How to Create a Lesson on Money for Your Homeschooler

Homeschooling does not have to be restricted to just the lessons that you find in school books. One thing I have learned from homeschooling is that being creative really goes a long way. It helps keep the learning process fun and enjoyable for your student, and for you as well. Truth be told, when you first start considering to create your own lesson plan the task can seem too large to handle. It really does not have to be. The ideas listed below will help you to create a lesson plan on money for students who are on the kindergarten, and first grade level. Remember that these are just ideas and you can tweak, and change them to fit your personal preference as needed.

It's poster time

The first thing you will want your student to learn is how to identify all of the coins. Start with a large poster board, and draw, or glue pictures of coins on the poster board. You can find poster board at your local arts and crafts store, or your local Walmart store. When labeling your poster board be sure to show both sides of the all the coins. They need to be able to identify both front and back of the coins. If you are going to glue it to the poster board then be sure to blow the picture up big enough so that they can see it on the board. You can then mount the poster board in your school area, as a reference until they can easily identify all of the coins. Don't worry about the bills for now, just focus on the coins.

Use the real thing

Obviously allowing them to see the actual coins for themselves can help as well. Find a bunch of coins and if possible place them in a jar, or container. You can have them sort the coins which will help them to remember which is which. For example they can make a pile of pennies, and a pile of nickels, and so on. Doing this once a day is a great way for them to learn to identify money.

What's it worth

Once they are able to identify each of the coins by name they are now ready for the next step. They need to know how much each coin is worth. Take a stack of index cards and on one side of the card have your child draw a coin. You can start with the penny. Have them draw both the front of the penny and the back of the penny side by side. Under the penny they can write the name of the coin. On the back of the index card have the write down how much the coin is worth. Each day you can review the flash cards with them. This is a great memory exercise to help them learn the value of the coins. In addition to this daily exercise you can have them play games like store, that will also help them learn the value of the coins. For game ideas you can click here.