A lesson in Budgeting - a Success!

After grading the Depression budgets and trying to convince the kids that they could not feed a family of four for one whole month with only 10 apples and three loaves of bread (they had some trouble with the food section!), I had them fill out an evaluation about what they learned from the assignment.  The results were very interesting.  Here are a few of the most interesting answers to the questions.

Question 1: What was difficult about planning this budget?

- "The hardest part was trying to find enough money for everything and having enough money for food without being hungry.  Also trying to figure out how much food we needed was hard."

2) How did you handle the unexpected events?

-My group had to buy a new stove and pay for a Dr. visit.  We had to decide where to take money from and it was hard because we knew we needed food but wanted to go to the Circus so we had to make some hard decisions and it was not fun.

3) How would you feel if this was a real life situation?

- We would be stressed and sad at how little money we had and that we were working hard but it was still hard to pay for everything. 

4) What did you learn from this and what would you want to tell your parents?

-We learned that it was hard to plan a budget and that it takes a lot of money to have a family and a life. We would want to thank our parents for working so hard and paying for so much for us.  (I thought this was the BEST answer of the day!)

- We learned that it was really hard to live during the Great Depression and that we are very lucky to have everything that we have in our lives.

 

Overall I really loved this assignment and I think the kids really learned about the hardships of the Great Depression, the importance of having a budget, and they got an idea of just how hard it is and how much it costs to run a family.  Hopefully a life lesson they will remember.  Ha I was trying to convince them that as soon as they have a part time job or babysit they should make a budget so they can save some money and so they always have money to shop or go out with friends, or pay for gas in a car when they drive - they thought I was crazy but I say it anyway because I really wish I had a budget when I was younger!  

Next up... Digital Footprint - how has our communication changed because of technology?  More than you can imagine!