Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: dave ramsey, finances, math

This topic has 17 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 11 months ago by Misty.

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May 16, 2013 at 6:41 pm
Misty
Participant
I was looking at getting a finance/personal/money program for my HS student. I ran across this program
http://www.daveramsey.com/store/kids-teens/-i-foundations-in-personal-finance-i-homeschool-pack-with-1-student-workbook/prodFOUNDHOMEPKCUR.html
It’s spendy but I have 7 kids so reallly over time it wouldn’t be. We also do most of our work in a notebook. But I can’t find any info on how he teaches or his views. Does anyone have any comments on his work?
Or what have you used to teach finance to your children, above balancing a checkbook, paying bills, etc.?
May 16, 2013 at 6:49 pm
nerakr
Participant
The best way to decide about Dave Ramsey is to listen to his broadcasts. They are available at his website.
While we don’t follow his plan, I do enjoy listening to the broadcasts and getting some information about setting up budgeting. Ds9 enjoys his Jr book series and is attempting to do the save/spend/give envelopes.
May 16, 2013 at 7:06 pm
Misty
Participant
Could you lead me to the titles of his Jr book series, please. I would be interested in seeing if our libray has them. I can’t listen as I have limited internet. Maybe I will have to take a coffee break and do that though
May 16, 2013 at 7:12 pm
JenKeithley
Member
I really appreciate Dave Ramsey. Sometimes he comes off a bit ornery, but I truly think he’s trying to help people. My husband and I attended one of his seminars at our church and it changed our lives. In five years we were able to pay off $60K in debts. My husband then went on to train with Dave Ramsey to become a certified financial counselor. What he says is based on scripture and a whole lot of wisdom. We’ve bugged our kids for years (while paying off the debt) about what it means to live free and to be able to use more money for kingdom purposes. My oldest two boys have sat through the seminar and it has given them a framework for understanding money and opened dialogue about why we spend money and what we should spend our money on… and what all of this means for their future. Even if you don’t agree with everything he says, these are great dialogues to have with our children before they leave home and make the same stupid decisions I made.
May 16, 2013 at 7:44 pm
nerakr
Participant
Does a radio station in your area carry Dave Ramsey? Or do you have an iPod? His website will list radio stations in your area, and he offers free podcasts.
Here is the link to Dave Ramsey’s store that lists the titles of the children’s books. I’ve found most of mine at the Goodwill.
http://www.daveramsey.com/store/kids-teens/kids-3-12/cYOUTH-cKIDS3TO13-p1.html
May 16, 2013 at 8:56 pm
MountainMamma
Participant
His views are really well summed up in his book the Total Money Makeover. He is very motivating and has a moving personal story of “making it big” and then losing it all from too much debt. Your local library probably carries this book and it’s an easy read. We give it as gifts to friends who are getting married or graduating from college.
http://www.daveramsey.com/store/books/dave-s-bestsellers/the-total-money-makeover/prod326.html
Someone turned my husband and I on to Dave Ramsey 10 years ago when we were first married and I am *so* glad they did. We worked our way out of student loan and credit card debt and really created a solid financial foundation for ourselves that has continued to help us today. We almost never fight about money and are on our way to having a paid for house by the time we turn 40. We thank God for his wisdom and motivation in our marriage early on. What a gift!
May 16, 2013 at 9:48 pm
Sara B.
Participant
Another plus for Dave Ramsey here. We are almost done with Baby Step 3. His advice is wonderful! And Financial Peace and Total Money Makeover are easy, great reads. I got them both from my library at first.
I can’t comment about the Jr books or about the HS program, and I have yet to take a Financial Peace University course (though we do have the at-home version – now to get to it). But in general, I really love Dave Ramsey’s advice.
May 16, 2013 at 11:36 pm
my3boys
Participant
I’m assuming his material (which I am familiar with, have his book Total Money Makeover) is for personal finances only and would not be considered for the Economics that is “required” for high school credits/units, right?? Or does he have something that could be counted for that course of study for highschoolers?? I have several ideas for Economics for my ds but hadn’t thought about Dave Ramsey’s material. If I’m way off base with this, please correct me, as I’ve seen Notgrass and Jon Stossel’s materials mentioned (as well as a few others) for Economics.
Thanks!
May 16, 2013 at 11:37 pm
Jenni
Participant
My brother and sister-in-law have done the total money makeover (6 or 8 years ago, before kids) and they just rave about it. They are huge fans and cannot say enough good about Dave Ramsey. Just recently my brother lost his job, which I thought would be devastating to them, but they both kind of shrugged and didn’t panic a bit. They were prepared; I was impressed. My bro has since gotten a new, much better job than what he lost. Thank God.
I have only listened to a few of Dave Ramsey’s radio shows, but then did some perusing of his website. Even though I think his teachings are helpful and definitely biblical, they are also common sense. I wasn’t raised to be financially savvy. If anything, quite the opposite.
Again, let me emphasize that I haven’t done any of his programs. But my suspicion is that Dave Ramsey is making tons of money off folks who aren’t savvy enough (or confident enough?) to figure these relatively simple and easily available concepts out on their own.
