A Money Management Simulation for LD Students
Independent Living Simulation- Money Magagement
Dec 16, 2008
Before beginning a money management simulation, prior learning must take place. Students should be familiar with the job search process and how to find housing. They must be taught decision making skills involving cars, appliances, and other large purchases. They must also have learned the skills involved in maintaining a bank checking account, as well as making a monthly budget.
Getting Paid to Come to School
Similar to the game of Life, students should choose a job and a realistic salary. They will be paid for coming to school. Students should fill out a time sheet for the hours they work as students at school. There is no pay for holidays or sick days, as is usually the case for workers at entry level jobs. Students can calculate their pay for each week. The teacher fills out a “paycheck” for each student.
Students then use the skills they learned for keeping a bank account. They deposit their paychecks, deciding how much to keep out each week for spending, gas, and savings. A local bank may donate voided checkbooks with registers, otherwise teachers can make their own for each student.
Paying Expenses
Each week the students are given an envelope. Inside are monthly bills for rent, car payments, utilities, and other expenses. Students must write checks and keep track of them in their check registers.
Students are also required to “shop” for food each week. They make lists of food they will need for each week, and then use supermarket flyers to find the cost of each item. The total is added and paid for using a check or debit card, and the appropriate records are kept.
Dealing with the Unexpected
Every so often, teachers should include unexpected expenses in the weekly envelope. These can include: birthday gifts, special dates, car repairs – anything that can come up in the course of events. Students must decide how to pay for these things. Teachers can guide these decisions through discussions about borrowing money, taking it out of savings, and other solutions.
More Advanced Concepts
Once students are familiar with these simpler concepts, they could go on to practice more advanced money management skills. These might include: using credit cards, making loans and payments, and using an ATM.
A money management simulation takes some set up work on the teacher’s part. However, the learning that comes from these activities provides more in-depth understanding than hypothetical word problems in a math book. It also affords important discussion and problem-solving strategies students may not learn from a traditional textbook.
