The objectives of this study are to make clear the problems in family finance education from a historical viewpoint and to investigate the methods of education now and in the future. We have investigated the contents of the textbook named "Course of Domestic Science" which was used in the elementary schools in the periods of Gakuseiki and Kyoikureiki. We found the following characteristics : 1. The textbook in the period of Gakuseiki was a translation. It stated primarily the situation and understanding of the person in charge. It also included the singificance and necessity of inventing reasonable methods of controlling family finances, such as situation and understanding as a housewife, encouraging them to buy things by cash, writing down the receipt and expenses in everyday life, and copying them on the original notebook every several days. 2. In the period of Kyoikureiki, "Economics in Domestic Science" was used as a textbook. Although it involved food, clothing and shelter as a whole, it showed the responsibility of both a husband and a hosewife such that the husband must organize the whole homekeeping, while the housewife must care for the receipts and expenses. It include also the description about the living with planned economy, saving money and keeping household accounts, in order that the housewife knows the methods to manage family finance. In general, "Economics in Domestic Science" has sufficient items based on education in daily life.
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