The NGPF Financial Algebra course launched in its entirety right around Labor Day 2022, and that might not have been enough lead time for you to use the lessons to kick off your September. But, it's a new calendar year and for many a new semester, so we're kicking off a new series of blog posts designed to help you month by month if you're following the course map. First up, taxes! 

We love this unit because it kicks off with one of our favorite activities, MOVE: Your Tax Dollars in Action. Students really get into this activity because they're up out of their seats, it's a race (exciting!), and there's lots of room for debate -- if you made the rules, what federal programs might you defund? It can get spicy! And, it's a meaningful way to get buy-in for why learning about finance is important. 

And, in the 5-Point Practice portion of the lesson, we ease on in to the math with a refresher about converting between fractions, decimals, and percents. It's a jumping off point that will be accessible to the vast majority of high school students (Who doesn't love starting off with a win??? But if that's way too easy, you can skip it and move on). There's a serious "rational numbers in the context of taxes" vibe to the problem set: 

You can find the entire 5-Point Practice by clicking "View Student Activity Packet" for the first lesson 1.1 Fractions & Tax Dollars. 

And on the topic of practice, each Financial Algebra math-themed lesson comes with an Application problem set hitting three levels of difficulty, so you can offer student-choice on which Level to complete. In this lesson the Level 2 problems feature a real receipt to use for calculations. We think it's these authentic touches that will help you easily answer the question "When will we ever use this in real life?" 

If you are navigating from the Financial Algebra unit 1 page, you can find the entire Application by clicking "View Application" for the first lesson 1.1 Fractions & Tax Dollars. As long as you're logged into your verified teacher account, you'll find the answer keys there, too. 

It's about to be tax season, and it might be the perfect time to math-ify personal finance with the Financial Algebra course. 

About the Author

Jessica Endlich

When I started working at Next Gen Personal Finance, it's as though my undergraduate degree in finance, followed by ten years as an educator in an NYC public high school, suddenly all made sense.