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BJU Press Consumer Math Overview
You gotta love a curriculum that is practical, enjoyable, and grounded in the Word of God. Consumer Math, from BJU Press, exceeded my expectations for a consumer math course and my daughter, who is currently finishing up the course, has really enjoyed it and found it extremely insightful and practical.
Consumer Math is really a stewardship course that instructs high schoolers on the importance of being a good steward of their finances, time, and talents. Math skills are taught in the context of being a good steward of finances. Your teen will learn math skills related to things like budgeting, buying a house, insurance, and paying taxes.
Principles from Scripture are applied to these areas of finances. This curriculum helps teens view their work and finances through the lens of Scripture so that they can be good stewards for the glory of God.
Two Options for Consumer Math
This is a one-year, 1 credit, high school level course that is recommended for 12th graders, although younger teens could certainly take the course.
BJU Press offers this course in two different formats. First, there is the parent-led, textbook only, option which includes the student textbook, a teacher’s edition, and the assessments and answer keys. In this option, parents would be providing the daily teaching instruction for their teens before the student tackled the assigned assignments.
The second option is a video-based, online, self-paced course, where the teaching is done by Mr. Harmon, one of my kids’ favorite BJU Press instructors. The videos are accessed through the Homeschool Hub where lessons, assignments, tests and quizzes are all scheduled out for the student. You will receive a physical copy of the student textbook but the tests and quizzes are taken online and automatically graded. There are some quizzes and tests that a parent must grade manually but the Homeschool Hub makes that very easy for the parent.
- Check out the parent-led option.
- Check out the online, video-based option.
- Check out the Homeschool Hub.
What is Covered in the Consumer Math Curriculum
Chapter 1 and 2 start off with a review of basic math skills such as rates, ratios, percent, and solving equations as well as measurements and conversions between different measurement systems. These are very basic math skills that the student will need to know as they work through the material and learn to be good a good steward of their finances.
The rest of the chapters cover income, budgeting, personal banking, borrowing money, transportation, food, clothing, acquiring housing, maintaining a home, life and health insurance, income taxes and vacations. Each of these topics are covered in greater detail in the corresponding chapter. For example, the chapter on personal banking covers checking accounts, bank transactions, reconciling a bank statement, calculation of interest on savings, compounding interest for shorter periods, effective interest rates and savings accounts and savings programs. The chapter of maintaining a home includes lessons on real estate taxes, homeowner’s insurance, utilities such as electricity, gas, water and sewer and communications. It also covers how finances play into house repairs, maintenance and home improvements. The chapter on income taxes covers taxable income, income tax liability, various tax forms along with state income tax. These are topics that every adult should be familiar with.
Consumer Math Review
I chose the video-based option for my daughter to do this year. The video lessons were anywhere between 15 to 30 minutes long. The assignments were short but included enough instruction and practice for her to grasp the concept being taught. There were also review problems which helped refresh her memory of past concepts.
At the end of each chapter in the textbook is a “Stewardship and Scripture” section that corresponds to the “Get Rich Quick” segment in the video course, which is a helpful segment to help teens think about the topic they are learning about with a biblical worldview framework instead of with a “get rich quick” worldly mindset.
My daughter admits that she doesn’t enjoy math very much but she did enjoy this consumer math course and found it very helpful. She also said that Mr. Harmon created a fun atmosphere for learning in each of the videos.
She said that the workload was pretty easy yet she learned so many important concepts that have better prepared her for life. She also said that if you take the quizzes and do the chapter reviews, you will be well prepared for each of the tests.
When I asked her what she liked most about the course, she said this: “I really appreciate the verses in each chapter. The repetition of the verses in every lesson helped solidify, in my mind, the biblical concepts behind Consumer Math. I also liked the focus of the course on things that I will face in real life.”
Consumer Math has proven to be a very practical stewardship course for teens as they head off into the adult world to manage their own finances. Because the courses is grounded in a biblical worldview, teens will learn how to steward their finances and their life for the glory of God.
Get a Look Inside
Watch my review of BJU Press Consumer Math and get a look inside the curriculum in this homeschool curriculum video review.
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