ICYMI - NGPF just released a Buying a House Mini Unit! Dive into the math behind buying a house with these 4 activities. 

Calculate With Percents - CALCULATE: How Much House Can You Afford?

Buying a house is one of the most expensive purchases you’ll ever make! How do you know what price is right? There are two handy rules that can help you estimate your housing budget: The Rule of 3 and the 28-36 Rule. Both rules are a great opportunity to work with percents!

In this activity, students calculate housing budgets for two sample personas. It’s easy to modify this activity for even more practice calculating with percents! Add in more personas or have students calculate percentages for the values they find with the online calculator. 

Analyze Data - ANALYZE: The Difficulty of Buying a Home

Reading graphs is an important skill! In this activity, students analyze graphs on three barriers to homeownership: housing affordability, racial discrimination, and generational wealth inequality.

Evaluate Functions - MATH: Mortgage Payments & Function Notation

If you know your house price and interest rate, you can calculate your mortgage payment. In this activity, students use function notation, evaluate expressions, and analyze the components of the mortgage payment equation in context. 

Use Recursive Formulas - APPLICATION: Recursive Formulas for Loan Balances

Recursive formulas can be used to model a person’s loan balance over time. In this activity from the Financial Algebra course, students model loan repayment for Morgan, Jada, and Haruto. Each month, they make a regular payment. But how much does their actual loan balance change? 

Level 3 focuses on mortgages. Students analyze how Haruto should spend his extra funds - should he make an additional mortgage payment or invest the money?

Check out the full Buying a House Mini Unit here!

About the Author

Kathryn Dawson

Kathryn (she/her) is excited to join the NGPF team after 9 years of experience in education as a mentor, tutor, and special education teacher. She is a graduate of Cornell University with a degree in policy analysis and management and has a master's degree in education from Brooklyn College. Kathryn is looking forward to bringing her passion for accessibility and educational justice into curriculum design at NGPF. During her free time, Kathryn loves embarking on cooking projects, walking around her Seattle neighborhood with her partner and dog, or lounging in a hammock with a book.