FREE High School Business & Economics Student Workbook | Grades 9–12 | 18 Weeks | 0.5 Credit | Hands-On Entrepreneurship
Welcome to Mind Your Own Business: Introduction to Business, Economics and Entrepreneurship, an engaging, student-led high school course designed to make business and economics meaningful, practical, and surprisingly fun!
This FREE Student Workbook takes learners beyond traditional textbooks through real-world investigations, hands-on activities, business simulations, creative challenges, and independent projects.
Designed for homeschool high school students, homeschool co-ops, micro-schools, alternative education programs, and independent learners, this 18-week curriculum encourages students to explore how businesses operate, why economies function the way they do, and what it takes to turn an idea into a successful venture.
Best of all, students develop their own business concept throughout the semester, building toward a final Founder's Showcase.
Forget endless worksheets, vocabulary memorization, and traditional multiple-choice tests as the primary learning experience.
Mind Your Own Business puts students in the driver's seat!
Throughout this interactive curriculum, students will:
Think Like an Entrepreneur: Identify problems, recognize opportunities, and develop an original business concept.
Explore Real-World Economics: Investigate supply and demand, scarcity, competition, trade, inflation, and economic decision-making.
Build Financial Literacy: Practice understanding revenue, expenses, pricing, profit, budgeting, and financial decisions.
Learn Through Hands-On Activities: Participate in trading simulations, product experiments, prototypes, business investigations, and creative challenges.
Analyze Business Mistakes: Meet Marv Fenwick, an enthusiastic entrepreneur whose questionable business decisions provide entertaining opportunities for critical thinking.
Develop Communication Skills: Interview business owners, explain economic decisions, present ideas, and defend recommendations.
Create a Business Venture: Build a business concept step by step, from identifying customer needs to preparing a final presentation.
Practice Independent Learning: Develop research, reasoning, time-management, and problem-solving skills.
This comprehensive workbook guides students through 18 weeks of business, economics, and entrepreneurship education, organized into six instructional units.
Students encounter several recurring learning experiences:
Marv's Big Idea: Follow the entrepreneurial adventures and mistakes of Marv Fenwick. Analyze his decisions and write The Verdict, using economic principles and evidence to recommend better solutions.
The Venture File: Develop an original business concept throughout the semester. Each weekly addition helps students investigate customers, competition, pricing, business operations, and opportunities.
Make It: Explore business and economics through hands-on projects, creative construction, simulations, and practical experiences.
Investigate: Apply course concepts to real-world questions, business scenarios, and economic problems.
Founder's Journal: Reflect on discoveries, challenges, decisions, and personal growth as an entrepreneurial thinker.
Signature Pieces: Complete six meaningful projects that demonstrate understanding through authentic work rather than conventional tests.
Unit 1: Open for Business | Weeks 1–3
Discover what businesses do, how they create value, different ownership structures, and the importance of local businesses. Investigate your community and interview a real business owner.
Unit 2: The Rules of the Game | Weeks 4–6
Explore scarcity, opportunity cost, supply and demand, competition, and market economies through hands-on simulations, trading games, and investigations.
Unit 3: The Big Picture | Weeks 7–9
Follow the flow of money through the economy. Investigate banking, inflation, employment, business cycles, global trade, and international supply chains.
Unit 4: Inside the Machine | Weeks 10–12
Go behind the scenes of successful businesses. Explore management, organizational decisions, marketing, branding, accounting, pricing, and financial performance.
Unit 5: The Founder's Mindset | Weeks 13–15
Discover how entrepreneurs recognize opportunities, solve problems, investigate customer needs, and test business ideas before investing significant resources.
Unit 6: Launch Pad | Weeks 16–18
Bring your business concept together through planning, financial analysis, legal and ethical considerations, and the final Founder's Showcase.
One of the most exciting elements of this course is the Venture File.
Rather than completing disconnected assignments, students develop one original business concept throughout the semester.
They investigate real customer needs, compare competitors, explore ownership options, evaluate pricing, calculate costs, test ideas, and build a practical business plan.
By the end of the course, students have more than a collection of completed workbook pages. They have a thoughtfully developed business concept supported by research, financial reasoning, and creative problem-solving.
Recommended Grades: 9–12
Course Length: 18 Weeks / One Semester
Suggested Credit: 0.5 High School Credit
Subjects: Business, Economics, Entrepreneurship
Learning Style: Student-Led, Hands-On, Project-Based
Assessment: Signature Projects, Venture File, Reflection, and Discussion
Format: Student Workbook
This course is designed for students to work independently during the week, supported by a parent, facilitator, or co-op instructor.
This FREE download contains the Student Workbook.
For the complete instructional experience, pair it with the Mind Your Own Business Facilitator Guide, available separately from From Earth to Sky Education.
The Facilitator Guide includes:
Weekly instructional guidance and background information
Socratic discussion questions for Boardroom Conferences
Answer keys and model responses
Hands-on activity guidance
Assessment rubrics for six Signature Pieces
High school grading and transcript recommendations
Additional resources and learning extensions
Parents and educators do not need previous business or economics teaching experience to facilitate the course.
Whether your student hopes to start a business someday, pursue a career in business, or simply understand how money and markets work, this curriculum provides a practical introduction to important economic and entrepreneurial concepts.
It is especially well suited for families seeking screen-free learning opportunities, creative thinking, financial education, independent study, hands-on high school curriculum, and real-world project-based learning.
Download your FREE Student Workbook today and start developing the next generation of creative thinkers, problem-solvers, and entrepreneurs!
From Earth to Sky Education
Created by Tricia Siletti, MEd, MS
Curiosity. Creativity. Innovation.
Explore additional engaging homeschool curriculum, hands-on educational resources, and the accompanying Facilitator Guide at easyhomeschool.org.
