Product Reviews from Real Bloggers

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Most teens are clueless about how expensive being an adult is. 

Meet my son… he walks in the door recently after being at the grocery store and comments on how expensive everything was. He had come home with some snacks. I had to keep from rolling my eyes and gently put in my parental comment about how much it costs to actually feed a family, or even one person. At 19 and graduating from college, he still has lessons to learn. 

I’ve actually found some great ideas to talk over with him from using this Personal Finance for Teens Curriculum – Beyond Personal Finance, with my daughter. 

Trying to teach personal finance for teens is one of the hardest things you’ll ever teach in your homeschool. But it’s also one of the most important lessons they’ll ever learn.  

Over the years, thousands of students have been allowed to graduate high school with no knowledge of how to manage their money. This has led to excessive spending, divorce and depression. 

Knowing how to manage money is a skill that will not only take you far in life, but will also help you have successful relationships, too.  After all, no one likes it when you’re constantly borrowing money that you can’t afford to pay back!  

If you’re looking for a simple and fun way to teach personal finance for teens, Beyond Personal Finance is just what you need! The interactive one-semester class lets teens simulate age 22-42 by making real choices and real budgets.

 My 8-year old daughter can’t wait to grow up and start “adulting”. She’s at the age where she dreams about getting married, having a family, having a car, and doing all of the “fun” things she thinks adults get to do.

I have to just shake my head and smile each time she begins talking and romanticizing her grown-up future. Not because I don’t think it’s going to be great (or deny that adults do get to do some pretty fun things!), and I pray that her life is all she dreams it to be.

But – and I’m sure you can relate – ignorance sure is bliss at that age, for a lot of things!

One of my jobs as a homeschool mama is to not only teach my sweet kids how to read and write, but how to grow up to be responsible, capable citizens, and good stewards of the gifts and resources the Lord has blessed them with. 

A big part of that preparation is financial literacy and learning how to manage money.

Luckily, there’s a course out there to help us prepare our kids for their futures, and show them just what “being an adult” is really like! 

Personal finance can be a complicated topic for adults, let alone teens. It’s often dry, dull, and lacks an element of relatability when it comes to teaching our homeschooled teens how to understand the concepts of financial literacy.

And yet, it’s an important life skill that we shouldn’t ignore. After all, we all want our kids to be successful adults, right? Like it or not, managing money throughout the course of their lifetime is a big part of that.

Guess what? I’ve recently discovered a curriculum that helps you navigate financial literacy topics with your teens and makes it totally relatable and interactive for them! It’s called Beyond Personal Finance.

Because my husband is a CPA, financial lessons have started young in our house. It is very important to our family to teach our kids how to handle money wisely. That includes teaching them the important financial lessons they need to know as adults. Even before high school, financial literacy is an important topic that your kids need to understand. Here are some of the key lessons to teach them.  

Preparing teens for life beyond chores and allowances can be tough, but it is important to include Personal Finance for Teens in your list of things to teach your kids before they leave home to help them gain Financial Literacy. By taking the time to build financial literacy for teens, we can set them up for success before it's time for them to leave home and make financial decisions on their own.

As a homeschool mom, my goal is to prepare my children for the future as well as possible. I want to launch my kids well into the world and take my role to prepare them to leave home very seriously. One very important part of this is to prepare them with enough financial literacy to be a fully functioning adult when they leave home.

We have taken multiple financial literacy courses over the last 2 years, which have all been excellent. 

So why was I on the hunt for a new financial literacy for teens course? The other courses were more theoretical, which I wanted, but Beyond Personal Finance talks about what to expect for the next 20 years.

I was so excited to get started with this financial literacy for teens course because my 12 year old wants to be a billionaire.

Yes, a billionaire. Completely down with that. However, I am pretty sure he believes money is grown on trees, and a private island is well within everyone’s reach!

Teaching teens about money and the consequences of their financial decisions can be challenging. Thankfully, there are ways to build financial literacy for teens that don’t involve lecturing!   Now that all three of my children have reached the age where money and financial decisions are something very real in their lives, I’ve realized that teaching them to become financial literate is more important than ever.    

While I learned some things about money as a teen, I’ll be honest that I didn’t really know a lot about it when I graduated high school or even college.

Managing money was big and scary and complex. And sadly, that’s a belief that has taken a lot to get rid of and still infiltrates my beliefs to this day.   

But for my kids? I want it to be different! So, here are five ways to build financial literacy in teens that aren’t overwhelming for them or for you!

On the list of things that should rank high for all home-educated high school students, is financial literacy for teens. It’s a vital component of a well-rounded and complete education. In our homeschool, it’s a required course for graduation because I’ve seen just how detrimental a lack of personal finance understanding can be.  

Thankfully, there are a plethora of resources and financial literacy courses for teens so homeschool families can ensure their children understand just how money, interest, savings, and lending all work, helping your teen graduates with some level of financial literacy and understanding.  

With Beyond Personal Finance, teens can learn how to make big financial decisions with an experience-based course designed just for them.

Personal finance is essential learning for your teen. Here’s everything you need to know about teaching your child personal finance for real life.

One of the things that surprised me most when my oldest son went away to college last year was how confident he was in overall life skills. Personal finance was one area that he felt capable and confident managing on his own.

In fact, one of the stories I have shared before is about him figuring out direct deposit and how to divide his paychecks so that 20% of his earnings went into his savings (without me being involved at all!).

Looking back, I’m grateful that we spend so much time focused on life skills in our homeschool.

When I was in high school, I did not learn a single thing about finance or budgeting. While my parents did the best they could, the reality is I was woefully unprepared for the realities of navigating renting my own place, credit cards, medical bills, and overall financial solvency.

It took me years to catch up, something that I am committed to changing when it comes to my own sons’ financial health.