Lesson 10 of 10 · Chapter 10
The Business Plan
This is your capstone. You open a real lemonade stand and run it with every skill from the book: decimals to price the startup, fractions to scale the recipe, multiplication for profit, time and data to run the week, algebra to predict growth, and geometry to lay out the stand. At the end you write the business report.
Choose how you want to learn
You can change this any time. Press Listen on any part to hear it read aloud. Grown-ups: read along with younger children.
- 1 · Startup costs
- 2 · Scaling the recipe
- 3 · Pricing and profit
- 4 · Running the week
- 5 · The business report
- 6 · The whole chapter
- 7 · Try it at home
- 8 · Your card
- 9 · Check yourself
Part 1
Startup costs
Every business starts by buying what it needs. Those are the startup costs.
Add every price, lining up the decimal points. Then subtract the total from your savings to see what is left.
The book’s stand: cups $12.50, lemons $18.75, sugar $8.25, pitcher $15.99. Total: $55.49. With $75.00 saved, $75.00 − $55.49 = $19.51 is left.
If savings are less than the total, the business cannot open yet. The difference is how much more you must save first.
Real owners keep some money back for surprises, like lemons going up in price. The book asks: if cups cost $2.50 more, the total becomes $57.99.
“Supplies needed: Cups $12.50, Lemons $18.75, Sugar $8.25, Pitcher $15.99”
“You have $75.00 saved. After buying supplies, how much remains?”
Add up the supplies and check the budget. Five right to finish.
Part 2
Scaling the recipe
A recipe makes a set amount. To make more, multiply every ingredient by the same number.
Triple batch: multiply by 3. Half batch: multiply by 1/2.
One batch makes 8 cups: 1 1/2 cups lemon juice, 3/4 cup sugar, 6 cups water.
Triple it: 1 1/2 × 3 = 4 1/2 cups lemon juice, 3/4 × 3 = 9/4 = 2 1/4 cups sugar, and the batch makes 8 × 3 = 24 cups.
Half batch: 1 1/2 × 1/2 = 3/4 cup lemon juice. Every ingredient changes by the same amount, or the lemonade tastes different.
“One batch (makes 8 cups): 1 1/2 cups lemon juice, 3/4 cup sugar, 6 cups water”
“Triple the recipe: How much lemon juice needed?”
Scale the recipe. Type a mixed number like 4 1/2, or a fraction like 9/2. Five right to finish.
Part 3
Pricing and profit
Revenue is all the money customers pay. Profit is what is left after you pay your costs.
Profit per cup = selling price − cost to make one cup.
Sell at $2.00, cost $0.50: profit is $1.50 a cup. 45 cups bring in $90.00 of revenue and $67.50 of profit.
To reach a profit goal, divide the goal by the profit per cup. $60 ÷ $1.50 = 40 cups.
If it does not divide evenly, round up: $500 ÷ $1.50 is 333 and a third, and you cannot sell a third of a cup, so you need 334 cups.
“Selling price: $2.00 per cup. Cost to make: $0.50 per cup.”
“Goal: $500 profit. At $1.50 profit per cup, how many cups needed?”
Work out profit, revenue, or how many cups to reach a goal. Five right to finish.
Part 4
Running the week
Running the stand uses time: when you open, how long you stay, how fast you serve.
And it uses data: the total, average and range of what you sold.
Open 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM is 4 hours. At 2 minutes a customer, you serve 60 ÷ 2 = 30 customers an hour.
Week 1: 38, 42, 45, 52, 48 cups. Total 225, average 225 ÷ 5 = 45, range 52 − 38 = 14.
Growth is a pattern: 225, 270, 315, 360 adds 45 each week, so Week 5 is 405. As an equation, sales = 45w + 180, where w is the week number.
Setup from 9:15 AM takes 45 minutes and ends at 10:00 AM, the moment you open. A plan with no extra minutes has no room for a spilled pitcher.
“Stand hours: 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM”
“Sales growth: Week 1: 225, Week 2: 270, Week 3: 315, Week 4: 360”
Answer about the stand’s hours, customers, or the week’s sales. Five right to finish.
Part 5
The business report
At the end of the week, an owner writes a report: revenue, costs, and net profit.
Net profit = revenue − costs.
Week 1: 225 cups × $2.00 = $450.00 revenue. 225 × $0.50 = $112.50 in costs. Net profit: $450.00 − $112.50 = $337.50.
Save half, reinvest half: $337.50 ÷ 2 = $168.75 each. Reinvesting is how a stand becomes a bigger stand.
The report also checks the space: an 8 ft × 6 ft stand is 48 sq ft. Take away the table (8 sq ft) and cooler (4 sq ft), and 36 sq ft is left to work in.
“Week 1 Net Profit: Revenue minus Costs = ?”
“If you save 1/2 of profit and reinvest 1/2, how much each?”
Fill in the business report. Three right to finish.
Part 6
Read the whole chapter
Here is all of Chapter 10, “The Business Plan”, exactly as the book tells it, with all eight Parts of the lemonade-stand business plan and the book's closing page. Press Listen to hear it read aloud, or open it and work along with a pencil.
Open Chapter 10
Part 7
Try it at home
Do these with your family. Tick each one when it is done.
Part 8
Your “Business Owner” card
Fill it in, then print it for the fridge. Nothing you type here leaves this device.
Business Owner’s Card
Global Sovereign University · Grade 4 Mathematics, lesson 10
Owner's rules
- Startup: add every cost; savings minus total is what is left.
- Scale: multiply every ingredient by the same number.
- Profit = price − cost. Goal ÷ profit per cup, rounded up.
- Net profit = revenue − costs.
Part 9
Check yourself
6 questions. Pick an answer. If it is not right, read the hint and try again.
Lesson 10 complete.
You ran a whole business with fourth-grade math: startup costs, recipes, pricing, time, data, growth, layout and the final report. That is every skill in the book, working together. You finished the last lesson. The certificate exam is being built. Back to the class.
Homeschooling Math Books for Kids: Grade 4 by Dr. Gene A Constant. This lesson is Chapter 10, and the whole chapter is on this page.
GSU is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and book sales are its only income. A purchase is not a tax-deductible donation. This lesson is free and always will be.