Create a fantasy checkbook lesson plan for your students. Students age 14 or older usually can handle a fairly involved checkbook lesson plan, so make it count. Get several blank balancing books from a bank. Some banks give these away, especially if the bank's logo is on them, but you may have to pay a small fee. Then, get some blank checks. These can be harder to come by because of security. You might be able to find canceled checks or check blanks at banks. You can order fake checks from school supply stores or create them on a computer and print them off.
Give each student a balance book with a fake balance written in it. Because this is a fantasy lesson, give them a big balance, like $100,000 or even $1,000,000. Hand out piles of blank checks. To begin the lesson, teach students the basics of the check. They should have their name and address on it. Show them where a routing number and account number would be on a real check. Teach them how to fill in the payee's name, the amount in numbers and words, and their signature, and remind them not to forget the date.
Give the students piles of magazines or catalogs and have them spend their fantasy money. They must write down what they are buying, write out checks for those items, and balance the transactions in their checkbook. Have them make several purchases, so you can ensure they are doing it correctly.
For younger high school students, or for students learning life skills, this may be the entirety of your lesson. If students are not capable of other aspects of balancing checkbooks, and will have help with their finances, teaching them this much is sufficient, according to Ms. Naaz. However, she suggests extending the lesson for students who are capable.
Wait until students have spent all of their money, and their fantasy checkbook balance is at zero. Then, assign each student a monthly income. You can do this by giving each student the same income or having them pick income cards from a deck of possible incomes that you have created. Have each student write the amount of their income down so they won't forget it.
As a class, come up with what the standard of living is in your area. Include the costs of rent, food and bills to pay. Come up with an amount that all students can use. If you have a highly advanced class of students, and want to put in more work, have students draw cards for the type of home they live in (thus determining the amount of their mortgage or rent), the type of car payment they have, or other extras.
Once students have an amount of money they'll need to spend each month, give them the task of balancing their checkbook each month. Remind them on the first of the month that they can add in their paychecks, and subtract their monthly bills. Then, they can use the catalogs from the first part of the lesson to buy things with the remainder of their money, or decide to save their money from month to month.
If you have a well-organized classroom with bright students, you can do this project for an entire school year as a lesson in money-saving, budgeting and checkbook use.