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Dave Ramsey FPU for Personal Finance credit?


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Help me figure this out? I wan't dd to take a personal finance class next year. MFW has the Money Matters materials on their website. $20. Not a lot of $, I know. BUT, I was thinking. We already have Dave Ramsey's FPU materials from when dh and I took his classes a few years back. Could a high school student get credit for listening to the CDs and doing the workbook exercises? Would FPU be too much for an 11th grader? I don't want this to be over her head...but I do like DR. Any thoughts?

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All I can tell you is that a local co-op offers the Dave Ramsey course for HS credit.

 

I did a search for reviews once and, although I cannot remember where I read it...possibly on the FP site, someone was saying that the best bet was to do the FPU over the *student* version. I think the comment was that the student version was pretty dumbed down for high schoolers and that the examples given were pretty out of date. I'm sorry that I cannot point to that review, it has been some time.

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We did the Dave Ramsey Foundations in Personal Finance for high school students (as part of our Economics 0.5 credit). As far as I could tell, the material is not dumbed down, but instead is the same lecture session material as the adult version -- but with the inclusion of a short, staged Q&A with teens at the end of each unit with info pertinent to high school/early college students. (Yes, the Q&A session with teens is rather fakey and staged, but some of the info was helpful.)

 

We found the Dave Ramsey material to be highly engaging and entertaining, and very specific and practical. The only downside: all the info on the DVDs was recorded and put out right BEFORE the economy went bad, so it would be helpful to have an updated version, but that doesn't exist at this time.

 

The program is 12 hours of DVD teaching sessions; you fill in the workbook as you listen/watch the DVD sessions. At the end of each unit there is also a review/test in the workbook. Because we also discussed after each video segment, I would guess we put in a total of 15 hours; that is not enough for even .25 credit. (1.0 credit is 120-180 hours; so 0.25 credit = 30-45 hours).

 

However, if you also print off and do the worksheets on the teacher CD, that would up your hours; or, if you also assigned outside reading, covered additional materials, and did some exercises, assignments or projects, etc. to add another 15 hours of coverage, then yes, in my opinion you would have 0.25 credit of Personal Finance.

 

Helpful tips and additional resources on Personal Finance in these past threads:

Dave Ramsey finance course... do you use all the worksheets?

"Life" curriculum

Consumer Math suggestions?

 

 

BEST of luck as you make your decision! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited by Lori D.
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I'll have to look through my material, I guess, and compare it to Money Matters.

 

 

Sue, we also did Larry Burkett's Money Matters along with the Dave Ramsey. They were enough different it was worthwhile to have done both (Dave Ramsey goes into a lot about investing, funding college, and funding retirement that Money Matters never mentions). But again, JMO, Money Matters on its own was not enough to be worth even 0.25 credit. I do think if you combined Money Matters and Dave Ramsey that WOULD be enough for 0.25 credit.

 

We combined Money Matters and Dave Ramsey for a Personal Finance component, along with the Teaching Company Economics for the macro- and micro- economics components, and felt that all together that was finally enough material for 0.5 credit under the umbrella of Economics. :) Just our experience! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited by Lori D.
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Guest mom2k&c

We used the FPU student version for .5 credit. Ds watched the videos, filled in the workbook, did the activities, tests and read 48 Days to the Work You Love. Ds learned a lot. I highly recommend this program. I showed the syllabus to our umbrella school and they said it was sufficient for .5 credit.

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MFW has its own set of lesson plans for MM that includes Randy Alcorn's book Money, Possessions and Eternity. I'm not sure what the lessons entail, but I do trust MFW that it would be enough for .5 credits if that is what they recommend. I do think that doing both would be beneficial. Thanks!

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someone was saying that the best bet was to do the FPU over the *student* version. I think the comment was that the student version was pretty dumbed down for high schoolers and that the examples given were pretty out of date.

 

I"ve never seen FPU, but I have seen the student version. My son did it at co-op last semester. It is very light and I think it shortchanges the importance of budgeting.

 

I am going to have him do Money Matters for Teens, listen to a lot of Clark Howard and read a couple of other books before I give him credit.

 

I don't know if this will matter to you or not, but from what I have read and what I have heard, Dave Ramsey and Crown have different approaches to money management. Ramsey seems to be more about accumulating wealth, while Crown focuses on stewardship.

 

I'm a long time Crown person - all the way back to the days when it was Christian Financial Concepts. I remember hearing Larry Burkett's first call in show when I was in college & he spoke at our BSU as well.

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I don't know if this will matter to you or not, but from what I have read and what I have heard, Dave Ramsey and Crown have different approaches to money management. Ramsey seems to be more about accumulating wealth, while Crown focuses on stewardship.

 

 

I have noticed the same but it really just jumped out at me seeing somebody else put it into words, kwim? Certainly no disrespect to DR...we have benefitted enormously from his concepts. I always loved listening to LB on our local radio station...was heartbroken when he passed away. Thinking about this more, and your statement is probably all the more reason to do both. Different perspectives...both Biblical. My son, who is waaayyy too concerned with HAVING money would certainly benefit from the MM curriculum (giving, stewardship, etc.) but also from DR's principals of saving (beginning young), paying cash for things, investing, etc.

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I have to agree that the student version was dumbed down. My boys were laughing at how stupid the teens were in the "kid on the street" segments. Plus, his stock market history is terribly inaccurate. His numbers grossly inflate the growth of the stock market indices. If I had to do it over again, I would definitely not choose this. In fact, I am not sure I would choose DR at all. Just the sound of his voice makes me cringe now. But, I brought all of that up in another thread.

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