I often wonder at the dire lack of financial instruction in schools. While there may be a short unit in math on how to balance a checkbook, there is little else about managing finances. Young people are in need of much more. They have no idea what money is really worth.

A college debt of 100,000 dollars is hard for them to compute. How can they? They know nothing about interest and the future bills they will be dealing with. They don’t know the cost of living. They think they can pay their loan off in a couple of years. They don’t know that college loans cannot be declared in a bankruptcy—they are stuck with them for life. Our children are clueless.

Young people fall prey to pyramid schemes and predators who are out to cheat them. They take out loans for businesses that fail, pulling them into financial ruin. They know nothing about budgeting, debt, risk assessment… the education system has failed them.

Young couples buy houses without considering the interest they will be paying. They don’t know that if they pay just a little more every month, they could pay if off in fifteen years instead of thirty. Better yet, they could live cheaply for a few years and buy a house out right!

It is nice in school to learn about sports and health, woodworking is fun. I also enjoyed choir and literature. However, when I graduated, I knew little about money. Do we ever go through a day without using money? Money is essential to doing business. Money is how we trade seamlessly, how we pay our debts, how we serve one another, how we support our church. The Bible speaks a lot about money-how to use it and warns us about its dangers. Shouldn’t we be teaching our children about money?

My daughter has a friend who is caught up in a pyramid scheme. These are illegal in the United States, but they still exist or have close imitations. My daughter tries to explain to her why the business will not work and how she is being taken advantage of. She tells her to look at the bottom line-how much is she making? Her friend thinks she just needs to word harder. These businesses often “love bomb” their associates and lie about the finances. They tell them they just need to sign up more clients. They are scams. If we educate our children in business and finances, they will be better armed against these con artists. An education in finances and business will help them all their life. This knowledge is truly useful.

It was this lack of curriculum which inspired me to write this course. Even among homeschoolers there are few choices. I hope and pray that this course will help to fill this gap in education. May it instill in students an appreciation and respect for business and be an inspiration for managing their resources well.