One of my most favorite about homeschooling is that you can tailor lessons to coincide with real life. With our country currently feeling the financial squeeze of recession, and possibly a depression, what could be a better time to teach lessons on the economy?
Whether you do unit studies, more classical regimented studies, or unschool with subtle steering, here are some ideas you can use to teach your child about the recession.
Read books about previous depressions and recessions. More specifically, get books about the great depression of the 1930’s. There are novels and first account stories and biographies for children. Books like The Dust Bowl, Just For Dinner, and The Babe and I come to mind. There are also books, more suited to older children that discuss the depression from a national prospective. You can also discussion dips in the economy that followed as well as how the current recession relates to previous economic downturns.
The gas station: Have your kids keep an eye on gas prices, perhaps making a chart and tracking barrel prices to see how they coincide with what you pay at the pump. You can also discuss how politics and seasonal changes affect the price of gas.
Grocery Store: Teach your kids how to budget money as well as the importance of a budget when buying groceries. Show them how much food prices have risen and how you can adjust your shopping habits to make up for the changes. Discuss reasons why prices are higher than they used to be.
Put lessons into action: After spending concentrated time learning about the economy, it makes sense to continue the lessons indefinitely by teaching children how to manage money responsibility. Teach about the traps associated with using credit instead of saving for what you want. Give them money to manage (whether real or imaginary), teach them to follow the stock market.
Read the homeschool glossaries to get started educating yourself on homeschooling.
*Have a question about homeschooling? Just ask.
* Have you seen the homeschooling curriculum glossary?