How We Help Our K-12 Children Manage Money

It is a new year with opportunities for growth and understanding for all. Many families redefine chore responsibilities with the start of each new year. Families also discuss the relevance of an allowance to help their children learn how to save for treasured purchases. Some families provide a weekly allowance for being a family member while others tie the allowance to a list of household chores. Many families also encourage their children to take on significant household responsibilities that may include weekly grocery shopping, yard work, painting, and housecleaning to earn extra money for specific needs they may include hobbies, sports camps, sporting equipment, school sponsored club trips, and clothing purchases. For example, some students start making crafts for crafts fairs or sell their products on online websites.

Middle School Student Money Management

Middle school students can expand their financial literacy by:

Managing an annual clothes allowance with agreed budgetary items or requirements
Learning to manage a cell phone plan and allowance
Managing a savings account for college that may include learning about various savings investments (e.g. certificates of deposit, U.S. Savings Bonds, and mutual fund investments)
Supporting neighbors and friends by babysitting, dog walking, selling baked goods, and providing computer support services

High School Student Money Management

High school students can also support the family by:

Supporting the use of a family car by paying for gas, car maintenance expenses, and the increased premium for auto insurance
Getting a summer or after school job to save for college and pay for added clothing, entertainment, hobbies, and sporting activities
Research the cost for various college and career preparation programs and contribute to their college and career savings plan when earning money
Managing the family’s weekly food budget
Planning and budgeting for various family outings and trips
Learning how to write a grant and apply for funding for a school or community service need
Explore various investment options to contribute to the college and career fund
Working with their parents to understand the family daily, weekly, and monthly household budget to prepare for an independent college and career life after high school with clear expectations of what is costs to go to various colleges and live away from home

Self-Reliant Children

As we partner with our children to manage money and guide them in the process, they will become self-reliant and resilient when overcoming various financial setbacks and challenges. Our goal as parents can be to help our children become capable money managers by the time they are 18 years old. This means they have reasonable expectations of what daily life costs are and how they can manage and support their family with these costs when they start an independent college and career life away from home.

Much success teaching your kids about money management!

Mary Ann

How to Help Our Elementary Children Learn Online and Write Stories

Many parents and students continue to struggle with remote learning. As a substitute teacher/tutor for second grade students using the Google classroom platform, I provide literacy writing units for students and tutor them in reading and writing. I also help students understand how to use their preferred learning styles when tackling difficult subjects. For example, one of our students loves to sing her math solutions. Other students love to calculate math solutions. Still others write and describe the steps to solving math problems as they complete the computations. When teaching students how to write about a topic, we provide students with options on how they can complete their assignments.

Writing Tips for Students

Here is an example on how students can own their writing successes on learning about the Air Quality Index (AQI) based on our newly published Student-Engaged Assessment: Strategies for All Learners book:

The teacher lists the reading and writing learning intentions and academic standards that are being used for a writing activity on how to use the Air Quality Index in their daily lives.
Students read and discuss a story about the assigned topic. They can learn about extreme weather and how thunder and lightening storms can create fires and smoky air that is hazardous to their health. They can also learn how to create an evacuation plan for their family and how to read the Air Quality Index each day before going outside to play.
Three options are provided on how students can create a reflective five sentence paragraph about the story. They can (1) draw a picture and then write a story, or (2) draw a series of pictures that illustrate the story and then write a sentence under each picture to complete their paragraph, or (3) use the voice dictation feature on their computer and then edit the story.
Students will write a reflective paragraph that can include the following sentences:
1. A sentence that introduces the topic
2. A sentence that describes how they can use the Air Quality Index in their daily life
3. An example of what they can do outside with the knowledge that the air is safe
4. A second example of how they can use the Air Quality Index for outside activities
5. A concluding sentence about they learned and the importance of the Air Quality Index in their daily lives
Students review an example paragraph or write as a class an example paragraph that includes the #4 sentence prompts.
After students write their own paragraphs, they can read them to the class and reflect on these questions:
1. What did you learn today?
2. What worked for you when completing this activity?
3. What did not work for you?
4. How will you use this activity for other learning assignments?
5. How can you use this activity in daily life?

Much success as you support your children’s writing successes!

Mary Ann

One Word Challenge

Recently, I’ve received a challenge to select one word to sum up how I’m feeling or to choose one word as my focus for the new year. This challenge was new to me and honestly, it’s a bit intriguing, too. Hmm…just one word, huh? When we reflect on 2020, there were many new words and phrases introduced, wasn’t there? Bear with me a bit while I list through some words that have frequently surfaced in news headlines or social media posts.

Pandemic.

Unprecedented. Over-abundance of caution. Social Distancing. Mask. Work from home. Toilet paper shortage. Hand sanitizer. Essential worker. COVID-19. Hoax. Chinese-virus. Vaccine.Public Health.

Frontline doctors and nurses. PPE. Flatten the curve. Quarantine. Stay at home. Shelter in place, lockdown, curfew, mental health, social bubble.

Distance Learning.

Learning Pod, hybrid learning, blended learning. Asynchronous and synchronous learning. Opportunity gap. Zoom, Zoom fatigue. Google Meet. WebEx. Google Classroom, hotspot.

Racial Injustice.

Justice for George Floyd. Justice for Breonna Taylor. Black lives matter. Protests, Rioters. Central Park birdwatcher. Karen.

Politics.

