Consumer Math and Personal Finance Lesson Plans

Learners identify and describe the history of home economics and how that history shaped and defined the role of women. Then they explore the home economics manuals and home economic articles which are available online at Hearth: Home Economics Archive. Students also share with the class items that surprised them why these items surprised them and also what they say about the role of women at that time.

Pupils research, examine and study about the history of home economics and the women who were responsible for designing a whole field of study. They also discuss why this field has become called "human ecology" and the future of the field.

Students survey what it is like to have family members deployed during a war.  In this history instructional activity, students read letters that were written home during many different wars throughout history, then the students write their own letter home, as if they were fighting in a war.

Third graders explore Russian foods. In this home economics instructional activity, 3rd graders cut out pictures of Russian foods from magazines and create a poster. Students explore Russian recipes in cookbooks and prepare a dish to share with the class.

Students explore solid waste background information. They are presented with a well balanced picture. Students review ideas on how to use solid waste issues in many fields including math, science, English, social studies and home economics. They come up with a variety of solutions to remedy this problem.

Twelfth graders become aware of the environmental, social and economic issues related to the production of blue jeans. They explore the relationship between individual clothing choices as well as global issues. In addition, they summarize the conditions under which textile items are manufactured.

Analyze the issues that affect the state of economies. Have your class explore media reports about recent economic recessions, the housing bubble, and loan defaults in order to chart information about recessions and participate in an activity based on the labor market. This activity is a good way to practice evaluating claims in a text. All links and handouts are included. Use this resource to emphasize textual evidence to support an argument.

Students write their responses to five questions about their home town. After watching an excerpt from "The War", they work together in groups to identify the characteristics of the four towns in the movie into a graphic organizer. They discuss the various activities and challenges each town faced.

Students use a Thanksgiving bulletin board to pick-up activities based on the weekly economic topic. In this economics instructional activity, students go to various centers to choose cross curricular activities.

Students discuss the plight of the homeless in the U.S. and in their own community. They participate in a food drive for a local shelter. They role play being homeless and discover what it would be like to not have food or shelter.