Practical knowledge for HS students

[MrWookie47]

When I was in 6th grade, my math class did a semester long project on personal finances. First, we were all required to go out and talk to a manager of some local business and find out about working for him in a job we might be qualified for when we were just out of high school. This gave us a taste of the interview process (albeit much lower key). We then "took" a job we liked, and we kept track of the wages as if we were actually working there. Every two weeks we recorded in our register a new paycheck, and we had to keep up with recording everything. We also had to write our teacher "checks" to pay for rent, utilities, and some "unplanned" expenses and maybe a gift from a rich uncle that she threw out every now and then. At the end of it all, we were to plan ourselves a vacation with all the money we had left. It was a good project, and it instilled a lot of good habits early. I don't think we payed taxes on our fictitious wages, but that might be something to think about adding. I'm sure you could structure something similar, but it would be a lot of work as a teacher. More power to you if you pull this off. I'm sure a lot of students would benefit.