Understanding Economics - Notebook Companion™ to History Is Rich
For many of us, the idea of teaching economics is intimidating. We know the concepts such as supply and demand, taxes and tariffs, and investment and inflation are important, but we aren’t sure how to teach them to our kids.
Understanding Economics, a Notebook Companion™ to History Is Rich by Honest History (sold separately), not only takes the stress out of teaching important economic concepts to our kids, it makes it fun!
Making Complex Concepts Easy to Understand
History Is Rich is broken down into eleven bite-sized chapters. Each one focuses on a different aspect of economics in American history, from the beginnings of exploration through the Industrial Revolution, Great Depression, and modern times.
It takes each concept such as money, banking, stocks, and bonds and explains them in ways kids can understand, using examples from their own lives. Since economic theories are still debated today, as they have been throughout history, questions are asked to help students think critically about what economic principles work and what principles do not.
Easy-to-Use, Just Open and Go!
There is no prep-work involved. Just grab a copy of History Is Rich by Honest History (sold separately), and work through the books at your own pace.
Our Notebook Companion™ provides open-ended questions about the facts students learn and provides them with a place to record their answers and sketch pictures to help them remember key concepts. Each chapter also includes bonus projects such as a dictionary of twenty-nine economic terms students can build as they complete the unit, writing prompts, and additional research projects to help students go deeper into the topics covered.
Learn Economic Terms
Here is a list of the twenty-nine vocabulary words included in the unit:
- Capitalism
- Private ownership
- Profit
- Investment
- Supply
- Demand
- Gift economy
- Trade
- Tariffs
- National debt
- Supplier
- Secede
- Textiles
- Industrialization
- Money
- Free banking
- Fiat money
- Interest
- Initial investment
- Bank run
- Bond
- Share of stock
- Dividend
- Monopoly
- Unemployment rate
- Economy
- Innovation
- Inflation
- Deflation
An Answers Index makes checking work simple and easy for you!
History Is Rich by Honest History
Journey through the rich historical past of money and capitalism, along with the American economy in History Is Rich. From the history of early capitalism via modern technology, explore and find out about the different methods money is made and utilized in America.
What do railroad and Amazon have in common? What was life like prior to capitalism? Discover the origins of Big Business, corporations, the stock market, and other American monetary institutions. Each page is beautifully illustrated and every complicated subject is broken down so children can easily understand and utilize the info to create a much better future for themselves.
Using Understanding Economics and History Is Rich Together
History Is Rich is a beautifully illustrated book that will help teach your kids what they need to know about the American economy. When you pair it with our publisher-approved Notebook Companion™ you can easily use it for school!
Our Notebook Companions are a great way to document your child’s learning when you use books instead of textbooks and worksheets to learn specific topics or subjects. Never has teaching economics been so easy for parents.
Stephane Burger –
The Understanding Economics notebook companion is an excellent starting point for middle schoolers with no former economics knowledge, with a few readers added it can be a great starting point even for a struggling 9th grader. The extra projects for each lesson make this notebook “History Rich”. My planning for Basic Economics for the new school year is done & dusted!
Anne Dolmseth –
This particular book and journal have a different perspective to “Understanding Economics.” The author of “History is Rich,” the companion book to this journal, offers his personal opinion of historical events as well as his cohorts about very specific topics related to how and why our economy is the way it is today. Key definitions and word usage may not be for everyone. With that in mind, journaling is a great way for young scholars to remember what they have learned through the pen to paper style of memorization.
Denise Rodriguez –
We have the Julia Rothmann Notebook Companions and decided to add this one to our homeschool journey. It did not disappoint! It’s just as well written as previous Notebook Companions we have purchased. We are using this for my 3rd grader and it has been a wonderful guide for her to use along side History is Rich. This companion offers multiple ways for your child to explore Economics in a learning style that works for them. It is self-paced and can be completed in any way that works for you child’s schedule. This allows them to go down any rabbit hole that interests them and take their time learning while having fun. The Companion has quided questions to help alongside the reading as well as writing prompts, projects, research ideas, drawing space, templates, and more. The Answer Index is incredible. It provides the page number and paragraph to read to go along with the questions. I also appreciate that I do not feel like I have to print it like many other curriculum purchases. We bought a 3 ring binder and can add her work into that. I love that it gives her the option to do the work on lined paper, construction paper, or in any way that allows her to journal and be creative.
