This course is about money and real life. There are several components: a biblical worldview, personal finance management, real costs research, understanding the stock market, and an overview of the intersection of political ideologies and the economy.

Did you know that money is a hot topic in scriptures? God has plenty to say about money. To obtain a biblical worldview, students will study the scriptures using Randy Alcorn’s book “The Treasure Principle” as well as memorizing scriptures each week.

Dave Ramsey's "Foundations in Personal Finance" is an outstanding DVD program. He covers everything from getting out of debt through investing for retirement. He’s not only knowledgeable, but entertaining. We will be watching two or three segments each week and complete the full thirteen chapter program by the end of the course.

To gain an understanding of economics on a national scale, students will read and discuss “Whatever happened to penny candy?” and “Planned Chaos” along with a variety of additional articles. These books will give them not only an understanding of the terms and concepts, but also the advantages and disadvantages of the different systems.

Throughout the course, students will participate in the “Stock Market Game.” This is a national program that allows students to compete in groups to make the best investments while learning how stock, bonds, and mutual funds work. Each group is “given” $100,000 to invest. Students research real stocks etc. and make choices about how to invest their money. The SMG mirrors the real stock market, and this gives them a daily understanding of the ups and downs of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.

This course is applied mathematics on the upper level. To gain a working understanding of money in their living situation students will be doing a variety of hands-on projects and research field trips. They will find out how much it really costs to clothe, feed, house, transport and care for them on a daily basis. To get an idea of how much their future dreams will cost students will plan their wedding, funeral, car, house, and insurance purchases. The field trips begin in their own closets and wind their way through grocery stores, a car dealer, funeral home, house hunting, a bank, a jewelry store, bridal shop, an insurance agency and more. The projects are combined into a presentation book suitable for a college interview.

This is by far one of the most useful courses I teach. The kids have a lot of fun but it is sobering to learn the real cost of living as opposed to that found in the "Game of Life"!

Note: Students will need access to EXCEL or a similar spreadsheet program. If they are using a program other than EXCEL, they will need a resource person to guide them in program usage.

Parents need to plan on taking turns transporting students on the many field trips.