by Amanda van der Gulik
Do you remember having to learn how many pennies went into a dollar, or how to balance a checkbook in school? Boring!
There are many reasons why we choose to homeschool. One of my own personal reasons for homeschooling my own children are because I like freedom. I want to be able to pick up and travel with my kids whenever I like, not whenever the schools will let me. Another reason I chose to homeschool is because I wanted to raise independent thinking children. I want my children to see a problem and find their own creative solution, not just do what they have been programmed to do in school. There are many other reasons why I decided to homeschool but the most important reason I chose to homeschool is because I wanted my children to grow up loving to learn. I wanted them to be excited and passionate about learning new things. I never wanted them to find learning boring.
One of the subjects that they don’t really ever teach in school is money. Sure they will teach our kids how many pennies go into a dollar and maybe even teach them how to balance their checkbooks but most schools never teach our children how to actually manage their money, so that our kids can learn how to make their money work hard for them, so our children won’t always have to work hard for their money just to get by!
But teaching kids and teens about money is often considered a very boring topic. They don’t want to learn about balancing checkbooks or want to have to memorize interest rates and taxation issues. No wonder money is often considered a boring topic. But it doesn’t have to be!
Money is one of the most exciting topics in our world if we know what money really means to us. You may often have heard the quote: “You don’t need money to be happy.” True. Let’s look at it from the other way around, how happy would you be if you didn’t have any money? If you had bills to pay and needed food to eat and a shelter over your head but you didn’t have any money? How happy would that make you? What if your child is in that situation, how happy would that make you?
Money in itself does not make us happy, but the freedom that money provides us is what can make us incredibly happy, stress free, and give us the opportunity to really enjoy our lives and make the lives of others so much happier.
So how do we get our kids excited to learn about money? How do we make money a non-boring topic? The answer: Setting Personal Goals!
Do you remember when you were a kid or a teen and you were caught daydreaming? What were you dreaming about? Your future? A toy? A boy or girl that you liked? We all dream and most of us feel that our dreams may never come true but we still love to dream. We can change that for our kids and turn those dreams around so that they have a chance to come true and use those dreams to teach our kids about money so they become money smart for life!
Here’s what I do with my own kids.
I get my kids, Xanthe and Quinn, to make a personal vision board. We start by having them write down all the things they are dreaming about, all the things they want to have, be and do. Then I get them to make a list of which goals are most important to them; which goals they absolutely must achieve in order to feel good about themselves. Then we choose the most important goal.
Once we have their most important goal (i.e. a brand new bike) then I have them draw pictures of themselves living with their new goal (i.e. riding their new bike). I want them to feel like they already own that goal. I’ll get them to cut out pictures out of magazines or we’ll look on the internet and print off pictures of the model and colour they want to get. With those pictures we’ll make a vision board, a board where we tape all of their pictures of their dream on so they can see it every day. We’ll hang it in their bedroom or maybe do a smaller one and stick it on the fridge.
I want my children to see their goal every day, many times a day, so they are constantly reminded of their goal and their desire only grows for achieving that goal. Once they have a vivid image of the goal they wish to achieve then they will be open and excited to learn about ways to make their own money, and how to manage that money so they can buy their goal as soon as possible.
Here are a few extra tips that I’ve personally found very helpful when creating our own vision boards:
- Add handwritten phrases to your vision board that are written in first person, present tense. (i.e. “I have” rather than “I will have” or “I want to have” etc.)
- Make sure that you write your goal as if you already own it. If you use the word “want” then you are sending your mind the subliminal message that you don’t have it. We want our brain to think that the goal has already been achieved so that it will go out of its way to make sure that the goal becomes a reality; instead of simply accepting the fact that we don’t have the goal and end up staying in the ‘wanting’ stage. (i.e. “I love my new bike” rather than “I want to have a new bike”)
- Make sure to use positive words. Our brains will hear a negative and a positive word as a fact. It will not notice the “don’t want” or “lose” that we like to put in front of negative words. (i.e. “I love my new healthy, slim body” rather than “I don’t want to be overweight” or “I want to lose weight”) In both of these examples the mind is focusing on weight, and so will search for more weight, whereas with the first one, your mind will search and work to make you slim and healthy.
Our words are very powerful!
By getting your child or teen to make a personal goal, one that is written and illustrated in a positive, present tense way, they will want to achieve it so badly, you will instantly take the ‘boring’ out of learning about money! When you want something bad enough, you will open your mind to all the possibilities and opportunities to get you what you want, including learning how to manage your money!
Amanda van der Gulik has been homeschooling her own two children for over 10 years. As founder of http://www.teachingchildrenaboutmoney.com , Amanda is constantly interviewed for parenting shows on TV, radio, and in newspapers and blogs all over the world. She is a best-selling author and has been featured as a special guest for Disney Radio. Amanda has created many unique storytelling tools: videos, cartoons, novels, short stories, workbooks, colouring books, quizzes, home study courses, etc. to help parents all over the world to empower their children with money smarts. Visit Amanda’s website to grab one of her incredible tools, like her, “Goal Setting For Families” workbook, that Amanda is giving away for free to help other homeschooling parents get their child excited about learning how to manage their own money so they stop using mom and dad like a personal bank machine!
