Economics » The Curriculum Choice

During school time Mr. 16 was sitting at the computer, chuckling. Having that much fun doing ‘schoolwork’ suggests to me that it’s not really schoolwork on the computer….

So I sternly asked, “What are you doing?”

Sweetly he answered, “Dave Ramsey,” and continued chortling.

After listening to a few more minutes of this laughter, I pulled up a chair beside him to watch “Bargain Shopping,” Chapter 8 of the Foundations in Personal Finance Curriculum, Homeschool Edition, a wonderful curriculum by Dave Ramsey. Soon the Little Misses joined us and we finished the chapter…and then started again at the beginning, laughing and learning all the way.

Sure, not all of the lessons are this funny, but we love this curriculum. It’s fun and relevant and practical. Dave’s mission is “empowering students to make sound financial decisions for life,” and he does it in such an appealing way!

He covers a lot of topics too, and, besides being excellent training for life, this course also meets state standards. In his 4 teaching DVD’s, Dave covers the following topics in great detail:

Unit 1: Saving and Investing
Unit 2: Credit and Debt
Unit 3: Financial Responsibility and Money Management
Unit 4: Insurance/Risk Management and Income/Careers

There’s also a Teacher’s Guide CD-ROM with lesson plans, tests, answer keys, activities, case studies, and more, as well as a Student Workbook containing worksheets, reviews, and many interesting tidbits of information. (For more information, please see the very detailed review on my blog.)

We are extremely pleased with the Foundations in Personal Finance Curriculum. While studying other subjects is very important, learning Personal Finance may well have the most practical impact on your teen’s future life. This curriculum is not inexpensive, but I believe it is an investment that will pay back many times over, both in your teen’s life and your own.

-Written by Annie Kate, a Christian homeschooling mom of five, who reviews and blogs at Tea Time with Annie Kate. You can read her other Curriculum Choice reviews here.

Disclosure I received a complimentary copy of Foundations in Personal Finance, Homeschool Edition, in order to give you my honest opinion of it.

Consumer Math Success Kit by David Newton is a gem for high school students! This one semester course (53 lessons – some of which can be used more than one day or extended into real-life practice) includes practical math your child will need in the future.

Bank accounts, loans, credit cards, taxes, home costs, budgeting, insurance and planning for the future are some of the 27 topics covered. What I like best is that every single lesson is very real. There isn’t a lot of wordiness to the teaching, but very concise explanations are given with practical problems following. Some people may feel like there isn’t enough teaching and may find the book to be more appropriate as a “workbook” to go along with a consumer math textbook.

The lessons assume your child has a fair background in mathematics. He needs to understand and be able to complete such things as multiplication, division, ratios, percents, fractions, decimals and conversions. The average high school student should already have a well-rounded math background to successfully use this curriculum.

The book also assumes that the teacher has a fair background in mathematics and consumer experiences since there is no teacher’s guide for you. For each section, there are teacher’s notes that supply you with pertinent vocabulary, related math topics, mathematical skills required and a few teaching suggestions, but no “how to teach notes”. And, although there is an answer key, there are no step-by-step solutions provided. For me, neither of these factors have proven to be a problem.

There aren’t an abundance of practice problems (only 5-12 per lesson), but they are sufficient for understanding the concept in most instances. I’ve found it easy to assign a real problem related to our own family to extend the lesson and “bring it home” when necessary.

In conclusion, I have really enjoyed this book as 1/2 credit for high school math. Both my husband and I feel comfortable with consumer math, so we haven’t felt slighted with the lack of teacher’s helps. We also haven’t felt it necessary for our daughter to read additional information on the subject. When needed, we’ve simply talked through some of the topics on a personal level.

-Cindy West is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of three from Kentucky. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her NaturExplorers studies at Shining Dawn Books.

{Cindy received Consumer Math Success Kit free for review. As always, her review reflects her honest opinions about the product.}

I have been searching for an economics course that would be suitable for middle school students. Much to my pleasure, I found exactly what I was looking for in Business, Economics and Entrepreneurship for Middle School Students by Bluestocking Press!

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? was recommended to me over and over, which was what originally led me to the Bluestocking Press site. I was overjoyed to find an entire curriculum set for middle school students that included not only the book I was looking for, but three others!

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy is a simply written book of 15 chapters that helps students (and adults like me) understand the basics of the economics system in the United States. Not only that, but it incorporates history and current events in as well.

In real terms that aren’t weighty and hard-to-grasp, your children will finish this book with more information than I was ever taught (even in college) about such things as wages, inflation, recessions, federal debt, and so much more. Even better, there’s a common-sense sort of humor to the book that kept me chuckling all the way through.

A Bluestocking Guide: Economics is a sort of workbook/test book/extra study guide to go along with Whatever Happened to Penny Candy. It includes extra articles to further study and understanding of each chapter in the “primer” (which is Whatever Happened to Penny Candy), as well as discussion questions and tests. The tests include everything from short answers and definitions to multiple choice and essay questions. Further reading lists, charts and diagrams are included, too.

You could read the primer without using this book, but it really helps round out the course.

Common Sense Business for Kids is 17 chapters, but only 62 pages of just what it says – common sense. Students learn the ins and outs of what it takes to successfully run a business – things like operating costs, markets, needs vs. wants, changing with the times, keeping inventory, employees and salesmanship.

Since each chapter is only a few pages, the info is not in depth, but instead very to-the-point. I find that extremely refreshing, and I have a feeling your kids will, too!

Capitalism for Kids is subtitled Growing Up to Be Your Own Boss. With a little more depth and a different range of topics, this book continues on the same theme as Common Sense Business for Kids.

Chapters focus on such topics as evaluating what sort of business best suits the child’s interests and talents, capitalism vs. communism and socialism, family businesses, investing time and money, gaining education and experience, and even such things and laws and licenses.

Again, I really like the common sense writing that isn’t too wordy or philosophical. Quite simply it’s written to kids for them to read themselves.

Even though this curriculum is suggested for middle school, I found it to be meaty enough for many high school students. However, if you’re hoping to find a set put together specifically for high school, Bluestocking Press offers two.

Both contain some of the same books that are in the middle school kit, so you will want to decide which age level you’d most like to purchase and then purchase only that set. On the other hand, all of the books contained in the sets are available individually for those who would prefer to simply go through one or two books.

Loving this!

-Written by Cindy, eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of three from Central KY. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward or find her nature study curricula at Shining Dawn Books. Cindy specifically requested this set for her honest review.