The following post is a collaboration between Beyond Personal Finance and MommyMaestra. All thoughts and opinions are the personal ones of guest writer, Stacie Farias.
Parents! Are you looking for a fun and engaging curriculum to teach kids 8 - 12 about managing money? Check out this review of Beyond Personal Finance's NEW program for tweens, BEFORE Personal Finance.
Personal Finance Lessons Then and Now
Allegedly, my 7th grade end-of-the-year math project was supposed to be a “fun” exercise on money. We were partnered up and tasked with spending $1,000,000. Sounds fun, right? The stipulations were that we could not buy more than 1 of each item and we had to provide “proof” of purchase. Y’all, this was before the internet. My family didn’t even own a computer yet. So there we were clipping newspaper For Sale ads, trying to find items we hadn’t purchased yet but a million bucks was not as easy to spend as we thought. If my memory is correct, my partner and I scored 68%. That was my only public school experience with finance education until Economics in 12th grade.
Finding Before Personal Finance
Forty years later, I’m homeschooling my own children and I am, quite frankly, relieved that author Charla McKinley and her son Jack have written curricula that addressed the topic of personal finance. My obvious trauma (joking but not joking) leftover from that one 7th grade experience with budgeting has absolutely stilted any confidence in teaching personal finance to my own children. And I have a minor in Economics!! I jumped at the chance to review Before Personal Finance because I really needed a subject-matter expert to help me teach my children.
Breakdown of Before Personal Finance
Before Personal Finance is a curriculum best suited for ages 10-12, maybe a little younger if their subtraction skills are advanced, which addresses key topics in personal finance in ten lessons. There is only 1 worktext that both the parent and student use together with a QR code to online teacher resources that are essential to the lessons.
There is also a How-To video for the parent, which I strongly recommend you watch before starting this curriculum. Each lesson addresses one specific topic in personal finance, for example, Lesson 1 is “Introduction to Money” and Lesson 2 follows with “Earning Money.” Each lesson builds on the previous lesson and must be done in sequence. Lesson 3 is “Budgeting” and flows logically into Lesson 4 “Smart Spending.” The Lesson Overview estimates each lesson taking around 2 hours, however, I found that each lesson takes roughly 1-1.5 hours.
Individual Lesson Breakdown
Each lesson follows the same format:
Teacher’s Corner page addressed to the parent/teacher
Future You page addressed to the student
Two pages of new information for the lesson
Lesson Activity
Store page for the student to “purchase” items
Budget page
Fun Activity page
People Who Have Made a Difference page (Adam Smith, Alexander Hamilton, etc)
Quiz
Reflection page
The lessons address the student as their future-selves with money gifted to them by their grandparents, ($300 to be exact). Then the lessons present scenarios where the “future you” spends or earns money.
What I Love About the Curriculum
There is always a “plot twist” to each lesson where the student is confronted with a scenario that impacts their budget. A spinning wheel of scenarios is available through the “teacher resources” QR code. Some of the “plot twists” my son got were “Broke your retainer. You have to spend $200 for replacement,” and “Lost my friend’s headphones. You have to buy new ones for them. They cost $80.” Doesn’t stuff like that happen ALL THE TIME?
These plot twists, in my opinion, are the cherry-on-top of Before Personal Finance because life isn’t static. Life rarely ever allows for perfect budget planning. So how would a personal finance curriculum adequately prepare the children for real-life personal finance without factoring in the unexpected? The
"plot twists” are the chef’s kiss of this curriculum.
Bottom Line
Before Personal Finance is perfect for the homeschool family with tweens interested in money. What tween isn’t interested in money?! We used this program as a fun summer subject but I could definitely see Before Personal Finance for use throughout a semester, as a morning basket read aloud, or as a fun activity during Advent so that the children are money-conscious before witnessing the expense of the holiday season.
In fact, I enjoyed this one so much that we are definitely buying the teen version. And I wish they had one for teens opening businesses. Not just personal finance. (Hint, hint. Anyone reading this?)
Where to Get It
So if you have a tween - don't wait! This topic is a must add to your school curriculum. Get your copy of Before Personal Finance- A Beginners Guide to the Future here on the Beyond Personal Finance website.
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Disclaimer: I received a copy of level two for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ~Stacie
