After introducing students to the basics of the stock market and how to read stock market reports, provide them with a list of 20 stocks from the Dow Jones market. Tell each student to research and select five stocks they will follow throughout the course of the semester. Tell them they will have opportunities once a week to make trades. Have them follow the real-time performance of their stocks, keeping daily records of what their stock closes at. At the end of the semester, have them turn in a report that includes a graph of their stocks' performances, how their purchases and sales affected their earnings and why they think the stock made or lost money.
Balancing a checkbook is a basic skill every person needs to be able to do. First provide your students with a series of transactions, and have them balance the checkbook by hand. Then have them create a program on a spreadsheet that automatically calculates the transactions, having them explain how that program helps them balance a personal checkbook. Consider having a class account where they are able to "earn" money while also having to pay basic expenses each day. Have them write checks to pay you -- using proper check writing procedures -- and balance their checkbooks at the end of the each month for a grade.
Divide students into teams of five to seven people. Tell them each team is going to form a business. As a group, they should determine what the business will do, how it will be organized, what it will be called and how they will conduct business. Have each team complete a business plan; find out what paperwork would have to be filed in your state, complete it and fill out articles of incorporation. Then have each team make a presentation to the rest of the class as if they were potential investors. Better yet, ask some of your fellow teachers to come in for the presentations and to give feedback to students on which corporations they would be most willing to invest in.
Explain that the nonprofit sector is a major part of the economy, both in terms of the jobs it creates and the money it generates. Discuss the different models of nonprofits, such as those who make money through grants, membership fees or donations. Have the class pick a local nonprofit, and offer to conduct a fundraiser for it. Have someone from the nonprofit make a presentation on the business model to the class, and then have students plan and execute a fundraiser based on that. Afterward, have students evaluate the costs and success of the fundraisers. Make sure they include the in-kind expenses of volunteer hours in their after-event budget report.