I guess if you truly feel you won’t discover these ideas on your own and you have the money to spare, he would likely be a great leader to get you through a rough spot or pointed in the right direction. If you think you can gather some good materials on your own, maybe even a good mentor or two (or a whole team) to advise you, maybe that would be a better (read: cheaper) way to go?
Or best yet, like others have suggested, check your library or a thrift store for a preview before you shell out any money. I’ve always figured that it shouldn’t cost you money to save money.
Just my 2 cents – not wanting to offend. HTH.
PS: If I find some free money management lessons for kids online, I will share…
May 17, 2013 at 12:18 am
Mysterious Lady in Pink
Participant
Two of mine did the high school course in the latter part of their high school years. They really enjoyed it and I really appreciated that they could do it independently. Some of this they knew from family conversations, but having that “outside” person telling them. Perhaps one of the biggest testaments to me of it’s effectiveness is that one of my kids often (after that course) talked about the “opportunity cost” of her purchases, or even how she spent her time. That concept was really a lightbulb moment for her.
One good thing is that the course can be found on sale regularly, either from the Dave Ramsey site or HSBC, and it has good resale value as well if you decide it’s not a good fit.
May 17, 2013 at 12:38 am
Misty
Participant
Thanks everyone I have a friend who has his book and is going to let me borrow it. I will watch for a sale, as I don’t need it now maybe in a year or two. I am very glad to hear that he is solid in his teachings.
I have to say a bit of me agree’s with Jenni, about the cost vs what we could teach. But we never went to college (ei-no student loans) had a lot of money saved before we built our 1st house together (stayed iwth our parents till house was done=no bills) and have always had (with one exception) used cars. I think we could do it ourselves, but my son seems to not hear us as we keep trying to teach him (14) about money or how to use it (or anything else, it seems we are the dumb parents and everyone else who say the same thing we did are smarter than us? HMMM sounds like a teen thing right!)
Thanks everyone. I just bookmarked it on my computer and will keep an eye for a sale.
May 17, 2013 at 12:50 am
jmac17
Participant
We bought the Monster Pack http://www.daveramsey.com/store/kids-teens/kids-monster-pack/prodmonster.html when HSBC had it last month. The Jr. books are fun and present good messages. I’d rank them on the twaddlish side, but my kids (DD7, DS5 and DD3) have enjoyed them. There are six that show Junior in different situations learning about work, debt, budgeting, etc., all from a child’s perspective. For example, in ‘Battle of the Chores’, Junior borrows money from his sister (without his parents’ knowledge), then can’t pay her back right away and ends up doing all her chores. It shows how the relationship deterioriates between them, even though at the beginning the sister was trying to be kind and helpful to Junior.
Financial Peace Jr. is a workbook style set of lessons to present to your child. It helps set up a system where they can earn ‘commission’ for doing specific jobs around the house (over and above the standard chores they are expected to do as members of the family.) They learn to separate their money into Give (tithe and other charity), Spend, and Save (Long term saving, such as for a car, or college.) It isn’t anything that we couldn’t already have done ourselves, but it has some nice tools (such as envelopes for give, save, spend, and a chore chart to keep track of commissions).
I’ve heard very good things about the high school course, but I haven’t seen it. Dave Ramsey’s principles are sound. As someone said, it is common sense, but many, many people don’t use that common sense that we assume they should have! It would be a valuable way to help a student prepare for adult life before they get out in the world and make the mistakes that so many people make.
May 17, 2013 at 1:43 am
brilliantsunacademy
Participant
We are Dave Ramsey fans. I don’t have any old enough for the high school course, but we have financial peace jr & the kid books. All of our kids have give, save, spend & invest (we added that one) envelopes.
I purchased the Stewardship curriculum from Math-u-see, but we haven’t gotten to it yet (I bought ahead a few years). I’m not sure how that compares to DR’s high school program.
http://store.mathusee.com/catalog/secondary-math/stewardship/ 
May 17, 2013 at 3:00 am
blue j
Participant
My 18 yo took the course when we were in a co-op a couple of years ago. It is a very good course, well thought out, has sound principals which are illustrated in a way that resonates with teens who do not have a full time job and the bills that come with adulthood. Both dd and I highly recommend it.
May 17, 2013 at 4:21 am
TailorMade
Participant
Our older three took the FPU course with us a few years ago. They are way ahead of us compared to when we were their age. Our younger two will go through it also in highschool. It’s not an Economics course, but certainly a great elective!
Our family uses Godonomics (Hovind) and Economics in One Lesson (Hazlitt) for Economics credit. Adding in Uncle Eric series titles will round it out for our younger kids. I didn’t know about the UE books for our older kids. I’m planning to cover at least one title/year from 7th or 8th grade on instead of doing Econ in one semester. There are too many variables in our life, so I like the idea of spreading it out over time. I’m thinking it will have a more lasting impact that way. Our older kids loved Hazlitt’s book and Godonomics is a hit with our entire family.
Becca<><