COURSE OVERVIEW
A one-semester introduction to economic history, theory, and practice. This course introduces students to microeconomics (how the choices made by individuals, households, and businesses affect an economy) and macroeconomics ("big picture" economic phenomena such as inflation, price levels, rate of growth, national income, gross domestic product, changes in unemployment, production, supply and demand, competition, and the like). Students will learn functional math skills through real-life applications such as planning nutrition, arranging for transportation, maintaining bank accounts, developing personal budgets, understanding job benefits, and more. Discussed throughout the semester are economic ideologies such as distributism and subsidiarity that lean heavily upon the principles of Catholic social teaching, especially the teachings of Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Rerum novarum and Pope Pius XI in Quadragesimo anno.
RESOURCES ALL STUDENTS NEED:
- Survival Math Skills by Fred Pyrczak
- Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard J. Maybury
- Quizzes, articles, and encyclicals on the STAA Student Zone such as Centesimus Annus by Pope John Paul II, Quadragesimo Anno by Pope Pius XI, and Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XIII.
JUNIORS AND SENIORS ALSO NEED:
- Economics: Work and Prosperity in Christian Perspective (student reader) by Russell Kirk
JUNIORS AND SENIORS WILL ALSO NEED TO PURCHASE OR BORROW FROM THE LIBRARY ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING TITLES:
- Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell
- Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered by E. F. Schumacher
- Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics by Henry Hazlitt
- Toward a Truly Free Market: A Distributist Perspective on the Role of Government, Taxes, Health Care, Deficits, and More by John C. Medaille
LESSON PLANS
- An overview of this course is provided in the Academic Packet.
- The weekly study plan for this course is included in STAA Study Guide: Roman Studies II, A Track. The study plan is also available for purchase as a single-subject course plan booklet: www.staahomeschool.com/guides.
- The STAA Study Guide for this course may be viewed online on the STAA Student Zone: www.staahomeschool.com/studentzone.
- This course is also offered as a live, online class in the Spring Semester: www.staahomeschool.com/live.
BOOKS AND MATERIALS
A portion of every purchase made on Amazon after following the links here goes to help support St. Thomas Aquinas Academy's work. Thank you so very much for thinking of STAA when placing your book and general Amazon orders!
A TRACK AND B TRACK
 
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104 pages; 8 sections with a test per section; 46 lessons. |
 
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Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? 6th or 7th Edition
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A TRACK
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Economics: Work and Prosperity in Christian Perspective
292 pages; 14 lessons; glossary, index, and index of Scripture references. Any edition will do. Only the student textbook is necessary. |
 
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How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization
280 pages. |
 
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282 pages |
 
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Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered
Paperback: 352 pages; Reprint edition (October 19, 2010) |
 
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Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics
218 pages. (any edition) |