Do you remember having to learn how many pennies went into a dollar, or how to balance a checkbook in school? Boring!
There are many reasons why we choose to homeschool. One of my own personal reasons for homeschooling my own children are because I like freedom. I want to be able to pick up and travel with my kids whenever I like, not whenever the schools will let me. Another reason I chose to homeschool is because I wanted to raise independent thinking children. I want my children to see a problem and find their own creative solution, not just do what they have been programmed to do in school. There are many other reasons why I decided to homeschool but the most important reason I chose to homeschool is because I wanted my children to grow up loving to learn. I wanted them to be excited and passionate about learning new things. I never wanted them to find learning boring.
One of the subjects that they don’t really ever teach in school is money. Sure they will teach our kids how many pennies go into a dollar and maybe even teach them how to balance their checkbooks but most schools never teach our children how to actually manage their money, so that our kids can learn how to make their money work hard for them, so our children won’t always have to work hard for their money just to get by!
But teaching kids and teens about money is often considered a very boring topic. They don’t want to learn about balancing checkbooks or want to have to memorize interest rates and taxation issues. No wonder money is often considered a boring topic. But it doesn’t have to be!
Money is one of the most exciting topics in our world if we know what money really means to us. You may often have heard the quote: “You don’t need money to be happy.” True. Let’s look at it from the other way around, how happy would you be if you didn’t have any money? If you had bills to pay and needed food to eat and a shelter over your head but you didn’t have any money? How happy would that make you? What if your child is in that situation, how happy would that make you?
Money in itself does not make us happy, but the freedom that money provides us is what can make us incredibly happy, stress free, and give us the opportunity to really enjoy our lives and make the lives of others so much happier.
So how do we get our kids excited to learn about money? How do we make money a non-boring topic? The answer: Setting Personal Goals!
Do you remember when you were a kid or a teen and you were caught daydreaming? What were you dreaming about? Your future? A toy? A boy or girl that you liked? We all dream and most of us feel that our dreams may never come true but we still love to dream. We can change that for our kids and turn those dreams around so that they have a chance to come true and use those dreams to teach our kids about money so they become money smart for life!
Here’s what I do with my own kids.
I get my kids, Xanthe and Quinn, to make a personal vision board. We start by having them write down all the things they are dreaming about, all the things they want to have, be and do. Then I get them to make a list of which goals are most important to them; which goals they absolutely must achieve in order to feel good about themselves. Then we choose the most important goal.
Once we have their most important goal (i.e. a brand new bike) then I have them draw pictures of themselves living with their new goal (i.e. riding their new bike). I want them to feel like they already own that goal. I’ll get them to cut out pictures out of magazines or we’ll look on the internet and print off pictures of the model and colour they want to get. With those pictures we’ll make a vision board, a board where we tape all of their pictures of their dream on so they can see it every day. We’ll hang it in their bedroom or maybe do a smaller one and stick it on the fridge.
I want my children to see their goal every day, many times a day, so they are constantly reminded of their goal and their desire only grows for achieving that goal. Once they have a vivid image of the goal they wish to achieve then they will be open and excited to learn about ways to make their own money, and how to manage that money so they can buy their goal as soon as possible.
Here are a few extra tips that I’ve personally found very helpful when creating our own vision boards:
- Add handwritten phrases to your vision board that are written in first person, present tense. (i.e. “I have” rather than “I will have” or “I want to have” etc.)
- Make sure that you write your goal as if you already own it. If you use the word “want” then you are sending your mind the subliminal message that you don’t have it. We want our brain to think that the goal has already been achieved so that it will go out of its way to make sure that the goal becomes a reality; instead of simply accepting the fact that we don’t have the goal and end up staying in the ‘wanting’ stage. (i.e. “I love my new bike” rather than “I want to have a new bike”)
- Make sure to use positive words. Our brains will hear a negative and a positive word as a fact. It will not notice the “don’t want” or “lose” that we like to put in front of negative words. (i.e. “I love my new healthy, slim body” rather than “I don’t want to be overweight” or “I want to lose weight”) In both of these examples the mind is focusing on weight, and so will search for more weight, whereas with the first one, your mind will search and work to make you slim and healthy.
Our words are very powerful!
By getting your child or teen to make a personal goal, one that is written and illustrated in a positive, present tense way, they will want to achieve it so badly, you will instantly take the ‘boring’ out of learning about money! When you want something bad enough, you will open your mind to all the possibilities and opportunities to get you what you want, including learning how to manage your money!
Amanda van der Gulik has been homeschooling her own two children for over 10 years. As founder of http://www.teachingchildrenaboutmoney.com , Amanda is constantly interviewed for parenting shows on TV, radio, and in newspapers and blogs all over the world. She is a best-selling author and has been featured as a special guest for Disney Radio. Amanda has created many unique storytelling tools: videos, cartoons, novels, short stories, workbooks, colouring books, quizzes, home study courses, etc. to help parents all over the world to empower their children with money smarts. Visit Amanda’s website to grab one of her incredible tools, like her, “Goal Setting For Families” workbook, that Amanda is giving away for free to help other homeschooling parents get their child excited about learning how to manage their own money so they stop using mom and dad like a personal bank machine!
