What have you used for a high school economics class?

[KarenC]

Is there anything that worked well or something that you didn't like at all?

 

Karen

[Maryalice]

I taught at co-op "Economics in a Box". I really liked it. It had John Stossel DVD and Common Sense Economics. It was straight forward and not confusing...my son went and took both Micro and macro econ in college and had a great foundation.

[KarenC]

I taught at co-op "Economics in a Box". I really liked it. It had John Stossel DVD and Common Sense Economics. It was straight forward and not confusing...my son went and took both Micro and macro econ in college and had a great foundation.

 

Would it work with just one student rather than a co-op?

 

Thanks,

Karen

[Running the race]

:lurk5:

[Musicmom]

We used Thinkwell for ds when he was a senior. He enjoyed it and I thought it was excellent. I purchased the one that Sonlight sells, but we didn't do Sonlight's lesson plan or their extra books, just the Thinkwell lectures and questions--which was plenty given it is college level and we packed it all into one semester (college pace.) You could spread it out over a year though, if needed, and add in some extra books.

[Lori D.]

We used the following for our 0.5 credit Economics course, and it all worked very well. We did all three items solo in the homeschooling setting, but I would guess that the first two things would be very easy to implement in a co-op or classroom setting.

 

1. Dave Ramsey's "Foundations in Personal Finance"

He is a Christian, but the material is presented in a secular fashion. 12 hours of DVD lectures and an accompanying workbook, with fill in the blanks for each lecture segment, plus a test at the end of each of the 12 chapters. We also discussed each lecture segment together.

 

2. Thinking Company's "Great Courses: Economics"

Secular; 36 30-minute lectures on DVD. Covers micro and macro economics very thoroughly; not difficult to understand. I made a short quiz to for each lecture.

 

3. Richard Maybury's book "Whatever Happened to Penny Candy"

While at a middle school level, it was a very helpful and easy to understand introduction to economic terms such as money, depression, recession, etc. Secular, but from an extreme libertarian viewpoint. We read and discussed; no quizzes, research, or papers.

Edited November 14, 2011 by Lori D.

[laughing lioness]

Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics; Bluestocking Press and Dave Ramsey for teens.

[letsplaymath]

Henry Hazlitt Economics in One Lesson.

Thomas Sowell Basic Economics.

The Myth of the Robber Barons by Burton W. Folsom and Forrest McDonald.

The Invisible Heart: An Economic Romance by Russell D. Roberts.

 

I also like the Great Courses set Thinking Like an Economist, even more than their regular Economics course. (To save money: Wait for it to go on sale and get the audio download.)

[letsplaymath]

Or here are some free resources online:

An Economics Fairy Tale

I, Pencil

That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen

Economics in One Lesson

Lessons for the Young Economist

[MamaSheep]

Ds is currently reading Economics for the Impatient and enjoying it, and I thought I'd count however much time he spends reading it toward an economics credit. He seems to be learning some things from it. If he wants more, I might suggest one of those "Complete Idiots" books because the ones I've seen on other topics seem to cover the basics of their topics pretty clearly and thoroughly.

[KarenC]

I don't know if Comparative Politics can be done in 0.5 credits. We may have to spend a year on that and put of the economics.

 

I will look at the recommendations though!

 

Thanks,

Karen

[MommyThrice]

Would it work with just one student rather than a co-op?

 

Thanks,

Karen

 

(Economics in a Box) - yes. My son is using it at home alone. It takes about 18 weeks.

[Margo out of lurking]

Dd is using Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? along with the workbook. We're also watching the John Stossel DVDs.

 

I took a friend's advice (Lee Binz, The Homescholar) that not all classes have to be rigorous and am applying it to Economics this year. Dd will receive 0.5 credit total. (Can't find the link to Lee's specific article though.)

[Laura in OH]

We used the Dave Ramsey High School course, plus reading "real books" (like Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?). She also is working through a basic accounting book called The Accounting Game : Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand by Darrell Mullis and Jodith Orloff. I am very happy with this book! It gently goes through the basic accounting forms (balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement) using the example of a child's lemonade stand. DD has also started a T-Shirt business and she is required to produce (for me) those forms for her own business.