one more question about uncle eric books

Pam, I personally thought the study guides were twaddley and workbook-y and did not use them.  I use LOTS of other resources for economics, though, since it is one of the things I studied and worked in “Before Children”.  Penny Candy is really just a very, very basic beginning into economics, and we do lots of other things too.  I have a list of several living books, nonfiction books, videos, and even a link to “Economics in a Box” put together by a free-market organization.  I can share if anyone is interested but what I use is VERY libertarian-Austrian leaning. 

Sure!

Here are our books and videos:

Economics, 3rd Edition.  The Teaching Company, 36 half-hour DVD lectures.  Professor Timothy Taylor of Macalester.  

Economics:  A Free Market Reader.  Ed. Jane A. Williams and Kathryn Daniels.  Bluestocking Press, 2004.

Economics in One Lesson.  Harry Hazlitt.  Crown Publishers, 1979.

The Invisible Heart:  An Economic Romance.  Russell Roberts, MIT Press, 2002.

The Price of Everything:  A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity.  Russell Roberts.  Princeton University Press, 2009.

The Choice:  A Fable of Free Trade and Protection.  Russell Roberts.  Prentice Hall 2006. 

Regular readings from The Freeman, a monthly publication of the Foundation for Economic Education.

In addition, we just this year found the FANTASTIC text, Lessons for the Young Economist, by Robert P. Murphy, from the Mises Foundation (not sure if it’s available elsewhere yet)  This alone would make a fantastic stand-alone course.  It’s one of the best things I’ve seen.  Really, really solid, yet easy to read. 

We’ve also done many more lecture series from The Teaching Company but they are sort of niche products for the highly interested.  There are many, many very good books at the Mises Foundation, and the Foundation for Economic Education’s excellent publication The Freeman is available for free on the internet.  I read articles and send them to the boys for reading and discussion.  Plus we get to watch in LIVING COLOR how real-life choices affect the economy; we’ve been seeing exactly how Keynesianism works in real-time as we watch what Washington does and how it affects the economy.  Couldn’t be a better case study anywhere! 

Plus we get to watch in LIVING COLOR how real-life choices affect the economy; we’ve been seeing exactly how Keynesianism works in real-time as we watch what Washington does and how it affects the economy.  Couldn’t be a better case study anywhere!

No kidding! Though it’s a valuable lesson for those with sense, it’s one that I hope we will come out of before it’s too late.

Thank you for all the resources; I will save these. Though my son will be only 11 next year when we begin Penny Candy, he wants further knowledge; our home is filled with daily discussion and we are politically involved. My son (10.5 now) asked me last night “So, mom, did they raise the debt ceiling?”

Rachel

Misty, where I started was just starting the Uncle Eric books, reading and narrating and discussing, in 7th-8th-9th grades.  This is really easy and can cover personal development topics, some economics, some basic political theory.  We just started at the first one and read 20-30 minutes weekly on them until we’d read through them all.  Then in high school, I would plan at least a semester course for junior or senior year using perhaps a basic text like Lessons for Young Economists plus a couple of the additional living books as interested.  That should do for a basic course.  If someone gets more interested and wants to do more, then you could add in a video portion (the Teaching Company ones are good, and John Stossel from TV has an excellent series as well).  and maybe a couple extra books or readings if you wanted.  But I’d keep it simple unless there was interest.  Of course it’s an interesting topic and both my kids went kind of nuts after reading the Uncle Eric books and wanted more.  So we’ve done a lot more. 

thanks ladies!  Can I have a retreat with Bookworm and Rachel??? PLEASE the two of you are always answering my unending questions. 

So what’s the 1st Uncle Eric book?

Great and you say you do these books at night as a family?  Like once a week?  Just start around 7th grade and keep moving on.  Sounds good.  Is there a good place to get them cheap? I will look at a few spots but if I can’t find them any suggestions.  Thanks

We went through all the Uncle Eric books and loved Jonathan Gullible as well. We also read a book Called Honest Money by Christian Liberty Press which we enjoyed and Hazlitt’s economics book. We read a lot of the things recommended over at HEO as well. Economics is fascinating and the girls have enjoyed the study. We enjoy Stossel as well and have followed the debt debate as well. Unfortunately the government does not set a good example to our young people when it comes to debt and overspending. They are more an example of how not to handle your finances! We found Math U See Stewardship a very useful course as well, along with Dave Ramsey’s Foundations in Personal Finance. We started in 9th grade and have done some each year. Linda