My former high school teacher asked me to talk to her class about owning a home business and I've been trying to put together some ideas for what to talk about. I am going to talk about how much money I invested on equipment, how much I make on orders gross/net, and show a few pictures of stuff I've made. Do you think they'd like to hear a little bit about the actual baking? How would you summarize cake and cupcake making in a couple minutes to keep it simple and interesting? What else do you think I should touch on to give them some idea of what it's like to run a home bakery?

Very nice! I'm sure the students would love to hear about this. But I would switch the emphasis. They will probably be less interested in the specifics of your equipment and investment, so I would focus on how you spend your day. Do you have any products to show them? Bring props, such as a couple of hand tools, your recipe book, and a big bowl of buttercream with little spoons so they can have a taste. And don't forget to mention the importance of bookkeeping when running a business. You don't have to go into detail, but I think a brief overview can be very helpful. Please let us know how it went! Good luck!!

To further what Mimi said, you might want to mention math, not enough to scare them, but as in "this is something that you use math for, and it makes it easy to keep track of what you spend, etc., etc."

MimiFix that's a great idea, I have some sugar lilies and roses on hand I could show them too. I also got the okay to bring something I made so I'm making mini cupcakes. 

Thanks both of you.

AI am the high school home ec teacher, tell them all that you said, but feed them too. No culinary speakers for my kids unless they give food. Thirty five years of teaching experience and more years of caking...let them eat cake.. Good luck.