Ok - I'm doing this with my teens. Especially Jake who doesn't save a penny and "pre-spends" everything!! I like the travel one too and may have them do that one into the spring time!
Here's what I'm thinking so far: Week 1: Reseach possible future professions and make a career choice. Write a resume. Week 2: Search openings for the career of your choice. Pick your 3 most wanted options. (I will draw from a hat to determine which job was awarded.) Research salary and cost of living for the area surrounding the job. Create an initial budget based on those findings. Week 3: Find housing, transportation, and stock new home. I will allot a savings for start-up costs. (How much??) Make sure to include any items that are needed for the new job. Weeks 4-10: Track income and expenses to include random life events. I will let him draw a life event once or twice a week. Here's that list (so far): -Got sick, pay doctor visit. -Car breaks down, $250 repair. -Bonus at work, $200. -Playing ball with friends and broke glasses. $250 replacement. -Lost $20 at the mall. -Credit card offer for $1500 credit. Do you accept? -A stray dog is hanging around. Do you take it in? -Happy Birthday! $100 gift for you. -Invitation to dinner with friends. Do you go? -Flat tire! $80 replacement. -Girl Scout cookie time! How many boxes do you buy? -Dental visit-$135 -Boss's Day. Contribute $10. Any ideas or suggestions?
This looks great. Maybe you could add -have to buy new tires for your car -tithing -birthday present for mom or not?
I was thinking tithing in the original budget, but I do think I should put it as a choice! And I like the birthday gift for mom idea!
Yes, I'm making him figure in taxes as well as health insurance costs. I'm thinking we will take actual field trips for the home-stocking part. Should he buy new or used kind of thing.
My favorite Cosby show was the monopoly money one. Sounds like a great project cant wait to hear how it turns out.
Ok this is the basic one I designed: You need to plan out 2 month of a budget based on your income! Can you afford to live? Surprises might happen during the next 6 weeks as well as life always throws you something you don’t expect! Things you need to do: • Figure out how much you take home per month/per week? • Find a place to live? Use the newspaper! • Find transportation (can you afford a car?) • How much are utilities? Internet? Cell Phone? Electricity? • If you buy a car, how much is gas per week? • Groceries? • Can you afford to go out to eat? The movies? Your annual take home salary is $40,000.00 Each kid has a different salary. My husband and I will also be posting notes on their door with "obstacles" - car breaks down.... hospital bill.... that sort of thing. For this area, I gave them pretty low incomes ($30-60,000/year) It will sound like so much $$ to them - but I think they will realize it's a lot different when they look! Our employee makes $525/week and he actually could NOT find housing in this area he could afford so he had to move to WV (9 miles away - but 1/2 the price!)
you might consider finding a career aptitude test for them to do. I know when I was teaching we did a powerpoint project over a career. I used to use a link to a simple, but effective career aptitude test as the first part of the project. I'll see if I can find it... It didn't take them long at all to complete (a few minutes), but it did help them see a bit what may fit them well career-wise. It took into account what you were good at and what you liked to do. I don't know how overly accurate it was (it was free!) but for a jr high class project it did the job!
Dana, I like the idea of setting the salary. I think I will decide that after I see what career he chooses. If he chooses something with a large salary to make it easier, I may make him take a "starter job" with a lower income. I don't want this project to be super easy. I want him to have to make it work. And Mkel, I will look up the career assessment tests. That's a great idea! Thanks for all the suggestions.
When we did this in high school, we also had to get married (some stayed single!), and drew papers that told the married ones how many kids they had. (This was before single parenthood was common).
I decided to keep it somewhat simple (DH is working with me on this one and I don't want to confuse the man) For the trip one I will probably make it a little more involved - but I'm not sure.
