Scope and sequence · Practical
Grade 7 Business & Finance
A year of true stories about how economies, markets and businesses really work, from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and the Spanish treasure fleets to the Dutch East India Company, Carnegie’s steel mills, the Triangle fire, Edison’s invention factory and the founding of the FDIC, each one taken apart with real numbers and then tried in miniature at home.
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What to cover
32 of 36 lessons are MUST COVER. They are tested on the unit tests and exams, or are skills the SAT/ACT relies on. OPTIONAL lessons are enrichment. Do them if time allows. The course is complete when the MUST COVER lessons are done.
Unit 1: Work and Economic Thinking
- MUST COVER 1.1 Incentives: The Cornfields of Plymouth, 1623 · unit test
- MUST COVER 1.2 Productivity and GDP: Measuring a Nation’s Work · unit test
- MUST COVER 1.3 Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations, 1776 · unit test
- MUST COVER 1.4 The Corn Laws and the Case for Trade · unit test
Unit 2: The Story of Money
- MUST COVER 2.1 Mercantilism and the Spanish Treasure Fleets · unit test
- MUST COVER 2.2 The Bank of Amsterdam, 1609: Curing Bad Coins with Bank Money · unit test
- MUST COVER 2.3 The Gold Standard and Bretton Woods · unit test
- MUST COVER 2.4 Fiat Money and the Federal Reserve’s Tools After 1971 · unit test
Unit 3: Markets
- MUST COVER 3.1 Shifts in Supply and Demand: Whale Oil and Kerosene · unit test
- MUST COVER 3.2 Market Failures: Spillovers, Public Goods and the Great Stink · unit test
- MUST COVER 3.3 Natural Monopolies and Regulated Utilities · unit test
- MUST COVER 3.4 Cartels and the 1973 Oil Embargo · unit test
Unit 4: Great Businesses and Their Stakeholders
- MUST COVER 4.1 The Dutch East India Company: The First Public Company · unit test
- MUST COVER 4.2 Carnegie Steel and Vertical Integration · unit test
- MUST COVER 4.3 Rockefeller’s Standard Oil: Efficiency and Monopoly · unit test
- MUST COVER 4.4 Sears and the Mail-Order Revolution · unit test
Unit 5: Workers, Owners and Fair Rules
- MUST COVER 5.1 Capital and Labor: The Homestead Strike of 1892 · unit test
- MUST COVER 5.2 Ford’s $5 Day: A Voluntary Answer · unit test
- MUST COVER 5.3 The Triangle Fire, Safety Codes and Workers’ Compensation · unit test
- MUST COVER 5.4 When Rules Help and When They Hurt: Price Controls · unit test
Unit 6: Entrepreneurship and Sales
- MUST COVER 6.1 Edison’s Menlo Park: The Invention Factory · unit test
- MUST COVER 6.2 Raising Money: Savings, Loans, Partners and Investors · unit test
- MUST COVER 6.3 Honest Persuasion: The Sales Process at National Cash Register · unit test
- MUST COVER 6.4 Brands and Trust: The Coca-Cola Bottle · unit test
Unit 7: Accounting
- MUST COVER 7.1 T-Accounts, Debits and Credits: “In the Name of God and of Profit” · unit test
- MUST COVER 7.2 Cash versus Accrual: The Railroads Learn to Count Wear · unit test
- MUST COVER 7.3 The Balance Sheet and Simple Ratios: Lewis Tappan’s Credit Reports · unit test
- MUST COVER 7.4 Cost Accounting at Carnegie Steel · unit test
Unit 8: Saving, Investing and Giving
- MUST COVER 8.1 Stocks, Bonds and Mutual Funds · unit test
- MUST COVER 8.2 Risk, Diversification and the South Sea Bubble · unit test
- MUST COVER 8.3 The 1929 Crash, Bank Runs and the FDIC · unit test
- MUST COVER 8.4 Budgeting, Credit and the Family Market Day · unit test
Unit 9: Bonus: A Business with a Partner OPTIONAL unit
- OPTIONAL 9.1 Choosing a Partner and a Plan: Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis
- OPTIONAL 9.2 Write the Contract: Procter, Gamble and the Buttonwood Agreement
- OPTIONAL 9.3 Run It Together and Keep Joint Books: Marks and Spencer
- OPTIONAL 9.4 Close the Books, Split the Profit and Give: Abraham and Lot
36-week pacing calendar
From the course’s own 36-week pacing guide, with catch-up and review weeks added to fill a 36-week (180-day) year.
