Most of my adult life has been spent learning Government and Economics, subjects that should have been learned in high school but weren't. I wasn't exactly a devoted student in those days, so it's no surprise that I retained very little from the class. I wish that the Boundary Stone Economics Online Course Bundle had been available those many years ago. Perhaps I would have been a little less bored and better able to make the connection between the class and the real world.
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What Does the Economics Course Include?
Purchasing the Boundary Stone Economics Online Course Bundle provides access to the course for twelve months. The bundle also includes
- A beautiful 280-page textbook printed on high-quality glossy paper
- PDF Teacher's Guide with answers to all of the text questions, quizzes, and tests
- Full online access to lesson videos
- Online quizzes, and printed quizzes in the teacher's guide
- Online tests, and printed tests in the teacher's guide
- Excel grade sheet
- Budget Project materials
- PDF version of The Law by Frederic Bastiat
You will also need a copy of Whatever Happened to Penny Candy by Richard J. Maybury, which is referenced often in the course.
The Textbook
Let's focus for a moment on the textbook. First, let me say that this is a gorgeous high-quality textbook. It has the soft feel hardcover and glossy pages. I love a good quality book!
Each chapter begins with an overview of the chapter and thought-provoking quotes and scriptures that relate to the content of the chapter.
The book itself is printed in black and white. There aren't a lot of fancy distractions, but the pages are laid out in a way that is visually appealing with pull quotes and other breaks in the text.
I spent a great deal of time just flipping through and reading all of the many wonderful quotes scattered throughout the book, like this one:
It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a 'dismal science.' But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance. ~ Murray Rothbard
I do love great quotes! And this book is FULL of them.
Here's an overview of the topics that are covered in the course.
Teacher's Guide
The teacher's guide is in PDF format that you can read on-screen or print if you prefer. I love that there is a complete overview lesson plan that gives you an overall picture of the course, its contents, and how long it will take to complete, as well as a more detailed breakdown of the lessons that can be used as a checklist.
The teacher's guide includes all of the answers to the textbook questions with the answers typed in red. I love that they don't just include the answers. The questions are with the answers to make checking work much easier—I don't have to flip back and forth between the book questions and the answer key.
Every chapter includes a diagnostic quiz that can be taken before chapter work begins, and again after the chapter is completed. This is a wonderful way to not only assess what a student already knows, but also assess what they learn from the course.
Online Lessons
While the course could technically be done with just the textbook and teacher's guide, the online portion of the course is amazingly well done and, I feel, an integral part of the learning.
The videos for the lessons aren't just a teacher presenting information from behind a desk or podium. The videos are very engaging and well made. I enjoyed watching them and learned a great deal.
After the video presentation, there is a section that asks the underlying question for the lesson and provides step-by-step instructions for the student to follow to complete the lesson.
For the lessons that include a quiz (at the end of the chapters), the students are given step-by-step instructions to help them prepare for the quiz.
My Thoughts on the Course
This course is unique in that it approaches economics from a biblical worldview. The author uses numerous examples that show the difference between what the world thinks about economics and what God thinks. There are distinct differences that all young Christians should be aware of.
What you won't find in this course is math problems. The goal, as provided in the text itself, "is intended as an introduction to economics, the principles of economics, and to the issues and problems that economics touches . . . It does not intend to deal with the complexities that arise at the more sophisticated levels of the discipline, to confound understanding with numerous charts, to present econometric models, nor to introduce accounting or statistics problems."
I also love that the course is completely self-paced. Students can work through the material at their own pace. Just keep in mind that access to the online materials is only granted for 12 months. It's not lifetime access, which is honestly a big "con" for us. When I purchase a physical course, even one with video lessons on DVD, I can use that course as long as I want, as many times as I want. Not so with the Boundary Stone Course. While you can keep the textbook and PDF teacher's guide, access to the online portion is limited to 12 months.
The course is also set up so that you can work through it in whatever order you'd like. The online course engine doesn't require any part of the course to be completed before moving on to other parts. Though I don't recommend completing the course out of order.
Overall, I found the Boundary Stone Economics Online Course Bundle to be a great course and one that I recommend for high school students.
Don't Just Take My Word For It
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