Financial Fitness for Life

The National Council on Economic Education, with a grant from the Bank of America Foundation, has published Financial Fitness for Life, a Kindergarten through Grade 12 Personal Financial Literacy program for your children. National data indicate that high school students are ill prepared to enter the world of work or the world of finance, because they have not learned the most fundamental economic skills and concepts. Financial Fitness for Life addresses this lack of understanding head on.

For Grades K-2

Pocket Power:
A Financial Primer

Young children are hands-on learners. Pocket Power uses an illustrated series of stories to teach personal finance concepts. Teachers present simple and fun classroom projects related to the stories in Pocket Power. The concepts presented provide a foundation for future financial fitness. Even the smallest children understand their decisions are important-and that, if they think about choices they will be happy with the results.

For Grades 3-5

Steps to Financial Fitness:
A Workout for Using Money Wisely

Steps to Financial Fitness accommodates this new intellectual curiosity without sacrificing any of the more playful aspects of learning.

For Grades 6-8

Shaping Up Your Financial Future:
Understanding How the World Works

Shaping Up Your Financial Future gives these students the information and the confidence to set goals and research options. The 6-8 lessons and workouts are great discussion starters and involve students with the larger community, a transition from school world to real world outside the classroom that sixth to eighth graders welcome. Students also learn that many personal finance decisions require them to use their mathematical skills.

For Grades 9-12

Bringing Home the Gold:
The Competitive Edge (or Real Life 101)

Learning to evaluate career choices, spend money, use credit wisely and plan post high school education options are high-interest activities for high school students. Bringing Home the Gold appeals to the growing sense of autonomy older teenagers feel as they begin to take responsibility for their own lives.

Parent Guides

Parent guides are a first-time-ever curriculum developed for parents to begin sharing Financial Fitness for Life with their children at every grade level. The lessons are simple, with exercises parents can guide or explore as a family. Each subject area provides material for family discussion and an assortment of recommended activities that parents can do together with their kids. In addition, there is also a treasure trove of suggested books for those who want to dig deeper as well as links to Internet resources through the NCEE web site. Parents can spend as little or as much time as they have-and still see immediate and lasting results.