missesd Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 I am trying to decide between them for my Senior next year. He has expressed an interest in Business Math. Thanks :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 Accounting would be more purely bookkeeping -- consumer math is broader and more shallow, so would include some personal accounting, plus things like comparison shopping, retirement savings, loans, taxes, insurance, stuff like that. Which course is better would depend imo on his goals -- accounting would be good if he were going into accounting (duh, hehe), business in general, self-employment, etc., whereas consumer math would be broadly applicable to any life path. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 Accounting and Consumer Math are different. Business Math is not either of those! Business math is usually a "basic math" course applied to real life business situations like mortgage interest & price discounts & checking accounts. Some of the textbooks called "consumer math" are really the same thing here. The result in high school is often just a math course which uses real-life examples, but some of the homeschool "entrepreneur" type programs might have recommendations for programs that actually emphasize real business-building skills. Accounting is not only using math, but learning a specific system. It involves recording debits and credits, and balancing them out. I have no idea how much this field has changed since the dawn of the computer era, but this is a very specific field. True consumer math, to me at least, is going to teach practical skills. Sometimes you'll find a "consumer math" textbook and it's like business math and is really just teaching math skills using real-life examples. But a true consumer math program will usually cover things like how to purchase an apartment or a car, how to open and maintain a bank account, the effects of interest on the price of goods, investments and savings, and making a real budget for yourself. Well, some of that is my own opinion, but when you get to the college level, these are 3 distinct things. Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missesd Posted March 11, 2011 Author Share Posted March 11, 2011 I am looking at the LifePac series in either of these, if that helps anyone out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-FL Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 If he's interested in Business Math, seems accounting would be the better choice. As a business major you have to take some accounting classes, so the base would be there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlockOfSillies Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 Not sure if it helps, but now that I'm beginning to run my own business and I'm teaching myself bookkeeping, I'm beginning to think that bookkeeping or accounting concepts should almost be required subjects for every high school student. I even understand the financial news on the radio better than I did before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 Not sure if it helps, but now that I'm beginning to run my own business and I'm teaching myself bookkeeping, I'm beginning to think that bookkeeping or accounting concepts should almost be required subjects for every high school student. I even understand the financial news on the radio better than I did before. Interesting. What do you see coming up, other than adding and subtracting columns :) I just think of accounting as dry like that :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlockOfSillies Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 LOL, I know what you mean. Maybe even "understand" isn't the right word. You know how if you're shopping for a house, all of a sudden you see for-sale signs you hadn't noticed before? It's kind of like that. Certain terminology I recognize more readily, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandgill037 Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Consumer math is a field of mathematics, which shows you how to use your basic math skills to real life situations such as buying a car, budgeting your money, investing, paying taxes, etc... Accountancy is the process of communicating financial information about a business entity to users such as shareholders and managers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda1951 Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 We tried Power Basics consumer math, bad idea, boring babyish and not a good idea. AM looking for individual books on say how to buy a car, savings accounts, checking accounts. etc. not all that other stuff they throw in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jibaker103 Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Consumer math is a field of mathematics, which shows you how to use your basic math skills to real life situations such as buying a car, budgeting your money, investing, paying taxes, etc... Accountancy is the process of communicating financial information about a business entity to users such as shareholders and managers. Why not complete a semester of each? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan C. Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 I did both in high school, very different. Consumer math was how to balance your checkbook, how to buy a car/house, savings accounts, credit, that sort of thing. Accounting was a college text of intro. accounting that we got to take a whole year to complete (because it was high school). I have used what I learned in accounting literally my whole adult life, it has been very useful. I do know that A Beka has Consumer and Business Maths as two different courses. I actually have Lifepak Accounting, it looks good, but ds also was doing physics and precalculus and didn't like that third mathy course (so we dropped it). I'm not sure you could complete the accounting in one semester, it has ten books and is for a whole year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missesd Posted March 15, 2011 Author Share Posted March 15, 2011 Why not complete a semester of each? I am actually thinking of doing that now :) I did both in high school, very different. Consumer math was how to balance your checkbook, how to buy a car/house, savings accounts, credit, that sort of thing. Accounting was a college text of intro. accounting that we got to take a whole year to complete (because it was high school). I have used what I learned in accounting literally my whole adult life, it has been very useful. I do know that A Beka has Consumer and Business Maths as two different courses. I actually have Lifepak Accounting, it looks good, but ds also was doing physics and precalculus and didn't like that third mathy course (so we dropped it). I'm not sure you could complete the accounting in one semester, it has ten books and is for a whole year. Perfect, just what I was looking for. I ordered the LifePac Accounting already. I'll order the Consumer Math next :) Thank you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 AM looking for individual books on say how to buy a car, savings accounts, checking accounts. etc. not all that other stuff they throw in there. You might try AGS. We used their Budgeting book and I'm not sure they still sell it, but several of their materials cover this sort of thing. AGS tends to serve alternative schools & such. We also used Larry Burkett materials, if you like those. Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
profmom Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Consumer math is a field of mathematics, which shows you how to use your basic math skills to real life situations such as buying a car, budgeting your money, investing, paying taxes, etc... Accountancy is the process of communicating financial information about a business entity to users such as shareholders and managers. I like this! I'm a CPA and find it interesting that so many people think of accounting as a math field. There are numbers involved, of course, but, especially once you get past the bookkeeping level, communication and research skills are more important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missesd Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 I like this! I'm a CPA and find it interesting that so many people think of accounting as a math field. There are numbers involved, of course, but, especially once you get past the bookkeeping level, communication and research skills are more important. Well my Junior year in High School I took a Regional Occupational Program in Small Business Management. It was a 2 hr block. The 1st hours was dedicated to Business, and second was Business Math. We dealt with ledgers and the such. It counted as a Math credit for graduation. I ended up taking some Accounting in college as well, and noticed some definite similarities between the two classes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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