FREE High School Business & Economics Student Workbook | Grades 9–12 | 18 Weeks | 0.5 Credit | Hands-On Entrepreneurship
Welcome to Mind Your Own Business: Introduction to Business, Economics and Entrepreneurship, an engaging, student-led high school course designed to make business and economics meaningful, practical, and surprisingly fun!
This FREE Student Workbook takes learners beyond traditional textbooks through real-world investigations, hands-on activities, business simulations, creative challenges, and independent projects.
Designed for homeschool high school students, homeschool co-ops, micro-schools, alternative education programs, and independent learners, this 18-week curriculum encourages students to explore how businesses operate, why economies function the way they do, and what it takes to turn an idea into a successful venture.
Best of all, students develop their own business concept throughout the semester, building toward a final Founder's Showcase.
Forget endless worksheets, vocabulary memorization, and traditional multiple-choice tests as the primary learning experience.
Mind Your Own Business puts students in the driver's seat!
Throughout this interactive curriculum, students will:
Think Like an Entrepreneur: Identify problems, recognize opportunities, and develop an original business concept.
Explore Real-World Economics: Investigate supply and demand, scarcity, competition, trade, inflation, and economic decision-making.
Build Financial Literacy: Practice understanding revenue, expenses, pricing, profit, budgeting, and financial decisions.
Learn Through Hands-On Activities: Participate in trading simulations, product experiments, prototypes, business investigations, and creative challenges.
Analyze Business Mistakes: Meet Marv Fenwick, an enthusiastic entrepreneur whose questionable business decisions provide entertaining opportunities for critical thinking.
Develop Communication Skills: Interview business owners, explain economic decisions, present ideas, and defend recommendations.
Create a Business Venture: Build a business concept step by step, from identifying customer needs to preparing a final presentation.
Practice Independent Learning: Develop research, reasoning, time-management, and problem-solving skills.
This comprehensive workbook guides students through 18 weeks of business, economics, and entrepreneurship education, organized into six instructional units.
Students encounter several recurring learning experiences:
Marv's Big Idea: Follow the entrepreneurial adventures and mistakes of Marv Fenwick. Analyze his decisions and write The Verdict, using economic principles and evidence to recommend better solutions.
The Venture File: Develop an original business concept throughout the semester. Each weekly addition helps students investigate customers, competition, pricing, business operations, and opportunities.
Make It: Explore business and economics through hands-on projects, creative construction, simulations, and practical experiences.
Investigate: Apply course concepts to real-world questions, business scenarios, and economic problems.
Founder's Journal: Reflect on discoveries, challenges, decisions, and personal growth as an entrepreneurial thinker.
Signature Pieces: Complete six meaningful projects that demonstrate understanding through authentic work rather than conventional tests.
Unit 1: Open for Business | Weeks 1–3
Discover what businesses do, how they create value, different ownership structures, and the importance of local businesses. Investigate your community and interview a real business owner.
Unit 2: The Rules of the Game | Weeks 4–6
Explore scarcity, opportunity cost, supply and demand, competition, and market economies through hands-on simulations, trading games, and investigations.
Unit 3: The Big Picture | Weeks 7–9
Follow the flow of money through the economy. Investigate banking, inflation, employment, business cycles, global trade, and international supply chains.
Unit 4: Inside the Machine | Weeks 10–12
Go behind the scenes of successful businesses. Explore management, organizational decisions, marketing, branding, accounting, pricing, and financial performance.
Unit 5: The Founder's Mindset | Weeks 13–15
Discover how entrepreneurs recognize opportunities, solve problems, investigate customer needs, and test business ideas before investing significant resources.
Unit 6: Launch Pad | Weeks 16–18
Bring your business concept together through planning, financial analysis, legal and ethical considerations, and the final Founder's Showcase.
One of the most exciting elements of this course is the Venture File.
Rather than completing disconnected assignments, students develop one original business concept throughout the semester.
They investigate real customer needs, compare competitors, explore ownership options, evaluate pricing, calculate costs, test ideas, and build a practical business plan.
By the end of the course, students have more than a collection of completed workbook pages. They have a thoughtfully developed business concept supported by research, financial reasoning, and creative problem-solving.
Recommended Grades: 9–12
Course Length: 18 Weeks / One Semester
Suggested Credit: 0.5 High School Credit
Subjects: Business, Economics, Entrepreneurship
Learning Style: Student-Led, Hands-On, Project-Based
Assessment: Signature Projects, Venture File, Reflection, and Discussion
Format: Student Workbook
This course is designed for students to work independently during the week, supported by a parent, facilitator, or co-op instructor.
This FREE download contains the Student Workbook.
For the complete instructional experience, pair it with the Mind Your Own Business Facilitator Guide, available separately from From Earth to Sky Education.
The Facilitator Guide includes:
Weekly instructional guidance and background information
Socratic discussion questions for Boardroom Conferences
Answer keys and model responses
Hands-on activity guidance
Assessment rubrics for six Signature Pieces
High school grading and transcript recommendations
Additional resources and learning extensions
Parents and educators do not need previous business or economics teaching experience to facilitate the course.
Whether your student hopes to start a business someday, pursue a career in business, or simply understand how money and markets work, this curriculum provides a practical introduction to important economic and entrepreneurial concepts.
It is especially well suited for families seeking screen-free learning opportunities, creative thinking, financial education, independent study, hands-on high school curriculum, and real-world project-based learning.
Download your FREE Student Workbook today and start developing the next generation of creative thinkers, problem-solvers, and entrepreneurs!
From Earth to Sky Education
Created by Tricia Siletti, MEd, MS
Curiosity. Creativity. Innovation.
Explore additional engaging homeschool curriculum, hands-on educational resources, and the accompanying Facilitator Guide at easyhomeschool.org.
