E is for Economics for Everybody

So this being Caleb's Senior year, I had to tackle the "big" subject of economics. All I remembered about economics is whatever goes up must come down, which I don't think is even true anymore. So I looked at several options and they looked as dry as dust or weren't meaty enough for high school. I eventually settled on Economics for Everybody because, well, it looked interesting and fun.

Economics for Everybody  from Compass Classroom comes with 2 DVDs that include all 12 lessons and a study guide with discussion questions. They also recommend using Basic Economics, Third Edition by Carson and Cleveland to make it a more in depth study. They also have available to download a Scope and Sequence Guide for One Semester along with answers to the study guide. In this guide there are recommendations for additional work along with readings from Basic Economics.  If a student wants to go deeper into the study Compass Classrooms offers a list of resources to go deeper into the study.

Even though the DVD lessons are in lecture format they are not boring in any way. As Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr. talks about economics the background will change to to different old film clips and cartoons that illustrate his points. These are fun and engaging. At one point I had to go back and re-watch a part since I got so caught up into the crazy film that was showing I missed the point!  Most of the lessons run around 20 minutes and none of them go longer than 30 minutes.

I ended up using Economics for Everybody in a co-op setting with kids from 13-18. We basically just watched the lesson and spend time answering the multiple choice questions and short questions and if time allowed doing some of the discussion questions. This class was basically used to introduce the topic of Economics to the kids, though it I counted toward Caleb's 1/2 Credit. We did some other books at home to help round out his credit. I will say here that at first some of the younger kids struggled with understanding some of the topics, but we spend time discussing these and by the end of the course they were able to apply the principles taught to current events and from other things they read about in their history books.

I can't begin to tell you how much I learned. I could finally understand things like free markets, command market, principles of the Bible that apply to economics, why America has been blessed, worldview and economics, and so much more. Personally, I think every Christian needs to watch these.

For my family,  Economics for Everybody this was just what was needed as it gave us a solid foundation to understanding economics. Highly recommended!

All thoughts are my own honest opinion. I was not reimbursed in anyway for this review. I am just very happy mama wanting to share her experience with this product.