Tamara Lowrey –
This notebook companion is so helpful for parents who, like me, may be learning alongside their children and aren’t experts in this subject area.
For each chapter the student answers questions to help them recall what they read and then draws a picture to help solidify the main ideas. There’s an answer guide that shows where to find each answers in the chapter- So helpful to both student and teacher! Bonus projects for each chapter include key terms for the student to define, a writing prompt, and thought-provoking research questions that can lead down all sorts of interesting rabbit trails. I appreciate the thoroughness of this guide and that it extends the learning beyond what I could do on my own.
A Holdwick –
The Notebook Companion Understanding Economics: Past, Present, and Future and the corresponding book History is Rich examine and thoroughly present the topic of American economics in a manner that is engaging and easy for students to understand. The instructional pages of the Notebook Companion explain how to begin notebooking, which is helpful to anyone who may be unfamiliar with this learning method. This notebook follows right along with the book, and contains various questions for each chapter with exact page numbers listed for ease of use. The included drawing page for each section allows for creative expression. Additionally, there are suggested bonus projects (with templates provided) that accompany every chapter: an economics dictionary, a writing prompt, and a research project, all of which appeal to a variety of learning styles and expound on the information studied. Extra bonus projects listed give students more opportunities to explore the economic concept of currency. Finally, a compiled “Answers Index” at the end of the notebook serves as a nice reference.
This Notebook Companion is a wonderful resource that I plan on using in my homeschool. I appreciate the added “Note to Parents” statements highlighting specific pages in the book that may prompt further discussion and investigation outside of the viewpoints presented. This is something I value as a parent, being primarily responsible for my children’s education and the various (and sometimes sensitive) information we may encounter in our studies.
I love that this Notebook Companion is highly affordable, requires basically no prep work aside from printing, and can be completed at whatever pace a family prefers. The various subjects included in this notebook go beyond just economics, ranging from history, reading comprehension, geography, to math and more, making this a truly versatile curriculum! I would recommend using Understanding Economics with students in third through ninth grade. I have previously purchased and used other notebook companions from Daily Skill Building and would absolutely recommend this product as well!
Elizabeth Bailey –
Staying true to your brand, the layout and content were much as I expected. I was delighted to find the bonus material options, as well as the parent notes for further study and discussion, especially as a parent of gifted and curious children.
I’m happy to see that artistic interpretation of the subject matter is still used and encouraged. This is one of the reasons I first purchased learning materials from your company, as the incorporation of art into any subject is an excellent way to learn and retain information.
You have taken a subject that could be difficult to understand and broken it down for children to exercise their reading comprehension skills, as well as their creativity.
Tiffany Flanders –
This is a wonderful curriculum. I truly appreciated the “Note to Parents” section that is provided so that as parents we have an opportunity to look over aspects of the curriculum that may pose some thought provoking questions for our children and our beliefs. The fact that this section exists shows the amount of detail and consideration that went into the creation of the curriculum. The note booking pages are set up in a way that is very user friendly. The pages tell you exactly where you should be in the book, “History Is Rich” and provide ample space to fill in the answers. Having pages to write thoughts on and then also having pages to draw pictures of their thoughts gave the notebook pages variety. This helped accommodate the different learning styles of each of my children. The book that goes along with this curriculum is well written and it gets the facts about America’s economic progression to the reader without an overwhelming amount of unrelated information to sift through. This curriculum made an excellent addition to our homeschool electives.
Katherine Tanyu –
I was never really a fan of economics–blame it on a dry textbook we had in high school. So I was intrigued with this specific notebook. The publisher’s book History Is Rich is an excellent play on words. If it is really a “favorite” book and Daily Skill Building has a notebook companion for it, then the book must be worth giving a try.