Census 2020, Elections, Voter fraud, Electoral College, Stimulus checks. Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Kamala Harris. First female, black, Asian American Vice President of the USA.

And yet, despite all that surrounds us, the human spirit continues to rise above adversity. Consider these powerful human descriptors and attributes:

Generosity

Yearning

Motivation

Integrity

Joyful

Courage

Zealous

Hopeful

Determination

Inspired

Blessed

And so, dear Reader, I pose the one word challenge to you: what is one word that sums up how you are feeling? Or one word that will be your focus for the new year? What is one word that you might add to my list?

Wishing you a wonderful new year,

Jaime

Inclusion Collaborative Warmline

Established in 2006, the Inclusion Collaborative Warmline is a free resource that provides both phone and email support for families, teachers, and community agencies. Services are provided in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Mandarin. The services are managed by the Inclusion Collaborative, a department at the Santa Clara County Office of Education. This excellent resource is staffed by former teachers and parents of children with disabilities. The Warmline personnel understand both sides of parenting and education issues.

Inclusion Collaborative Warmline services include:

E-Packets of information with internet links on topics, such as specific disabilities, behavior, friendship, adaptations, language, social stories, ability awareness, community inclusion, camps, and more.
Many visual supports, such as sensory break cards, feelings charts, visual schedules, and visual solutions for social conflict and over 300 social stories are available. Social stories can be individually designed and customized for the child and/or the situation.
Social media, including the Inclusion Collaborative Pinterest page, the Inclusion Collaborative Facebook page, and the Inclusion Collaborative YouTube channel with additional resources at inclusioncollaborative.org.
Examples of Warmline supports are at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PtYIaLEL0U&list=PL4Ffky1G0tHLKfzZxcERBn4NCs6OWV2xf&index=4.

Much success as you support your children’s social development knowledge and skills when using these valuable resources.

Happy new year!

Mary Ann with Kathy Wahl, Director III of the Inclusion Collaborative

Winter Break Activities that Reinforce Kids’ Learning at Home

What can parents do with their kids during winter break this year with persistent COVID-19 pandemic recreational challenges? The teaching strategies featured in Student-Engaged Assessment (Rowman & Littlefield: 2020) can be adapted to reinforce learning at home during the pandemic winter break.

Parents can support their children’s learning with relevant and engaging family play and household projects. Parents can help their kids (1) define an academic goal when organizing a family activity, and (2) show their learning through games, family projects, writing, illustrations, videos, performing arts activities, and pictures of completed projects. Children can reflect on what they learned while completing an activity and share their project with parents and teachers.

Winter Learning Activities

Here are some activities that parents can share with their kids during the COVID-19 winter shutdowns:

Play games, keep score, read directions, and teach friends and family members how to play a new game.
- Modify game rules to meet the needs of younger siblings and friends.
- Play games online with friends and pair off as teams.
Create culturally relevant holiday decorations for the home.
- Design holiday cards, thank you notes, and greeting cards for the new year that can be sent to family members and friends.
- Write thank you notes and/or illustrate how to play with a new holiday toy or gift.
- Watch YouTube videos to learn how to draw a holiday character or winter scene.
Create talent shows, show magic tricks, tell jokes, direct a play, sing a song, play music, or dance in a holiday family show.
Bake and cook festive holiday meals. Select and modify recipes, adjust the quantity for cooking and baking, and organize a shopping list of ingredients required for baking and cooking.
Organize a family outing to a local park.
- Research the best way to get to the park and determine the cost for gas, park fees, and food.
- Plan a budget for the day and organize a family picnic.
- Consider COVID-19 safety concerns.
Participate in community service activities.
- Write letters to seniors, military personnel, and other lonely community members.
- Make gifts for seniors and military personnel.
- Collect reusable toys and clothing for various holiday collections in the community.
- Confirm COVID-19 restrictions with community agencies and provide financial donations when preferred.
Hike at a local park and collect trash per COVID-19 safety guidance.
Care for younger siblings while parents work and organize daily camp activities at home.
Create a family history book by researching the family’s history online and interview older relatives.
- Collect old pictures that can be inserted or scanned into family history books.
- Assemble family cookbooks with recipes provided by relatives.
- Create a photo album for each child highlighting memorable activities and notes about special events.
- Assemble family vacation photo albums with research on historical landmarks and write stories about fun adventures.
Develop a family budget for 2021 that may include weekly food expenses, basic needs, a savings plan, and money for fun. Middle school and older kids can receive an annual allowance for clothing and elementary school kids can be given a weekly allowance for completing various household responsibilities.
Balance a checkbook. Older kids can research cell phone plans, automobile insurance and care budgets, college savings plans, and annual family vacation budgets.
Help teens research how to invest in secure savings plans to support college funds.
Have teens volunteer virtually with nonprofit organizations in their community to provide database management services, mentorship activities, and community services for isolated adults and teens.
Encourage teens to assist teachers with creating relevant classroom lessons on reading, writing, math, science, and social studies that can be used for younger students. Teens can teach teachers how to use various computer applications.
Have teens create a family or community vegetable garden with year-round planning and gardening. They can also support various home and building projects (i.e. painting, yard work, cleaning and organizing, managing the laundry, paying bills, servicing and washing automobiles.

Enjoy this beautiful time of year as we enrich children’s playtime fun with a variety of learning opportunities!

Happy holidays!

Mary Ann