to decide who the finalists are, I’m creating a new category. When I asked another blogger friend if it was ‘kosher’ to change things at the last minute, they answered with a question: “It’s your contest, isn’t it?”. Well, actually, I’d like to think that it’s really our reader’s contest. So, figuring that no one would complain about another chance to win a prize, I went forward on what I really wanted to do at the beginning of the contest and honor the newest blogs.
Initially, I encouraged anyone that didn’t have a blog to create one as a summer project, yet found that the newest blogs had the toughest time competing. It takes time to develop a blog . . . AND people you can call to comment, or vote, on your blog. So, I chose the best blogs under 6 months old. We’ll call it the Baby Blog Award, and the winner will receive the coveted prize from Problogger’s Darren Rouse, 31 Days to Build a Better Blog.
Here are the finalists for the Baby Blog Award:
And…don’t forget, the Reader’s Choice Award. Those can be voted on from all blog entries, and you can even win something for voting! Truly a ‘win-win’ situation . . . 
How To Vote:
Vote for your favorite by entering a comment at http://homeschoolent.com/2009/08/win-a-prize-by-helping-us-find-the-best-homeschool-blog/ When you comment, your name is put into a drawing for your choice of a book (under $10) from Benjamin’s Book Shoppe.
Aaaah… done for now.
Aug
29
How Blog Comments Can Be Your Best Friend
I realized after I had decided on the title for this post, that it could mean two things. Originally, I was implying that comments on your blog are always good. Especially when they manage to get your blog nominated as one of the finalists in our blog contest. It was then that I saw the other meaning that could be attributed to the title, how comments could be coming from your best friends.
Whether it’s your best friends that are commenting on your blog, or the comments in general on your blog are helping your blog along, if you are managing to get comments you know you’ve got fans.
When I posted the finalists, I mentioned that one of my criteria for choosing a finalist was our reader’s comments. Blogs are meant to be interactive, in fact, I believe it was blogging that truly started the social networking revolution. (sorry, MySpace). I also wanted help deciding on who to pick….
Since the essence of a good blog is truly having a fan base of some sort, what happened soon after that particular post went public is something I think you’ll find interesting. In the next 8 hours (the comments were closed as of midnight Friday and I posted it late Friday afternoon) I received a pile of new comments on, you guessed it, who we should include in the finalists! Good job. Aren’t friends wonderful?
As a result, I decided to add one more entry to the the finalists. . . Katie’s Homeschool Cottage. Well, Katie, a famous singer from the 70′s said it best; You’ve Got a Friend. Actually, you’ve got quite a few. (Any baby boomers out there guess the singer?
Welcome to Homeschool Entrepreneur!
Equip your children with a life skill that will stay and grow in them forever. Business training in the home not only creates a natural learning environment for any age. The "Family Business" draws families together and provides opportunity for discussions you won't find in any book . . and the extra money comes in handy, too!
Look at this Homeschool Entrepreneur’s Business:
Let us know if you find a better price than this on ink:
Sale of the Month
Distance Business Training