Students will interview an older person they know about the family economy in the past.

Adults enjoy talking about their childhood and how they participated in the family economy as children and adolescents. Any adult would be a good interview candidate, but older adults generally had childhood experiences that are significantly different from those of children today. Most families, especially those that faced economic challenges, devised creative ways to make ends meet and made difficult choices about money. Students will explore these activities and choices in order to begin to understand their own place in the family economy.

Activity extension: As a class, graph or chart the information collected by several students and analyze to see what choices and priorities various families might have had in common.

Topics and questions:
  • Tell me about what your parents did for a living when you were a child.
  • Were either of them ever out of work or did they change jobs? How did your family act when that happened?
  • How did your family fill its basic needs for food, clothing and a place to live? What kinds of things did your family do without at times?
  • Describe how your mother helped to provide the family with what they needed (even if she didn't work for money).
  • Tell me about how you and your brothers/sisters helped the family out, whether by earning money or working around the house.
  • How was the way your family lived and provided for their needs different or similar to your neighbors? To others in the rest of your family.

Standards: Social Studies-Economics; Social Studies-History; Language Arts-Research; Language Arts-Written and Oral Communication

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