Whatever Happened to Penny Candy - age??

[mlktwins]

I have my boys signed up for 2 of their 3 outsourced classes for 10th grade.  The 3rd one will be a year long Honors class, US Government and Politics, with an awesome teacher.  We are taking it in 10th grade because it is an election year and also because she may not teach it again before the boys graduate :-).

Anyway, we are going to be home A LOT this next year and I'm thinking of my home taught classes and electives.  I'm wondering if Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? and the The Bluestocking Guide to go with it would be too young for them at this point?  I have it already...we just haven't used it.  If I did use it for a semester long class, I would be adding a lot of other resources to our semester.  Just really wondering if we've missed the boat on this one.  I would start it this summer is we were going to use it :-).

TIA

[MamaSprout]

As a supplement, it would be fine for any age. As a spine, I'd say middle school?

[....]

I think 12?  It's been several years since we read that book, but I think my son was 13 and my daughter was 14.  It wasn't a spine, just an extra book we read.  They both actually really enjoyed the book.

[Lori D.]

Agreeing with MamaSprout -- it's at a middle school level, but fine as a short high school summer supplement, or just for fun extra.

You mentioned thinking of using the book and guide as a spine for a semester long class... For what subject?? The book does not cover quite a few of the topics that are normally covered in an Economics course, and very little of the topics for a Personal Finance or Government course. And even with the guide, the book is extremely short, so I think it would be hard to use it as a "spine" resource. 

Also, the author is very clear that he writes from a Libertarian POV, which is often placed at the extreme right on the political spectrum -- just in case you would also like to provide some balancing viewpoints.

Side note: since you're doing Gov't during the election year, you might also find Maybury's Are You Liberal, Conservative, or Confused? to be a useful supplement. He lays out the different political philosophies very clearly; again from a clearly stated Libertarian POV.

Edited May 28, 2020 by Lori D.

[mlktwins]

22 hours ago, Lori D. said:

Agreeing with MamaSprout -- it's at a middle school level, but fine as a short high school summer supplement, or just for fun extra.

You mentioned thinking of using the book and guide as a spine for a semester long class... For what subject?? The book does not cover quite a few of the topics that are normally covered in an Economics course, and very little of the topics for a Personal Finance or Government course. And even with the guide, the book is extremely short, so I think it would be hard to use it as a "spine" resource. 

Also, the author is very clear that he writes from a Libertarian POV, which is often placed at the extreme right on the political spectrum -- just in case you would also like to provide some balancing viewpoints.

Side note: since you're doing Gov't during the election year, you might also find Maybury's Are You Liberal, Conservative, or Confused? to be a useful supplement. He lays out the different political philosophies very clearly; again from a clearly stated Libertarian POV.

Thanks to all!  I'm not sure it would really be the spine.  Just getting my thoughts together with what I have vs. what I need to get.  

They enjoy these books.  Lori D. - We read Are you Liberal, Conservative, or Confused? together a few years ago so we could talk about what the parties meant originally and how they are changing today.  Interesting book and great discussions.  We also read the book on justice and one of the boys read the thousand year war book for fun.  

Maybe I'll just have them read it and I'll just sell it and the guide as a set.

Thanks so much!

[2_girls_mommy]

My high schooler just finished it. I am having her do the personal finance one in the series next. We are giving her an .5 economics credit, but she has had to do other things too (girl scout badgework that we picked with steps on the topics, manage her bank accounts, watch current events, learn budgeting, etc.)  Ours is more of a personal business or general business course to be more descriptive. We did it alongside several books that we were doing for government, so it all kind of overlapped in the end. I just bought the Thinking Tree economics funschooling journal to use as the spine for my dd15 who is about to start the Penny Candy book this coming semester. But we are working our way through some of it as a spine with both of them together, finishing up dd17's economics credit.