| Week | Plan | Done | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | Session 1: Lesson 1.1 Incentives: The Cornfields of Plymouth, 1623: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 1.1 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 2 | Session 1: Lesson 1.2 Productivity and GDP: Measuring a Nation’s Work: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 1.2 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 3 | Session 1: Lesson 1.3 Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations, 1776: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 1.3 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 4 | Session 1: Lesson 1.4 The Corn Laws and the Case for Trade: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 1.4 project and ledger notebook Session 3: Unit 1 review and portfolio project | ||
| Wk 5 | Session 1: Lesson 2.1 Mercantilism and the Spanish Treasure Fleets: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 2.1 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 6 | Session 1: Lesson 2.2 The Bank of Amsterdam, 1609: Curing Bad Coins with Bank Money: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 2.2 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 7 | Session 1: Lesson 2.3 The Gold Standard and Bretton Woods: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 2.3 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 8 | Session 1: Lesson 2.4 Fiat Money and the Federal Reserve’s Tools After 1971: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 2.4 project and ledger notebook Session 3: Unit 2 review and portfolio project | ||
| Wk 9 | Session 1: Lesson 3.1 Shifts in Supply and Demand: Whale Oil and Kerosene: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 3.1 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 10 | Session 1: Lesson 3.2 Market Failures: Spillovers, Public Goods and the Great Stink: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 3.2 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 11 | Session 1: Lesson 3.3 Natural Monopolies and Regulated Utilities: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 3.3 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 12 | Session 1: Lesson 3.4 Cartels and the 1973 Oil Embargo: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 3.4 project and ledger notebook Session 3: Unit 3 review and portfolio project | ||
| Wk 13 | Session 1: Lesson 4.1 The Dutch East India Company: The First Public Company: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 4.1 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 14 | Session 1: Lesson 4.2 Carnegie Steel and Vertical Integration: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 4.2 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 15 | Session 1: Lesson 4.3 Rockefeller’s Standard Oil: Efficiency and Monopoly: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 4.3 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 16 | Session 1: Lesson 4.4 Sears and the Mail-Order Revolution: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 4.4 project and ledger notebook Session 3: Unit 4 review and portfolio project | ||
| Wk 17 | Session 1: Lesson 5.1 Capital and Labor: The Homestead Strike of 1892: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 5.1 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 18 | Session 1: Lesson 5.2 Ford’s $5 Day: A Voluntary Answer: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 5.2 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 19 | Session 1: Lesson 5.3 The Triangle Fire, Safety Codes and Workers’ Compensation: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 5.3 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 20 | Session 1: Lesson 5.4 When Rules Help and When They Hurt: Price Controls: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 5.4 project and ledger notebook Session 3: Unit 5 review and portfolio project | ||
| Wk 21 | Session 1: Lesson 6.1 Edison’s Menlo Park: The Invention Factory: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 6.1 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 22 | Session 1: Lesson 6.2 Raising Money: Savings, Loans, Partners and Investors: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 6.2 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 23 | Session 1: Lesson 6.3 Honest Persuasion: The Sales Process at National Cash Register: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 6.3 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 24 | Session 1: Lesson 6.4 Brands and Trust: The Coca-Cola Bottle: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 6.4 project and ledger notebook Session 3: Unit 6 review and portfolio project | ||
| Wk 25 | Session 1: Lesson 7.1 T-Accounts, Debits and Credits: “In the Name of God and of Profit”: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 7.1 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 26 | Session 1: Lesson 7.2 Cash versus Accrual: The Railroads Learn to Count Wear: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 7.2 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 27 | Session 1: Lesson 7.3 The Balance Sheet and Simple Ratios: Lewis Tappan’s Credit Reports: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 7.3 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 28 | Session 1: Lesson 7.4 Cost Accounting at Carnegie Steel: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 7.4 project and ledger notebook Session 3: Unit 7 review and portfolio project | ||
| Wk 29 | Session 1: Lesson 8.1 Stocks, Bonds and Mutual Funds: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 8.1 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 30 | Session 1: Lesson 8.2 Risk, Diversification and the South Sea Bubble: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 8.2 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 31 | Session 1: Lesson 8.3 The 1929 Crash, Bank Runs and the FDIC: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 8.3 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 32 | Session 1: Lesson 8.4 Budgeting, Credit and the Family Market Day: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 8.4 project and ledger notebook Session 3: Unit 8 review and portfolio project | ||
| Wk 33 | Session 1: Lesson 9.1 Choosing a Partner and a Plan: Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 9.1 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 34 | Session 1: Lesson 9.2 Write the Contract: Procter, Gamble and the Buttonwood Agreement: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 9.2 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 35 | Session 1: Lesson 9.3 Run It Together and Keep Joint Books: Marks and Spencer: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 9.3 project and ledger notebook | ||
| Wk 36 | Session 1: Lesson 9.4 Close the Books, Split the Profit and Give: Abraham and Lot: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 9.4 project and ledger notebook Session 3: Unit 9 review and portfolio project |
Grading: Projects (effort, careful calculation and the improve-it step) 40%, Ledger notebook (dated pages, formulas shown, tables with units, honest records) 20%, Unit reviews 15%, Portfolio projects 25%. Scale: A 90–100, B 80–89, C 70–79, D 60–69. Below 60: redo the project or review with help.