Homeschool Lessons: Watching Economic History Unfold

If your children are a little older, watching the current state of the economy unfold could be fodder for a series of lessons about business. This could be achieved by reading the paper, listening to pod casts and learning about what is the sub prime lending market.

For example creating a diagram following the money from home owner to lender, to investment banks, to insurance agencies to the federal government.  By looking at each of these steps on the financial ladder, you and your children will gain some level of respect for how the financial systems have spiraled into a state where a 700 billion dollar loan from the federal government is being proposed.  To put this into perspective, if you consider there are roughly 100 million people who pay taxes (children, elderly and poor make up the rest), this loan amounts to a $7000 loan from every taxpayer in America. That is something you and your children can think about! Have your child write an op-ed article giving an opinion about this financial crisis once you’ve done the research.

I would recommend a few resources for your research
- Wall Street Journal
- New York Times
- NPR (Marketplace)
Just by taking a few minutes a day to learn about these events will bring a lifetime of knowledge about being financially responsible.  Good luck and have fun as we watch history unfold.

Greenspan , “let’s recognize that this is a once-in-a-half-century, probably once-in-a-century type of event.”

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