Have you considered adding an elective in personal finance to your homeschool high school schedule? In a time of economic downturn, student loan crisis, and record credit card debt, it really makes sense to teach kids financial literacy. Whether it ends up being included as an official course on the high school transcript, I advise all families to find the time to teach their kids about personal finance. Topics that kids need to learn about include: earnings, debt, credit cards, insurance, taxes, budgeting, car shopping, mortgages, bankruptcy, and savings and retirement planning. Fortunately there are some great free resources out there that make it easy to teach your kids about personal finance.
Khan Academy Practical Money Skills
I suggest the lectures from Kahn Academy as the foundation for a personal finance course. The subject matter is divided into three sections: Career and Retirement, Financial Basics, Credit and Debt. Kahn offers easy understand, but in-depth lectures on these topics.
Council for Economics Education
The Council for Economics Education is an amazing resource. They offer a wide array of lesson plans which are sorted by subject and by grade. This is a great place to find a few short activities to add some fun when you are stuck in a homeschool rut.
Money Skill Course
Provided by the AFSA, this free course offers middle and high school level content on personal finance topics including budgeting, taxes, and investment. Content relates to math, economics, and social science. Each module includes quizzes so students can test their understanding of material.
There seems to be kind of a love-hate thing with Dave Ramsey, so this may not be for everyone. Ramsey’s radio show offers very easy to understand information for families who are interested in avoiding debt or getting out of debt. This might be a great conversation starter with your teen.
No personal finance education for a college bound student is complete without a understanding of student loans. The majority of students going to college do take out student loans and average over $20,000 in student loans. Help your student be an informed consumer by teaching them to use online loan calculator tools. These allow students how different interest rates or repayment terms will affect their monthly rate. There is even a calculator that helps students predict their monthly income based on their career. This is a great way to encourage realistic thinking.
Hi,
I’m looking for a 1-semester Personal Finance high school course for my 11th grade daughter. We homeschool and are under the HomeLife Academy umbrella and it is required to graduate. Can you recommend a good pre-made course? I couldn’t find one under places like A Beka or BJU or Sonlight. BJU has Economics, but she is already taking that through Dual Enrollment, and she needs a personal finance course.
Thank you,
Angie Holt
Hi Angie,
I have links to a few different courses on my Pinterest for Personal Finance. You’ll have to work with Home Life Academy to make sure it meets their requirements though. http://www.pinterest.com/hsuccess/homeschool-financial-literacy/
Good luck!