Learning about Money

Please forgive the horrid condition my bed is in - I swear I made it that morning, but something happened after 3 kiddos and 1 tired mommy got home from school/work and needed some cuddle time.  :)

Friday's Life Lesson mainly involved Lulu...I know they've already introduced the concept of money in school, and she knows how to count bills and change.  However, I can't help but see a need for improvement when it comes to understanding the concept of budgeting and saving.  For some reason, my children hate to save their money.  I have tried everything I know to do.  They just don't get it.  I know I sound like my mother - "Money doesn't grow on trees!"

In an effort to begin learning how to budget, I began with the little one.  Last week, I started introducing her to a time/money kit that I bought when we were homeschooling.  It has the standard play money/coins, but it also has a dry erase marker and board, as well as a clock with movable hands.

We're going to start with the basics.  Just getting used to counting our money.  Then I'm going to start taking some of the money away to "pay" for things like dinner, groceries, etc.  When she sees that money is disappearing, I'm going to introduce a checkbook style system so that she can learn to keep track of where her money is going.  Not sure if this will help matters or not, but I thought it was worth a shot.  I plan to do this over the next several months - nothing too grueling.  I'm being sneaky about it - we're learning by playing.  :)  My hope is to involve the older kids as well - but I have to be sneaky about that as well.  As much as they like to think they are all grown up and beyond the "baby toys"....I see the way they eyeball that play money!!  We're one game of "Store" away from a full fledged learning experience!!  :)

Hope everyone has a great week!