As a homeschooler, you are well aware of the invaluable gifts you and your children offer each other just by sharing physical space on a daily basis. Your five-year old daughter needs a hug? Daddy has one ever-ready. Mom needs the sidewalk shoveled? Her eight-year old son responds to the call. Over and over, throughout the day, your lives are woven together, forming a rhythm that is unique to your family alone.

For many homeschooling families, home business is a natural new "step" to this family rhythm. Why throw in a business to the busy mix of housework, childcare and homeschooling? Here are the "Top 10" reasons for you to consider. The first you know well! The rest are like music to the dance...

May all your days as an "Entrepreneurial Parent" be filled with comfort, hope, perseverance, teamwork, parental harmony, creativity, economic awareness, generosity, career development and financial security. (Oh, and some relaxation and fun too!)

1. Comfort
Being available to your children without apology or hesitation on those sick days, sad days, befuddled and confounding days is the priceless gift a home business brings your family throughout the year. Your children will grow and glow in the warmth of your physical presence in their daily lives, comforted by your availability to them.

2. Hope
Home business offers children the opportunity to watch their parent(s) being productive - and happy - in non-domestic pursuits. They will catch you at the height of your productivity and during the peaks of achievement, learning that work can be a positive force in a person's life. This subliminal message boosts their own lifetime aspirations.

3. Perseverance
Children who grow up with a home business in the other room will experience with their parents the realities and stresses of adult responsibilities. They'll come to understand that work is not all fun and games, and learn from you how to persevere when multiple responsibilities lead to frustration and anxiety.

4. Teamwork
A home business family knows well that the harder you work now, the more fun you'll have later. Since your income is assignment-based rather than salary-based, it's easier to designate "Monday's work" as "Saturday's visit to the zoo." Family vacations, a new car, piano lessons, tickets to a baseball game - these are all tangible rewards you can offer your family in exchange for their support of your business activities. Such a team effort strengthens family bonds.

5. Parental Harmony
Every couple who lives with a home business works as a team to pull it off. Many find that a home business serves as a peace pipe between partners - either by bridging the vocational gap between them or by enabling "The Home Front" to run smoother. Parental harmony goes a long way in the emotional well-being of children.

6. Creativity
Ever wonder what happens to all those ideas about your business that flow out of your head? Your children catch them! In an entrepreneurial household creativity abounds - and the ideas you verbalize but don't implement are rarely wasted. They're put to use by your children in the world they live in - through schoolwork, play, friendships, etc.

7. Economic Awareness
Children of home-based entrepreneurs become economically astute at an early age. It's likely they'll witness checks or money being exchanged for products or services developed at home, go with you to the bank to deposit those checks, then accompany you on errands to purchase consumer products that were made elsewhere - completing the economic cycle on a personal level.

8. Generosity
Business ownership offers ample opportunities for volunteer work and community involvement, teaching children the gift of giving.

9. Career Development
A home business also helps develop the career skills your children will need as young adults. By enlisting their help in administrative tasks as they grow, you will be exposing them to a solid foundation in business management. Such an invaluable experience will serve them well in whatever work option they choose for themselves when someday they have their own bills to pay.

10. Financial Security
As the workforce shifts to accommodate new technology and employment opportunities, contract working is emerging as a viable and profitable work option. A home business develops highly marketable career skills that will help parents cross over the bridges between big business, small business and self- employment as family and economic needs change. This helps secure the family's finances.

Lisa Roberts is author of How to Raise A Family & A Career Under One Roof: A Parent's Guide to Home Business (Bookhaven Press, 1997, 1-800-782-7424,
www.amazon.com) and the "WAHM Pro" for AOL's Moms Online. Her web site, The Entrepreneurial Parent (www.en-parent.com), is a comprehensive work-family resource for home-based entrepreneurs. She can be contacted at RobertsLMR@aol.com