Has anyone used the Stewardship Consumer Math from MUS?

[deeinfl]

Looking for your thoughts on the program?

 

Thank you,

 

Dee :)

[amtmcm]

:lurk5:

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

I'm using it right now.

It is ok. Just ok.

 

I've been a big fan of MUS over the years. It was the perfect fit for one student, a great fit for another, fantastic for Al 2 when my dd was terribly ill. And, I really wanted to love the Stewardship.

 

A half credit of Personal Finance is required and Stewardship fulfills that half credit. If I add to it ,I think I could make it a full credit. MUS says it is a full credit, but I just don't see that.

 

It is a great introduction to all the topics needed in a personal finance course. And, I do LOVE the Biblical application to those topics. However, the problem sets are very short with too much repetition. I think there are 10 problems in each set.... some are just fill in the blanks.

 

My son and I watch the DVD together, discuss the concept relating to our personal life and budget, and do all the 1st problem set together. He reads the section in the Instructor's Guide (more details than DVD) and the Biblical application book. He will usually do the 2nd and 3rd problem set on his own OR I will assign certain problems for him to do, then takes the test.

 

He spends 30 to 40 minutes about twice a week and takes the very short test on Fridays. The test might take him 10 minutes.

 

So..... Stewardship is fine if you want an easy way to check off a required half credit. It is fine if you want an introduction or spine to follow for more in depth study. (We listen to Dave Ramsey on the radio a few times per week, so THAT plus Stewardship gives my son enough for our requirement.)

 

edited to add: it is NOT a consumer math program IMHO. Consumer math would mean (to me) more MATH. Stewardship is teaching the "concepts" of taxes, budgeting, insurance, loans, mortgages, the "best" buy on groceries, etc.

Edited October 14, 2011 by Pam L in Mid Tenn
adding a few sentences

[deeinfl]

Pam, thank you so much! If I can afford it, I think we are going to go for it. We are also looking at the set the personal finance set that MFW sells, but for some reason I keep looking at this one.

 

Blessings,

 

Dee ;)

Edited October 14, 2011 by deeinfl

[Running the race]

I haven't used it, but I've heard great things about Dave Ramsey's high school course.

[FourOaks]

I would probably 2nd Pam's response. We've used MUS for every level through Geometry thus far, so my kids are fans.

 

When my dd first started the course it was very troublesome in that I felt the questions made too many assumptions. For example, here is the 6th question from the very first lesson:

 

"Peter is paid $27,000.00 salary per year. How much per hour does Peter make?"

 

My dd struggled with this, and I believe rightfully so. There is not enough information provided to complete this problem. In real life, we need to first know how many hours Peter works. Nowhere is that information provided, but if you look in the answers you will find that they based the problem on a 40 hour work week. Great. But that's not real life. My husband does not work a 40 hour week. I explained to my dd that if she replaced the name Peter with her dad and then attempted to do the problem based on an assumption that he works a 40 hour week, the answer would not accurately reflect what her dad makes per hour in real life. She would be wrong.

 

I believe that since this is supposed to be a stewardship class based on real life scenarios, there should definitely be more information presented and covered to account for real life situations. IMHO it falls short of the mark.

 

I would also agree with Pam that it's more fill-in-the blank regarding basic definitions, which might be fine if there was more math involved as well. It's not very "mathy", and that's what I believe is necessary for kids to be well prepared for their futures. I, too, like the devotional and that it's written from a Biblical perspective, but unfortunately I think there are probably programs out there that would better prepared the kids for real life.

[Leonor]

Pam, thank you so much! If I can afford it, I think we are going to go for it. We are also looking at the set the personal finance set that MFW sells, but for some reason I keep looking at this one.

 

Blessings,

 

Dee ;)

 

You can look for it on the "for sale" boards. I found the set on vegsource.

 

Dave Ramsey's would be much more thorough and expensive.