The following post is by Nancy Zimmerman, STAR Math Teacher and today's guest blogger.

Continuing with “The Game of Life” in STAR math this week, students have established a budget for themselves based on a chosen career and whether they are married with children or single, are now looking for housing. We challenged our students to find both an apartment and a house based on their monthly budget. They had the opportunity to live anywhere they wanted....the Phoenix area and California were the areas selected most often! Some students chose to share an apartment or house in order to stretch their budget dollars

Another area that students are exploring is to purchase a car. Three scenarios were presented and students were to find financing based on 12, 36 and 60 month loans. Our students also have to figure in insurance, maintenance and fuel costs and of course, all of this has to fit within their budget. One student mentioned that he didn’t realize buying a car was this much work!

Ask your son or daughter about their housing and car choice. We believe they will have fun describing what they have found and all the work that they had to do!