Financial Literacy in my classroom

I teach math and an at risk program for high school students.  In my math class, it is very easy to tie financial material with my content.  I'm constantly using real life examples with my students about the basic math they will need to use every day.  For example, when they are paying bills, buying items, or even balancing a checkbook.  Of course they can use calculators, by I try to stress the importance of estimation skills so that they are aware of where their amounts should be.

In my at risk class, a lot of my students come from broken homes and they've never even seen a parent pay the bills or balance a checkbook.  So it's important for me to have these conversations with them when they come up.  Especially for my juniors and seniors who are starting to get jobs and look at colleges.  They may be the first in their family and they need to know how to apply for loans or budget their money to save for college.

I agree it's important to introduce these concepts in the classroom.  While following the everfi.com course, I realized they also may need more visuals, as well as going to a bank, listening to a banker, looking at the brochures and walking through the steps of being in a bank and doing business.

This will give them the experience they need and which will make them more comfortable so they might do some of the banking options.