Kudos to Tufts for working with homeschoolers on college econ instructional materials

[KarenNC]

I've found it's very hard to get things like instructor materials for college textbooks as a homeschooler. Over the last few years, I've requested this from several publishers in various topics and either gotten a "no, you have to teach at a university" or just been totally ignored, so I want to put in a plug for the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University. They publish the macroecon book I will be using ("Macroeconomics in Context" by Goodwin) along with other economics material (http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/publications/recentPublications.html). This is a secular current college-level textbook used by a number of colleges for their intro course, one which puts economics in the context of current situations. I love that they include sample course layouts so that if you aren't sure if you will finish the whole text in a semester you can customize your emphasis for the class (basic macroecon material, structural, different schools of economic thought, global, human development, ecological, poverty/inequality/social justice, modeling, etc). I think my daughter will really respond to the material presented in this way.

 

I sent in a request for the free instructional materials they advertise with the book, not expecting much. They sent me access to the materials! A rep called and said that having sent them a link to our online state homeschool registry entry and a list of links to various homeschooling Facebook groups I'm in was very helpful in being able to verify that I was actually a teacher and not a student. So for a very reasonable cost ($60 for the print book), I got a current (2014) print text, a free online full student study guide with self-test questions, updates on current economics topics as free downloads (there's an email list to be informed of new additions), a free instructor's manual with discussion points/answers to the review questions and problems in the text, and a free test bank! Add in a CLEP or AP test at the end (assuming she'll pass) for a very reasonable cost for a potential of 3 college credits.

 

If we decide to go on and do microecon as well, I'll definitely be using them again!