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 makes sense to teach kids financial literacy. Some states require a one semester personal finance for all high school students, so check your state standards and requirements.
Whether personal finance is 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, student loan debt, 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 Financial Literacy
Khan offers a free basic financial literacy curriculum that includes discussions of budgeting, mortgages, taxes, insurance, and retirement. It is fairly short but may be a good place to start. High school learners may also want to complete Khan’s economics units.
Council for Economics Education
The Council for Economics Education is an amazing resource. They offer a wide array of lesson plans sorted by subject and grade. This is a great place to find a few short activities to add fun when you are stuck in a homeschool rut.
Standard Personal Finance Curriculum
Federal Reserve Board, St. Louis, offers a free high school personal finance curriculum as a PDF download. The curriculum is aligned with the National Standards for Financial Literacy. It is divided into seven units and for each students are linked to lectures and activities.
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 the material. The whole curriculum is offered free and it aligns with K-12 standards.
There seems to be a love-hate relationship with Dave Ramsey, so this may not be for everyone. Ramsey’s radio show offers very easy-to-understand information for families 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 understanding student loans. The majority of students going to college do take out student loans and average over $30,000. Help your teens be informed consumers by teaching them to use online loan calculator tools. These allow students to see how different interest rates or repayment terms affect their monthly rate. A calculator even helps students predict their monthly income based on their careers. This is a great way to encourage realistic thinking.
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