Has anyone done AP Economics on their own?

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I am trying to design AP Micro and Macro courses (one semester each).  I think I have a book picked out, but this is an area I haven't studied much personally.

 

Does anyone have favorite resources to go with the textbook?  

 

Did anyone use the Council for Economic Education student books or teacher resource book?  Was it worth getting?

 

We have used a lot of Great Courses/Teaching Company series for history.  Are there economics lectures that are particularly helpful?

[chiguirre]

Coursera has micro and macro self-paced classes. These are standard intro classes:

 

https://www.coursera.org/learn/principles-of-microeconomics

 

https://www.coursera.org/learn/principles-of-macroeconomics

 

I'd consider taking the CLEPs instead if they'll count. That way you can take the exam when you finish micro instead of doing macro in the interim.

[Kathy in Richmond]

My kids did AP microeconomics at home (no macro). I described how we did it in this thread. Although it's been a few years since then, that particular exam hasn't been revised.

[Luckymama]

There's a darn good chance I'll be doing the same thing, Sebastian.

 

Care to share the textbooks?

[Sebastian (a lady)]

There's a darn good chance I'll be doing the same thing, Sebastian.

 

Care to share the textbooks?

The leading contender is Economics Principles Problems and Policies by McConnell, Brue, Flynn 18th Ed. I found it used, there is a sample syllabus to work with and I generally like the tone and layout.

 

I spent too much time finding perfect materials for APUSH and not enough time using them. I'm trying to avoid that here.

 

I like that it has vocab terms listed at the end of the chapter and that it had lots of study questions.

Edited June 16, 2016 by Sebastian (a lady)

[Mosaicmind]

I was wondering if anyone else has done AP courses on their own. I've looked at various online offerings but there is no way we can afford to do one online much less 2 since we have 2 high school boys homeschooling. It's good to know others have been successful at doing AP courses at home.

[AFwife Claire]

The leading contender is Economics Principles Problems and Policies by McConnell, Brue, Flynn 18th Ed. I found it used, there is a sample syllabus to work with and I generally like the tone and layout.

 

I spent too much time finding perfect materials for APUSH and not enough time using them. I'm trying to avoid that here.

 

I like that it has vocab terms listed at the end of the chapter and that it had lots of study questions.

That's the one my boys used for both micro and macro.  My good friend taught it for our little co-op, though, and she has a PhD in economics.  But she was very happy with it.  There's a study guide as well, I believe, that they used.  The 5 boys got 5's on both exams, so it was a success!

[mumto2]

Coursera has micro and macro self-paced classes. These are standard intro classes:

 

https://www.coursera.org/learn/principles-of-microeconomics

 

https://www.coursera.org/learn/principles-of-macroeconomics

 

I'd consider taking the CLEPs instead if they'll count. That way you can take the exam when you finish micro instead of doing macro in the interim.

We had planned to do the AP exams but micro never seems to be available for us. We ended up doing the CLEPs with these courses and the REA review books as the main study material. I had prepared everything for the AP before I realized they simply offered Macro every single year.

 

The coursera classes are done very well so would add those in with your textbooks. Btw, I did most of the macro class beside ds as a how to take proper notes exercise and that class was incredibly well organized for note taking. The books (I had several) I bought cracked me up because the examples were geared very much to college life and students. I remember my econ books as being filled with more life after college examples.

[plansrme]

In the thread Kathy linked, I posted with my plans, but I had not taught it yet. I did use all of those materials and a few old sample tests. I found a syllabus online and covered the chapters in that syllabus. My daughter made easy 5s on both exams. I love economics, and it was my favorite class that I did with her. It was also probably the cheapest because all of the materials were a couple of dollars each.