| Summer "Best of" #6
Financial Literacy
I was checking out the ACSD Smartbrief and was immediately drawn to the article about finances. To me, one of the most important things we must teach our students is financial literacy! I struggled with debt most of my life for no good reason except that I had no financial literacy. Once my eyes were open to how much I was wasting by giving it to the bank, I was fired up. Next month, my husband and I will celebrate our third anniversary of being totally debt free thanks to Dave Ramsey! He has come through again this year and is running a contest for teachers and students with over $15,000 in prizes. Check out his newsletter. I can't understand why every student in the whole country isn't required to take his course. Not only is the course critical, it's fun! Can you imagine what a clean start students would have in life if they were proactive instead of reactive to debt? It gets even better. Did you know that Fifth Third Bank will sponsor the teacher and student materials? Why isn't this course in every school?
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Finance in the Classroom is Utah's Go-To website in which the Utah State Board of Education and the Legislature have taken bold steps to empower their students. Beginning with the class of 2008, ALL Utah students are required to pass a ½ semester Financial Literacy Course. (Yeah!) Curriculum throughout the grade levels will be offered beginning in kindergarten! Students can earn an Economic Passport by completing coursework online. Their entire curriculum is available in their Lessons/Activities K-12 section, enhanced with an extensive reading list and vocabulary terms. Barnes and Noble even offer a 20% discount for teachers, too! Kudos to the state of Utah for this outstanding initiative. Another fine website is the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy which provides great resources and reasons for empowering our students. They have written national financial standards and benchmarks for students and teachers. It is my passion to see the next generation live within their means and become debt-free! |
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I don't know about you, but I really didn't have anyone teaching me how to make sound financial decisions when I was in high school and college never mind kindergarten. My parents were excellent examples of money managers and modeled the value of hard work, but we never talked about money. The first time I really heard about handling money was in church. After decades of paying for things on credit, I finally learned about the miracle of compound interest, but that it was working against me. We stopped borrowing money and slowly worked on removing debt, but it wasn't until we heard about Dave Ramsey that we became "gazelle intense." We paid more off in 8 months than we did in 8 years. We now have NO mortgage, NO car payments, NO credit cards and NO payments. Be encouraged. If we can do it, anyone can. And just imagine, if we set the next generation up from the beginning, they will never even struggle through the debt removal trials. Making financial literacy a requirement for all students will do more than any standardized test score and will turn our nation around. Can you imagine a generation of givers? If our students never go into debt, they will be savers who not only support themselves, but help those who are less fortunate. It doesn't matter what tool is used, it only matters that we give them the wisdom to never go into debt.
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How do you make financial literacy a high priority in our high schools and even middle schools? Get Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace School Curriculum for your school if you want turn-key, DVD driven, fast-paced, standards-based lessons, his curriculum is second to none. If you have no budget or sponsors, Utah's Finance in the Classroom site is loaded will free resources for teachers. To begin, go to their Professional Development section and click around. I found webinar archives, PowerPoints to download, national conferences I had never heard about. The PowerPoints included lessons on bankruptcy, bulletin board ideas, budgeting, giving, entrepreneurialism and much more. I thought the music section was fun because they created financial songs to the tunes of old songs. They even had a Money Menagerie with the history of money, money as art, and fun facts like:
How long do bills last? The Federal Reserve System lists the following life spans:
$ 1 - 22 months
$ 5 - 2 years
$ 10 - 3 years
$ 20 - 4 years
$ 50 - 9 years
$100 - 9 years
Coins usually survive in circulation for about 30 years.
How we handle our finances will determine our lifestyle and quality of life. Doesn't it make sense to train our children? I just wish I knew what I know now when I was in school. Let's make sure our students are financially literate or as President Obama has coined April - National Financially Capable Month.
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| What is "tuesdays with Karen"?
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"tuesdays with Karen" is a weekly newsletter/blog designed to encourage, equip and empower teachers to be creative with educational technology. Please add your technology comments to my "tuesdays with Karen" blog. |
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