The notebook companion Understanding Economics is a 96-page goodie. It is full of content and not just very blank notebook pages. I am a notebooking newbie, and I love it that the introduction is very encouraging: There’s No Right or Wrong Way to Notebook. I get it that notebooking is basically journaling, but I am a mom who welcomes book notes and guides. This goodie has content which is worth buying (and it is affordable too!!). The questions have answers that are a mixture of specific and discussion-type ones (thank you for the answer key at the back!!). It reminded me of another literature-based curriculum we are using. The questions are very thorough–you can be sure you are doing enough for your homeschool. Extra points go to the Writing Prompts and Research Project. I do not have to do extra research to fill the lesson. So yay for that one!!
The reading level of History is Rich is geared towards grade three and above. If your child is comfortable expressing ideas in sentences and paragraphs (there are a lot of writing prompts in the notebook companion), I recommend introducing economics to him/her using these books.
Melanie Zorr –
Understanding Economics: Past, Present, and Future is the notebooking companion to History is Rich written by Honest History. This notebook is laid out chapter by chapter, covering such topics as “What is Capitalism?” and “Money and Banking” and “The Great Depression.” Each chapter in this companion notebook will start with instructions to read x amount of pages, such as ‘read pages 4-11,’ It will then walk you through different questions to get the child to research and make the notebook their own.
There is a lot of room for illustrations as well as many lines for which to write answers responding to any of the questions. Each chapter offers bonus projects such as make a dictionary of the new terms you have learned.
There are so many ways to use this book. Use it alongside your history curriculum. Use it as a stand-alone history spine and delve into the various topics more. Use it as part of an economics course. This is designed so your child can get as much or as little as you want out of the notebooking process.
I would recommend this notebook for ages 3rd through 9th graders. The notebook is great for encouraging independence in your student. There is no time requirements which makes it ideal for your student to work at the pace that best works for them. Like all of the Daily Skill Building notebook companions, the questions are easy to understand, there is a TON of information provided from the book, and it is such a fun way to learn new things and make it your own. I HIGHLY recommend this notebook companion for 3rd through 9th graders. Such a great way to start talking about money and their future! It is along the same quality as the Ocean Notebooking Companion that goes along with Ocean Anatomy. Love the quality of the notebooking companions! So MUCH to learn, read, and do. Love It!
Lynn –
As an economics graduate and home educator who occasionally teaches my children basic economic concepts in everyday conversation, I was very excited to learn that an economics book for children exists and that Daily Skill Building has produced a notebook companion for it!
Each chapter in the notebook companion contains questions to answer from the book, an invitation to draw something to help remember the key ideas, and bonus projects. These include building your own dictionary of economic terms (templates in back), writing prompts that present opportunities to reflect on how people lived and might have felt about different events of the past, and additional research projects, which are also varied and interesting and will help to broaden horizons. An example is drawing past US coins.
I find this open-and-go study very appealing and I think my boys will really enjoy it. The history is interesting, many different economic terms are introduced and the activity ideas are varied and engaging. Furthermore, although the focus is on America’s economy and history, many of the open-ended projects can be applied to other countries too (eg drawing coins used in the past in the US/elsewhere in the world), which as a UK home educator, I find particularly useful and valuable (Britain also features in Chapter 5!).
I think this notebook companion is an excellent way to consolidate and document learning and to encourage creativity and thinking. I am very much looking forward to starting it with my children.
Ronda Mills –
I am using this Understanding Economics notebook along with the History is Rich text in a special education setting with high school students. The text is colorful and engaging; the notebook offers projects which are differentiated and appeal to the levels of my students. My students enjoy the accompanying notebook pages which follow the text, and they are building vocabulary as they engage in understanding the history of economics. I use other Daily Skill Building curriculums and notebooks, and this is one of my favorites. I would highly recommend this package.
Alice Blackwelder –
This notebook companion offers a thorough study of Economics and the history of our nation’s system. Your student will answer thought provoking questions and illustrate what is covered. A dictionary is compiled as they go helping to solidly build vocabulary. With bonus projects and writing prompts you should have all you need to understand the subject. Forget workbooks, ditto sheets, and fill in the blanks. This is so much more interesting and inviting for my student. Not to mention the great price!