Since , when I'm a middle-school teacher, I'm already planning on using rpgs to teach kids about the metric system, why not also teach them basic budgeting and how to keep track of their finances with rpgs as well?!
After all, while the students might not receive an allowance or have a job, their characters will be dealing with more "money" than most people will ever see in their lives. Teaching them to use that responsibly, or at least keep track of how they blow their silver in un-responsible ways, seems like a blindingly obvious way to teach responsible budgeting, saving and, in the right format, how to use a checkbook.
Imagine if having fun playing D&D was the memory that popped into your mind every time you opened your checkbook. How much more likely would you be to balance your checkbook if you associated it with RPGs? Creating a "wealth record sheet" that resembles a checkbook (and, incidentally, would serve as a cursory adventure record as well) would do that. Kids would be learning checking without even realizing it.
Lastly, this would be yet another point I could bring up if anyone ever challenged having an RPG club at the middle school. "I'm teaching the kids how to budget, save and keep track of money responsibly… and they're enjoying it!"
(Oh, and this is also a great excuse to drain your players' purses in every way you can imagine. ^__-)
(Oh, and this is also a great excuse to drain your players' purses in every way you can imagine. ^__-)
When I was in high school I was in a class of smart kids. At the other end of the scale was the dumbest of the dumb and the truly delinquent. Those guys were in the "oppo" class. While we were doing what I considered to be useless stuff (for me personally), like logarithms and trigonometry, while the oppo kids were learning life skills like budgeting and shopping, etc. It made no sense to me why we all weren't being taught those skills.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, love what you're doing Staples, making learning fun is a great strategy.