Unless we took an economics course specifically in high school, or more likely college, I venture to say most Americans today don’t have more than a surface understanding of managing our own money – much less how the government officials (who are supposed to be accountable to their well-informed citizens) are managing our money in the larger scheme of things.
Is economics something that can only be understood and taught at the high school or college levels? No way! We should begin teaching economics principles as soon as our kids understand the worth of money.
And just how to we go about this? Homeschool Economics!
In the earliest years, our family starts with chores, allowance and a saving/spending/giving model; we teach them the hard work and satisfaction of saving for big ticket items; and we make sure there are lots of opportunities for giving with joy. As opportunities present themselves, we introduce economics vocabulary into our conversations.
During the elementary years, we use literature to help us demonstrate some more formal economics concepts in a laid back way. I’ve shared about one of those lessons in this post about productive resources. We also try to plug in at least a few field trips that lend themselves to economics discussions – factories, a bank, a grocery store, farms, having a good conversations with any business owner. Really, just about any trip can be turned into an economics-themed trip – even a trip to a pioneer fort where you discuss trading goods.
In my quest to raise economically smart children, I’ve used many tools and come across others that are waiting in the wings for the right time. I’ve included all of them below. The * indicates those that are tried and true resources.
Elementary / Middle School
Curriculum:
Teaching Economics Using Children’s Literature *
Striker Jones: Elementary Economics For Elementary Detectives and Teacher’s Companion
Junior’s Adventures: Financial Peace
Online Lessons:
Literature-Based Lessons from KidsEcon Posters *
EcEdWeb Lessons, many are literature-based *
JMU Center for Economic Education
Children’s Literature List with Key Economics Concepts
Middle / High School
Curriculum / Textbooks:
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? *
Common Sense Business for Kids *
Capitalism For Kids: Growing Up To Be Your Own Boss *
Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University DVD Home Study Kit *
The Myth of the Robber Barons: A New Look at the Rise of Big Business in America
Online Lessons:
Homeschool Economics – unit study of sorts
EcEdWeb Lessons, most of these are very good *
For Various Ages
Computer Games:
Favorite Literature for Teaching Economics Principles:
What about you? How do you teach economics?