Teaching Money to Kids

At a Glance: Product:  Family Mint Money Management Certification Program Ages:  10 and up.  You can begin as early as 6 year old if you use the website as well. Use:  A family tool to teach children to how to handle money properly to ensure a secure financial future. Duration:  2 months Homeschool Method:  Any.  The program includes online resources and a workbook.  If you prefer the workbook only it is all inclusive and no internet needed. Cost:  $29.99 as a special introductory offer for the 60 page workbook plus a lifetime subscription to FamilyMint Premium and online only for $24.99 a year … Continue reading

5 Frugal Practices That May Be Costing You Money

Sometimes even the best intentions to save money fail. Are you losing money while trying to be frugal? Here are five frugal practices that may be costing you money. • Stockpiling Do you still have cans of vegetables from 2001? Have the breadcrumbs gone stale? Stockpiling is a great way to save money and to be prepared for rising prices, but when you have half a pantry full of expired food then stockpiling is costing you money. To solve this problem, don’t give up on the stockpiling, just get a little more organized. Rotate your pantry items and keep track … Continue reading

The Difference Between Saving and Investing: An Important Distinction for Kids to Learn

You can save or you can invest. It is a distinction that many adults struggle with as a concept. How then can kids understand the difference, and why is it so important? Most kids who are introduced to the concepts of money tend to be conservative. They like to hoard as much of their money as they can and save up for things. That is a great phase that can be utilized by parents, caregivers and teachers to teach the value and the responsibility of money. Unfortunately, most kids do not get any instruction past those initial lessons. Many experts … Continue reading

Insurance Blog Week in Review – May 27 – June 2, 2012

The Insurance Blog Week in Review provides you with a quick and easy way to “ketchup” on all the blogs that appeared here in the past week. There can be anywhere between twelve and fourteen different blogs that go up. What did you miss? Lloyd’s of London Denied Coverage for Bill Paxton The insurer that is well known for approving of all kinds of strange insurance policies denied a request made by Bill Paxton for life insurance. CalPERS Will Offer Coverage for Same-Sex Couples The California retirement fund for state employees will now be able to offer long-term care insurance … Continue reading

Special Needs Blog Week in Review – Week of February 26 – March 3, 2012

Every week, the Special Needs Blog Week in Review gives you a quick description of each of the blogs that appeared on here in the past seven days. This is a good way to catch up on whatever you may have missed, or on blogs that you wanted to read but ran out of time for. The Special Needs Podcast Roundup went up on February 27, 2012. This week, I would like to point out an episode from the Hold the Gluten podcast that is titled: “Pizza Perfection”. It talks about a place that makes delicious gluten-free pizzas. As a … Continue reading

A Little Sleep Makes a Huge Difference

It’s amazing the difference one bad night of sleep can have on my mommying skills versus a good one. The night before last was very very bad. Last night was a good, or I should say, typical night for me and my newborn. Did you know that the definition for “sleeping through the night” is actually 5 hours of consecutive sleep by a baby? Some parents fool themselves into thinking that a baby should be sleeping through the night when their other mommy friends brag about their super sleeping babies. But, we have to be careful to define what they … Continue reading

USCCB Responds to White House Blog about Birth Control Coverage

The White House posted a blog that described the facts about birth control coverage, insurance, and religion. Now, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has responded to that blog, by giving their interpretation of what it says, and their opinions about it. Clearly, the battle about birth control coverage is continuing. Recently, the White House posted a blog called “Health Reform, Preventative Services, and Religious Institutions”. This blog provides the facts about insurance coverage for birth control. I believe that this blog post was intended to give clarification to the rumors that people have been spreading across the internet … Continue reading

Why Faith Makes All the Difference to Your Teen

Faith or religion may not be anything you talk about in your home or with your teenagers, but that doesn’t mean they don’t think about it. Teenagers are in the midst of asking important life questions, such as “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” These are spiritual quests, regardless of whether they’re thought of in a traditional religious sense. I believe that every person, whether self-identified as religious or not, has these spiritual thoughts. It’s why my counseling philosophy is called ‘whole-person’ – emotional, relational, physical, and spiritual. When you treat the whole person and address each of … Continue reading

What Makes A Real Dad?

Well if you read my last entry you know that I have a problem with Steve’s bio Dad referring to himself as his real dad. This got me thinking if someone is a sperm donor does that make him a real dad? For me being a mom or a dad is a lot more than just whose ingredients are used to make the child. This comes back to the nature versus nurture thing. Basically what influences a child more their genetics or how they are raised? Now if you did not know that the wonderful kids we have were adopted … Continue reading

The One Who Makes the Difference …

Last week, I had the opportunity to read Minor Adjustments, an LDS fiction novel by Rachael Renee Anderson. The premise is one we’ve heard before—a child is left an orphan, and an unwilling person is chosen as guardian, only to fall in love with the child and decide to follow through. This book, however, brings in a lot of elements that keep it from being mundane. It’s set in the gorgeous land of Australia, the guardian isn’t even related to the child, and there are moments of tenderness and humor throughout. I enjoyed it a lot. There’s one theme throughout … Continue reading