Teachers who are comfortable with the classroom economy may want to include some of these additional modules to enhance the learning experience for their students. These are not recommended for teachers implementing the program for the first time. Be certain your students understand the underlying curriculum components before adding these modules.

Real estate investments

Taking property ownership a step further, allow students to purchase the deeds to other students' desks. In this situation, a student whose desk is purchased now pays the rent to a landlord instead of the bank. We recommend you insist the rent remain at the bank's original price so that students can't force students out of their desks by driving up the rent too high!

Taxes

Students are required to pay income taxes around April 15. Depending on your students' math skills, you can set taxes at a percentage of their earned income or at a flat dollar amount. You can also give students tax deductions for charitable contributions—either by donating classroom dollars or by donating time to actual community service events.

Inflation

Following a break in the school year (examples: winter or spring break), raise the prices of students' desks based on inflation. You can also raise their salaries, but we suggest you raise the price of the desks more than any salary increase to stress the importance of saving and outpacing inflation. Depending on your students' math skills, you can make inflation a flat amount, e.g. $50, or a percentage of the current economy, e.g. 3%.

Student auctions

Allow students to bring their own items to be sold at the auctions. Require the students to pay a percentage of total sales back to the bank. For example, if the selling fee is 10%, a student who brings an item in and sells it for $1,000 at the auction will keep $900 and pay $100 to the bank for the right to sell. This helps students to understand vendor fees, which are common for internet commerce sites such as PayPal, eBay, and StubHub.

Disaster relief

Require students to pay a fixed amount ($100 for example) for disaster relief. This can be especially effective if you are studying disasters in science or social studies. For example, if you are studying hurricanes in science class, you can pretend there is a hurricane in your classroom and everyone must pay to fix the damage.

Emergency funds

Help students prepare for their future by establishing an emergency fund. Assist the students in determining their monthly expenses, and then encourage them to build a nest egg that is greater than or equal to that amount. The overall purpose of this module is to teach students the importance of saving in a liquid investment such as a bank savings account, so they are prepared for unexpected situations that can occur in life. By building an emergency fund, students will be prepared to pay their bills, even if they do not receive bonus money or if they lose their job. Keep in mind, anytime students use their emergency fund, they will have to devise a plan to replenish it.

Insurance

Require your students (or simply provide them the option) to pay renter's insurance on their desks. With the insurance, the students are given special benefits. Some of these may include:

• Being able to participate in the auction if they cannot pay the entire rent amount.
• Avoiding messy desk fines.

Interest

Allow students to accrue interest if they keep their money at the bank. Pay interest monthly using a percentage.