Being a child of the 1970s I am your typical Gen-X born and raised in the U.S. with my share of vivid childhood memories. One of those memories which jumped into my head recently was the animated series called Schoolhouse Rock! These were short subjects that aired on Saturday mornings (during cartoon hours) that covered many different subjects from grammar to science to economics and even civics. If you were a kid in the 1970s you know what I’m talking about. “I’m Just a Bill” and “Conjunction Junction” anyone? These animated shorts were even mentioned and satirized in other popular Gen-X shows and movies such as “Family Guy” and “Reality Bites” (1994).
Why am I bringing this up today? Well, it seems that the series continued well past my childhood years and has expanded into other subjects we, as passive income earners, might also find interesting for ourselves and potentially as a tool to teach our children. Some subjects we might find interesting include a basic explanation of the stock market, budgeting and interest. You can see these short videos below.
Stock Exchange
Budget
Interest and Loans
There are many more great videos available on other financial topics such as taxes, bills and expenses and the national debt to name a few. I’m happy to have stumbled upon these animated shorts as they will come in handy in teaching baby DivHut down the road. I plan to show him these cartoons once he’s a little older. Of course, these videos can be very interesting for adults as well.
Do any of you remember the Schoolhouse Rock! series from your childhood? What are some of your methods for teaching the next generation about finance? Please share below.
Watched the videos Div Hut. I never grew up on them, but they certainly look like great educational videos to teach kids about various topics on life. Thanks for the recommendation.
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Hi DP,
Schoolhouse Rock! has so many great educational videos on varying topics that, I think, young and old can appreciate. I grew up on the earlier episodes and it was nice to learn that the series continued well beyond my childhood years. Glad you enjoyed.
Ciao DH,
Loved the cartoons! Great find!! (maybe they are very popular and famous in the US but trust me here in Europe nobody knows of them!).
Ciao ciao
Stal
Hi Stalflare,
I would imagine that these videos were pretty much exclusive to the U.S. Nevertheless, the messages they give are universal and I wonder if there is a similar European version of Schoolhouse Rock! Thank you for commenting.
Ha! Thanks for sharing those videos. As a fellow Gen Xer, they brought back great memories of sitting around watching Saturday morning cartoons with my siblings in our pajamas while eating Golden Grahams!
Back in the day, I think Schoolhouse Rock qualified as educational programming. Put one of those on every couple hours and they could feed us a steady diet of Super Friends, Tom & Jerry, Scooby Doo, Flintstones, and Laff-A-Lympics the rest of the morning!
Right now, we’re trying to use games to get our children more comfortable with money, numbers, counting, etc. They are about at the age where an allowance might work also, but we have not started that yet.
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Hi ROMT,
Wow, your comment brought back a lot of Saturday morning memories for me. I remember being up at 6AM, turning the TV on (low volume) and curling up with my blanket to watch hours of cartoons with those Schoolhouse Rock! videos in between my favorite Hanna-Barbera cartoons. It can be educational videos, games or whatever you fancy to teach your kids about money and finance as long as the message gets through. I think it’s great that you are being proactive in that respect. I plan to do the same when my child is a little older. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
I remember a lot of this videos! With today’s environment with kids lacking basic financial sense I think it is time for a re-boot of some of these cartoons. If they can re-boot “Full House”, I think they can re-boot this series. I actually think teachers would love a more modern version of these classics.
Hi EH,
You said it. Seems like everyone, young and old, are attached to some sort of screen these days, why not create a reboot of Schoolhouse Rock! to get the message across to the younger generation. After all, the message about finance is universal. No amount of Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, etc. can change that fact. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
A few more videos.
A cartoon about investing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw0wgOCvTjo
Stock Market Rap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjuMlolaKo4 . There youtube channel is Smart Songs. They have some other money videos.
Hi IP,
Thanks for sharing those two videos. There’s definitely no shortage of great educational content online. It’s just a matter of finding the appropriate video that your child can relate to. As always, I appreciate your comment.
Very good videos. Thanks very much
Hi Blogsandmarkets,
Glad you enjoyed these videos. All the Schoolhouse Rock! videos are very easy to watch and catchy too. Thank you for commenting.
I was recently watching an episode of Teen Titans Go! with my 9 year old and it was teaching him about pyramid schemes and investing. If you have kids you should really check them out!
Hi SJ,
Thank you for sharing that. I have never watched Teen Titans Go! but it’s nice to know that some child programming relates to real world events and schemes. I’ll probably have to wait a bit before introducing that cartoon to my child as he’s only two 🙂 Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
I was born in the early 80s, but definitely remember watching those videos. We even watched them in school!
