Short answer is yes.
If you don't activate LSO, you'll be using TEM which does not support 'Curriculum'.
What EHP are you on? In EHP4 or EHP5, LSO comes pre-activated i.e. you don't need to activate it in the IMG node.
If you want to use TEM, you use the TEM tcodes, if you want to use LSO, you implement the portal functions and use LSO tcodes.
Activating the business functions is not required unless you want to use the 'Course Program' and the other Portal business packages - MSS for LSO, Instructor portal and BI dashboards.