A stay-at-home Mom could have a home-based business of some sort. But, having your own business is no easy thing, and not everyone is suited to it, especially on top of all the demands of children and family. Nevertheless, there are two “businesses” that a Stay-at-Home Mom can easily do. They are: daycare services, and homeschooling.
When a woman has small children of daycare age, it is usually not very hard to set up as a small daycare provider. I know one woman who did this — she took care of our own son from time to time. Regulations probably allow a stay-at-home Mom to handle up to six children in her home, including her own children. So, if you have two children, you could provide daycare services for four other children. This could pay $600-$1500 per month, per child; so, four children would be $2400-$6000 per month. This would not be much more work than simply taking care of two children. It might even be less work — when children play with each other, it is often a lot less bother for a Mother.
As the children get older, our Stay-at-Home Mom might become a homeschooler. Then, she could also offer to homeschool other people’s children as well — basically, a small private school. I know of some homeschool Moms who homeschooled twelve of their own children. A student:teacher ratio of 12:1 would be considered very, very plush in any private school today. Again, our Mom could get perhaps $600-$1500 per child per month. With six other children, that is $3600-$9000 per month. Now she is making a possible six-figure income homeschooling other people’s children. She can also allow afterschool services to other working Moms that can’t pick up their children until after 5:30. That would be a big advantage over public and private schools. Regulations on whether a homeschool Mom can also homeschool other children varies from State to State, but it is often possible.
Again, this does not cost our Mom much extra time or effort. Whether you have one child or ten, it tends to absorb a full day of time and energy. Homeschoolers with a lot of children often find that, although they have less time to spend on each child, the children learn a lot more from each other.
Cornerstone 