It’s cool that our kids will grow up with much higher quality financial education than was available to use. The Internet is such a great resource. The rise of the “discount” brokers has also made the stock markets accessible to nearly everyone now.
Scott
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Hi TI,
Early 80s puts you in the middle of the Schoolhouse Rock! heyday. It’s nice to see quite a few comments reminiscing about their childhood via these videos.
No doubt the Internet has given rise to a lot of great content that’s educational as well as really lowering the bar for investing with low and no commission brokers. As you stated, the stock market is very accessible to everyone these days. No reason for any child to not have a good financial education either. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
I didn’t realize they covered so many topics. The songs are burned into my brain from childhood. Thanks for sharing I may need to subject my kids to these.
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Hi FTF,
That was news to me as well. Growing up I only remember the civic and grammar lessons the most. Some of these videos were created after my childhood years though which explains why I never saw these finance related topics. Catchy tunes, right 🙂 I think your children might enjoy these videos. It’s worth a shot. Thank you for commenting.
Good videos! I had never seen them before. I guess I was born too late, but I do wish I was taught more about finance when I was younger. Thanks for sharing DH!
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Hi MDD,
The message in each of these videos transcends time. It really doesn’t matter if you were born in the 70s, 80s or 90s. Glad you enjoyed watching. Something to consider showing your children one day. As always, I appreciate your comment.
Great videos. I’m glad my state now has a financial literacy graduation requirement. My oldest daughter is four and I’ve already tried to start the conversation about opportunity cost.
Hi DS,
We need to see financial literacy requirements in every state. I’m sure it will be coming one day. Even a watered down program is better than nothing at all. Teaching about opportunity cost at four is pretty amazing. That’s a difficult concept for many adults to grasp. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Nice videos DH. Check out Vanguard’s Financial Education Program My Classroom …
https://investornews.vanguard/my-classroom-economy-helps-sharpen-childrens-financial-savvy/
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Hi dividendgeek,
Thanks for sharing that great link. “Learning by doing,” is a great way to teach kids. It makes the lessons more hands on and realistic to experience. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane! Of course I remember I’m just a Bill, talk about a classic. I’m glad to learn they also extended this series to cover personal finance and stock market topics. Great find!
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Hi Jay,
That was a find for me to see Schoolhouse Rock! topics that go beyond civics and grammar. I think every Gen-X member is familiar with “I’m Just a Bill.” Believe me, it was a walk down memory lane for me as well. Good times for sure. Thank you for commenting.
Haha school house rock! Think the most memorable song was the bill one, sitting on capital hill. Helps that Family Guy did a parody of it years later but that probably went over a lot of the younger viewers heads. Lots you could learn from that show.
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Hi DD,
If you were a child in the 70s or 80s in the U.S. you were definitely introduced to Schoolhouse Rock! at some point. No doubt these videos brought back some fond memories for many. I was happy to see the lessons expand to other topics beyond civics and grammar that most of us are familiar with. Some cartoons can be educational. As always, I appreciate your comment.
DHut,
I was a child of the 80s (I feel I am one foot into the X Gen and one into Y / Millennial, which probably applies to most kids of the 80s – but that is another topic…), and we watched those videos too. I had no idea they continued! Being that we will have a mini Gremlin soon, I welcome those.
– Gremlin
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Hi DG,
You are right on the X/Y divide line. Like my brother 🙂 Like you, I was surprised to see this series continue for many more years after my childhood. In a way, I’m kind of happy that it did. Who knows, they might make a reboot. It seems like everything on TV is a rehash from the last fifty or sixty years. At least we have the opportunity to share something educational from our childhood with our little ones. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
I do not remember the show specifically. But I know the Family Guy clip you are referencing very well haha Looking back on it though, it is cool to see that they have episodes that taught you about finances. Since I don’t have kids yet, I do not get to see these shows too frequently as they are not a part of my normal rotation. But every once and a while I will watch one while babysitting my niece. I’m always shocked how many lessons/morals they try to sneak into the shows. They are good at finding easy/fun ways to get the point across to young children!
Bert
Hi DD,
Many of the cartoons today are very educational with many real world lessons and applications. I watch quite a few of those shows on PBS with baby DivHut and I know what you mean. After watching all the finance related Schoolhouse Rock! videos I feel confident in sharing them with my child. Of course, I’ll wait till he’s older than two first 🙂 There are many great videos online, all free, all educational. The Internet is one of our greatest resources of the modern world so why waste it on stupid cat videos. Thank you for commenting.