Good Posting

I really enjoyed this commentary on cuts to education spending: Spending Cuts: You Get What you Pay For

Money and Children

I remember riding my bike to the Sprouse-Ritz to buy my first tape-Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell." I was never great at saving up for a desired item, and would generally reserve my shopping interests to items that I could afford that day. JillyBoo's dad and I are bound and determined to raise a money-savvy child, and as such, we opened a savings account for her roughly the day after she was born. This was a brilliant idea, however, we have yet to find this account a useful tool in helping her understand money. "Hey, JillyBoo, you have some imaginary money in a bank that only exists online. Woo hoo!"

During a recent sick-day at home with JillyBoo, I realized that I had nothing to read (read that last line with dramatic flair). JillyBoo's dad had left a copy of SmartMoney magazine on the table, and so I decided, with a sigh, to flip non-committally through its pages. What a great magazine, even though I understood only 1/10th of it's articles!

By far the most impactful article was called Financial Literacy for Kids. It offered tips for teaching kids about money, which for me, tied in well to my recent desire to teach JillyBoo about the value of individual coins. I followed a few of the links from the article, and was pleasantly surprised by what they had to offer. First, I found ThreeJars Allowance tracker. I was introduced to the "three jars" concept in Arizona by some wonderful friends. JillyBoo already had "three jars," however, they had no connection to financial education or a plan. I decided to pay the $30 yearly fee to try out the ThreeJars website, which they only charge after you've been a member for the first month.

JillyBoo loved that she gets her own page on the site, and quickly designed a background and personal logo that only Prince could love. Really, how is it that five-year-olds have the same taste as circa 1970s pimps? Together, we picked a reasonable distribution for her weekly allowance-Save $1, Spend $0.80 and Share $0.20. I appreciated that the website let you input an initial "deposit" to the jars, as I was not anxious to calculate how we would divvy up the money that JillyBoo already had amongst the three jars.

The website, as near as I can tell, is worth every cent. It includes video clips from the "Today Show" financial advisor, Jean Chatsky, who shares advice from the point-of-view of a mom. I also love that you can assign tasks to your child, or that he/she can email the parent and say, "Hey, mom, can I do the dishes for a few extra dollars this week?"

Also, they recommend places for kids to donate their money. Inexplicably, JillyBoo decided that she would like every "sharing" cent to benefit dolphins, "Because I love dolphins, mom." Okay, can't argue with that. After a little research, and some reflections on the horrors of the movie, "The Cove," mommy has decided to help JillyBoo direct her money to http://www.savejapandolphins.org/.

As JillyBoo grows, I realize that the routines that we institute when she is younger seem to be the ones that stick. Just as this afterschooling website keeps me honest, so to speak, I also find that using threejars.com will keep us on track as a family in helping educate JillyBoo about smart spending.

Here are some other sites they recommended in the article:
Secret Millionaires' Club Entertaining cartoon clips of enterpreneurial children receiving advice from Warren Buffett (yes, that Warren Buffett)
FamZoo Another family savings site, somewhat like threejars.com
For older kids: WallStreet Survivor
Here's the original article from SmartMoney.com:

Squirlers

There was something about just saying, "I'm afterschooling," that made me much more attentive to the learning that was already happening in our house prior to starting this blog. JillyBoo is the daughter of two scientists. The girl doesn't have a chance-she's a geek born to two geeks! She is full of questions and observations, and will gleefully point out the many innovations that engineers have contributed to our lives.

I am a firm believer that children are naturally programmed to love animals, and that starting with animal behavior and structure as studies in early science learning makes for a natural hook to science.  Having wanted to be both a veterinarian and a firefighter as a child, I can understand JillyBoo's intense joy in watching a "fat little bird" land on our rose bushes, or a fox darting across the fields of our German village, the flash of red burning a trail in the verdant green fields.

Last weekend, as we anxiously awaited the arrival of favorite friends from the States, JillyBoo spied a ChickMunk from the window. "A chickmunk," I commented. "Hmmm....look at that tail!" "Oh, mama, that's maybe a squirler." Besides 'skabetty,' 'squirler' may be the number one word I hope she keeps in her vocab into perpetuity. 'Chickmunk' also makes the top ten. As I dusted the furniture and vacuumed, I encouraged her to get a picture of the squirler in her learning log. Off she darted to draw our yard and the squirler's "dream;" a yard full of acorns floating all around.



Squirlers and acorns in our yard, RP, Deutschland



After her drawing, I encouraged her to write about her observations. She embellished (a little), but came up with: "I saw a squirrel on a branch. There were five squirrels and they were cute in Germany." Oh, that damn schwa. Ger-mu-ny. 

JillyBoo's commentary about the squirlers that she observed

We are working on multi-letter phonograms right now, such as "aw" and "igh," and she's really starting to see how frequently these phonograms occur in words. We continue to read science readers, as I believe that they introduce challenging, but important words, to learn by repetition. It occurred to me today that she would benefit from a trip back to some BOB readers, as we sometimes need to see those sight words many times, too. Maybe this week?