The classroom economy program is an effective and enjoyable way to teach your students fundamental financial literacy concepts without altering your curriculum.

Implementing the program is an easy three-step process:

1. Before the school year starts, you spend a few hours gathering materials and planning how to customize the program for your school and your own classroom.
2. During the first month of school, you spend some classroom time introducing the program and training the students to complete their tasks.
3. Throughout the year, you monitor the students' progress and provide support and guidance when necessary.

As they perform their tasks, the students will be helping you manage the classroom and, in the process, learning valuable skills—such as responsibility, the value of saving, and delayed gratification—that they will carry with them throughout life.

The beauty of the program is that you don't need to teach these lessons; rather, your students will experience them and learn for themselves.

Core objectives for students in Grades 11–12

Through My Classroom Economy, students learn valuable life skills in an experiential way.

Specifically, they are able to:

• Take part in a simulation of real-world economic activity.
• Learn the value of earning a paycheck, as they bank the salaries from their jobs.
• Learn how to budget their spending, balance a checking account, and make scheduled payments.
• Understand the importance of sound recordkeeping.
• Discover the importance of saving money for future goals.
• Describe the purpose of paying taxes.
• Explain the benefits of holding insurance.
• Find out that every decision has an opportunity cost.

At these grade levels, students learn more advanced financial concepts. In addition to earning a salary and paying bills, students are also encouraged to keep a more detailed budget to help manage the costs of purchasing insurance and investing in a simulated retirement account.