Money Decisions

A complete one-semester personal finance course your students actually write in — no videos, no textbook, no login required.

Money Decisions is a 223-page write-in workbook built for a 16-week semester elective: two sessions a week, 32 sessions in all. It walks grades 11–12 students through the money decisions they are about to face for real: first paychecks, budgets, bank accounts, credit cards, car loans, taxes, insurance, and investing. All 23 lessons are aligned to the New York State (NYSED) Personal Finance Education objectives — all 33 of them, mapped in a printed alignment chart with a teacher coverage log.

Every lesson follows the same anatomy: vocabulary and guided notes, a writable real-world worksheet, a Sketch the Words page that turns each term into a picture students draw themselves, a crossword that locks the vocabulary in, and a 5-question exit check — so mastery is visible every lesson. Eight lessons (the budget build, the complete two-lesson Form 1040 sequence, the credit-card and insurance computations, and the saving and investing work) take two sessions each; the other fifteen take one session, with their Sketch the Words page and crossword assigned as homework. Session 32 is a capstone — “First Year on Your Own” — that runs one full session and pulls all five units together in a single integrated case. A pacing table in the front of the book lays out the whole semester week by week.

Built by a classroom teacher for real classrooms: realistic practice data, every exercise checkable, every answer determinate — 1,030 points of checkable work in all. A companion Teacher Key — complete answers, scoring guides, and common-error notes for all 23 lessons and the capstone — is included with classroom sets and available to teachers as a companion volume.

5 units · 23 lessons · One semester (16 weeks) · Grades 11–12 · Write-in consumable workbook

Book facts

Title	Money Decisions: A Financial Literacy Workbook (NYS-Aligned) — Semester Edition
Author	Ashish C. Abraham
Publisher / imprint	Didactic Consulting Publishing
ISBN	979-8-9923233-2-0
Format	Paperback, 8.5 × 11 in, black & white interior on white paper — write-in consumable workbook
Pages	223
Grades	11–12
Structure	5 units · 23 lessons + capstone
Pacing	16-week semester · two sessions a week · 32 sessions
Standards	All 33 of 33 NYSED Personal Finance Education objectives, mapped in a printed alignment chart with a teacher coverage log
Assessment	1,030 points of checkable work (23 lessons = 1,000 points + 30-point capstone)
Price	$24.99 on Amazon · $15.00 per copy direct to schools
Teacher Key	Separate 106-page companion volume, included with classroom sets — never bound into the student book
Requires	No videos, no textbook, no login

Inside every lesson

1. Vocabulary & guided notes that build the language of money.
2. A writable real-world worksheet — budgets, paychecks, credit offers, tax forms.
3. Sketch the Words — a page that turns each term into a picture students draw themselves.
4. A crossword that locks the vocabulary in.
5. A 5-question exit check, so mastery is visible every lesson.

Five units

• Unit 1Budgeting & money management
  Lessons 1.1–1.5: values and goals, building and managing a budget, smart consumer decisions, renting vs. buying, and giving with purpose.
• Unit 2Earning income
  Lessons 2.1–2.7: bank accounts and digital tools, careers and earning potential, gross-to-net pay, benefits and job offers, gig work, and a complete two-lesson Form 1040 sequence.
• Unit 3Credit & debt
  Lessons 3.1–3.5: credit cards and scores, loans and collateral, paying for college, student loans compared, and when debt goes wrong.
• Unit 4Risk management
  Lessons 4.1–4.2: insurance and managing life's risks, and fraud, identity theft and protecting your information.
• Unit 5Saving & investing
  Lessons 5.1–5.4: saving goals and emergencies, investing basics, retirement and tax-advantaged accounts, and consumer rights and legal remedies.

All 23 lessons + capstone

• 1.1Money, Values, Goals & Influences
• 1.2Build — and Actually Manage — a Budget
• 1.3Smart Consumer Decisions in an Ad-Driven World
• 1.4Renting vs. Buying & Reading a Lease
• 1.5Giving with Purpose: Money, Goods & Time
• 2.1Bank Accounts & Digital Money Tools
• 2.2Careers, Education & Earning Potential
• 2.3Gross Pay to Take-Home Pay
• 2.4Benefits & the Real Job Offer
• 2.5Gig Work, Small Business & a Changing Labor Market
• 2.6Taxes & Your First Form 1040 — Session 1
• 2.7Taxes & Your First Form 1040 — Session 2
• 3.1Credit Cards & Credit Scores
• 3.2Loans, Collateral & When Good Debt Turns Bad
• 3.3Paying for College: Aid, FAFSA/TAP & Student Loans
• 3.4Paying for College — Student Loans Compared
• 3.5When Debt Goes Wrong — and Costly Alternatives
• 4.1Insurance & Managing Life's Risks
• 4.2Fraud, Identity Theft & Protecting Your Information
• 5.1Saving Goals, Emergencies & the Power of Starting Early
• 5.2Investing Basics: Risk, Return & Diversification
• 5.3Retirement & Tax-Advantaged Accounts
• 5.4Consumer Rights & Legal Remedies
• CapstoneFirst Year on Your Own

About the author

Ashish C. Abraham is an educator and curriculum writer based in New York. He teaches financial literacy to high school students at Yeshiva Tiferet Tzion in Forest Hills, Queens, and built Money Decisions out of the lessons he teaches there. He is also the creator of the SketchEd science workbook series, which uses the same sketch-and-crossword method to help students internalize vocabulary. Through Didactic Consulting Publishing, he publishes practical, classroom-ready workbooks that help students see money — and learning — a little differently.