Family Economics & Financial Education's curriculum design differentiates itself from other family finance curricula with several unique features:

• Lessons are activity based and designed using the multiple intelligences model in a ready-to-teach format requiring minimal educator preparation;
• Educational materials in the lessons include information sheets, PowerPoint presentations, worksheets, answer keys, assessment tools, hands-on activities and bulletin boards;
• Lessons can be taught independently, in units or as the semester course, "Take Charge of Your Finances";
• All lessons are teacher tested and aligned to most state and national standards;
• The curriculum was developed for many different disciplines to teach family economics and financial education and may be used in a variety of educational settings.

"Take Charge of Your Finances":  is designed using the multiple intelligences and an active based approach.  All sixty-four lesson plans are written in a ready-to-teach format requiring minimal teacher preparation.  Educational materials in the lesson plans include information sheets, PowerPoint presentations, worksheets, answer keys, assessment tools, hands-on activities, and bulletin boards.  "Take Charge of Your Finances" is designed for students grades 10-12.

"Get Ready to Take Charge of Your Finances":  provides a bridge of introductory lesson plans to the "Take Charge of Your Finances" curriculum.   "Get Ready to Take Charge of Your Finances" is intended for students grades 7-9 or individuals with limited family finance knowledge. The fifteen lesson plans include a fast paced facilitation recommendation with numerous hands-on activities inter-woven allowing no more than twenty minutes of instruction before students have a change of pace.  Unique note taking guides and interactive information sheets have also been developed to enhance student learning and maintain interest while conducting PowerPoint presentations.  An eight week course recommendation is available for "Get Ready to Take Charge of Your Finances."

"Life In...":   is a family spending plan simulation emulating the constraints the typical American household encounters when managing their finances.  Each participant is assigned a profile based upon gender, age, marital status, education, career and wage.  Utilizing scenarios based on national data, participants then apply course information to real life situations.  "Life In..." can be integrated into a semester course, two week class, three hour workshop, or as an independent study.  Family Economics & Financial Education offers "Life In...United States," "Life In...Montana," and "Life In...North Dakota."  

"Life of...":  are individual spending plan simulations completed by taking a look at the life of a teenager.  "Life of Taylor" showcases Taylor B. Jones who is a teenager at North Shore High School.  He enjoys motocross, is a member of the chess club and works part time at Cubby's Restaurant & Grill.  Taylor is responsible for purchasing fuel for his vehicle, saving income for his college expenses and buying any additional items that he wants such as a cellular phone, electronics or other entertainment items.  By balancing Taylor's income and expenses, students reinforce all concepts and apply skills learned in the "Get Ready to Take Charge of Your Finances" curriculum.  Also available are "Life of Monica Erickson," who has a desire to attend a culinary school in New York City, "Life of Ben West," a dirt bike enthusiast and mechanical technician student, and "Life of Mandy Gonzales," a cheerleader who hopes attend the local university to become a music teacher. 

Active Learning Tools: help keep students actively engaged while providing anticipatory activities and review tools for a wide variety of units and lesson plans.  Approximately thirty-five active learning tools are available to download from the Family Economics & Financial Education Web site

Enhancement Tools:  are designed to enhance current curriculum in a project based approach.  A variety of lessons have been written in a ready-to-teach format to enhance numerous financial education topics.  Each enhancement tool includes project objectives, FEFE lesson plan resources, detailed instructions to facilitate the project including a conclusion and materials.  In addition, each enhancement tool provides project alternatives identifying ways the project could be modified to reach a different target audience, address a different FCCLA national program and provide alternative options for disseminating information. 

Purchasing:  all curriculum materials may be downloaded for no-cost.  Hard copies of curriculum materials may be purchased.

Lesson plan integration:  learn how the curriculum materials can be integrated into a variety of disciplines (family and consumer sciences, business, and economics), programs (FCCLA), and environments (adult education, military, correctional facility).

Living Independently Through Financial Education: The FEFE "LIFE" Course is available as a curriculum package, which is broken down by 6 units and has almost as many lesson plans as the Take Charge of Your Finances semester course.