Help me w/ my math class

S

Smurfette

500+ Posts
Most of you know I'm a teacher. Today I found out that I'm going to be taking half of a current special ed math class that has gotten too large. The kids I'm going to be teaching are very low- intelligence, so I'm going to be teaching them basic consumer math kinds of things.

So, What kinds of things do you think kids need to be taught before they get out there on their own? Here are some thought's I've had:


Paying bills/ reading bills: Due dates
Calculating Income
Hourly rate vs. salary
Overtime
Taxes
Developing a budget
Determine living expenses
Housing
Car/ insurance
Gas
Groceries
Spending
Day care

Evaluating Financing choices
Credit cards
Rent to own
Bank Loan

Banking
Making Deposits
Writing checks
Balancing check book

Shopping: Calculating discounts/sales


What other math-based skills could I be teaching these kids? Thanks for the help!
 
Be absolutely certain you show them how badly they can **** themselves with a credit card.

You'll need to teach a basic understanding of interest. Then you can easily take real cases of credit card payment plans to show how much money actually gets spent if they make only the minimum monthly payment on a revolving balance.

I believe one of the primary factors that keeps poor people poor is a failure to understand interest, and how it can work for you, but also how it can work against you. There is probably no single greater thing you can teach them than how important it is to avoid debt whenever possible, that way they won't be swayed by all the credit card come-ons they are sure to get once they enroll at Texas A&M.
 
Operation Hope (L.A. based economic literacy charity/foundation) has some good learning modules for teachers/mentors through their Banking on our Future program. --The Link (Reg. Req'd).

Operation Hope --The Link
 
- The metric system & notations/conversions/equivalencies; Scientific stuff like 'milli', 'micro', etc.

-How about home measurements: Cups, Tbs., tps., etc. and their equivalents.


just spitballing here.
 
I know interest might be a tough subject to teach to these kids, but maybe explain why payday loans and the like are a BAD deal.

Also, maybe show how to fill out a 1040 EZ? I knew kids in HS and early college that were hourly and never filled out their tax returns--and I'm certain they would have received money back from the government.
 
Teach them the difference between income and net worth, the difference between cash flow and a balance sheet.

Bernard
 
Teach them the difference between spending and investing. Then show them the repercussions of spending with real world examples:

- $1000 on a set of mud tires, means $1000 can't use on a TIG welder which can generate money for life.

- Lotto is not an investment

- $10/day on smokes and sixers really adds up.

Might want to adjust this to make it age appropriate
wink.gif
 
Your list looks pretty good. You could also have them calculate the cost of smoking one pack of cigarettes per day over the course of a month, year, and lifetime. That made an impression on me when I was young.
 
Put the cost of goods into hours worked. For instance, if something costs $50, and you make $8/hr, how many hours do you have to work to buy it?
 
Compounded interest over time. Show them how much money they make by putting even a little bit aside starting at age 18. Show them how it grows over the years and how it can help them.

Seeing as how there likely won't be a SS retirement system for them and they may not always have a job that has a retirement plan, this is helpful.

Kids don't get it off hand but when you spell it out for them in numbers, they see it a bit differently.

I did this with new Army guys and had them take 100 bucks out of each check their first year, 200 or so each year after. If they got out after 3 years they had money for school, rent, books/fees and maybe a small car until the cumbersome G.I. Bill kicked in for them. Without it, many don't go to school.

Tangent, I know but examples like this help sometimes when you put it into things they are looking directly at in the future.

The Operation Hope suggestion is a very good one. They do good work and love to do outreach.
 
Is this true "special ed" kids...or just resource type kids that have ADD and are a bit behind? My wife teaches special ed high school and about 90% of the stuff you mentioned is WAY above and beyond what they currently teach true special ed kids with disabilities.
 
About half of them have IQs hovering in the 70's. The other half are kids who might peek in the high 80's, but have signifigant learning disabilities. These are the kids who are bright enough to be able to live alone and work a real job, but who will never go to college or anything. The need the skills to be able to function in the real world.

Yeah, I agree it's going to be tough to get these concepts through to them. But, if I can get them to understand the real-world concepts and applications-- like how to figure the price when it's 20% off, how to balace a checkbook, etc-- they'll be able to use the calculator to figure it out.

Teaching about Payday loans are a really good idea. Which got me thinking about having kids understand bounced check/overdraft fees too.

Keep em coming folks!
 
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