Curriculum Review of You’re the Boss: Lifeskills & Entrepreneurship Program

You’re the Boss: Lifeskills & Entrepreneurship Program: Leader’s Guide  is a comprehensive curriculum, providing lesson plans and learning activities to teach youth about starting businesses.  Designed for grades 6-12, the curriculum consists of a Leader’s Guide and a Student’s Guide and is sufficient as a stand-alone resource. Although You’re the Boss is not explicitly religious, it is an effective tool, adaptable for faith-based practitioners wishing to develop a youth entrepreneurship program.  You’re the Boss is written by Bonnie Drew, an expert in the field of youth entrepreneurship and author of Jump Start to Business. 

The You’re the Boss Student Guide is an active learning tool in that it combines different formats for teaching the material.  Rather than simply stating information, the lessons incorporate probing questions to help the students think about the business principles that are being taught.  The lessons also provide multiple real-life stories about young entrepreneurs to further illustrate the new material.  Using graphs, questionnaires, illustrations, word problems, and sample documents, the Student Guide effectively teaches the essentials of entrepreneurship. 

The Student Guide is divided into 16 chapters that cover topics such as recognizing opportunities, different types of business models, pricing, marketing, loans, and business plans.  Each chapter is divided into 2-4 different sections, making the material easier to understand in smaller doses.  Each chapter also has a “Case Study” and an “On Your Own! Project,” which is often a hands-on activity outside of the classroom setting.  The last two chapters prepare the students to launch their own businesses.  They prepare presentations of their business ideas and invite guests to be a part of their venture.  Finally, the students create a to-do list and plan their business calendars.

The You’re the Boss Leader’s Guide is a vital accompaniment to the Student Guide.  The Leader’s Guide provides over 100 lesson plans that enhance the written lesson plans in the Student Guide.  These lesson plans include classroom activities and games that get the students on their feet and interacting with one another.  They learn how to perform an effective introduction and handshake, write memos, create flyers, survey their neighbors, and make a sale, to name a few. 

In addition to the lesson plans, the Leader’s Guide is helpful in the details of running a successful program.  For instance, it gives suggestions for classroom setup, ideas for mentors to connect with students, and reproducible samples, such as awards certificates and guest invitations.  The Leader’s Guide also provides a step-by-step guide for the “Business Plan Workshop,” which develops over the third trimester of the program.  The “Business Plan Workshop” begins with the students creating business plans, then inviting guests, and presenting their business plans to the class.  The leader is given instructions for carrying out this workshop, including practice rehearsals for the students and materials needed for the final presentation, such as extra chairs, microphone, speaker’s podium, etc.  All details of the production are covered by the leader’s guide, an invaluable component of the curriculum for any program director.

The strength of the You’re the Boss curriculum is its thoroughness.  This is the only material one needs to run a successful youth entrepreneurship program from start to finish.