Kids Ain't Cheap

But They Sure Are Worth It

Our Favorite Games to Teach Children Geography

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One of my favorite ways to sneak in extra education with my kids is to play games with them.  Kids seems to just absorb knowledge this way because they’re having fun.  I’ve shared some of our favorite geography games previously, but I’d like to share a few more of our favorite games to teach children geography.

Our Favorite Games to Teach Children Geography

Online Games

Kids will easily learn to play online geography games.  Here are two that are highly recommended.

Sheppard Software

Our Favorite Games to Teach Children Geography

One of our favorite resources for learning geography is Sheppard Software.  Kids can learn the states of the United States or learn the countries of other continents.  My kids love this and play without complaint.  As soon as one of my daughters is done with the geography portion, she goes over to the Brain Games portion.

This site is a great resource as they also have history, animal, science, and health games, plus more.

Stack the States

We’ve not personally used this game because we don’t have an Apple device.  However, if you do, I’ve heard fabulous things about the app Stack the States.  This game teaches state capitals, shapes, geographic locations, and flags, to name a few.  Even better, it’s recommended for ages 4+, so it’s a fun way to help early elementary students learn their geography.

Board Games

10 Days in. . .Games

These games are perfect for family game night.  There are several versions of this game including 10 Days in the USA and 10 Days in Europe.  Players draw 10 cards.  The objective is to make a 10 card trail to your destination.  To make the trail, for instance, in 10 Days in the USA, you must either have a string of 10 cards that show a path through 10 states that connect, or you have a plane trip between to states that don’t touch.

Unfortunately, these games are a bit hard to find now.  You can find them on eBay and Amazon, but for now, production on new games doesn’t seem to be happening.

Explore the 50 States

This game is good for ages 7+.  Players spin a spinner and either land on the icon for a question card, flag card, travel card, or you choose.  If you get a question card, you can choose between answering a geography or history question.  The flag cards have three different questions.  You move forward once for each question you answer; if you can answer all three, you move forward three spaces.  The travel cards give fun facts about a state or attractions in that state.  Some make you do something before you move forward or some make you move back.

We find this to be a fun game to learn all sorts of things about the United States, from history, geography, trivia, and state flags.

Final Thoughts

Your kids are always learning, not just when they’re in school.  We find our favorite games to teach children about geography are a great way to have fun as a family and learn more together.  Luckily, there are many games available to help teach or reinforce knowledge for a variety of subjects.

The Pros and Cons of Online Schooling

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As the pandemic continues to rage and school guidelines for the fall emerge, many parents are looking at alternatives.  While some parents are considering homeschooling, others are looking at online schooling.  After all, online schooling takes some of the burden of education off the parents’ shoulders.  However, before you make the leap, it’s important to understand the pros and cons of online schooling.

The Pros and Cons of Online Schooling

The Pros of Online Schooling

Parents’ Time Is Freed Up

If you’re children are in middle school or above, they will require little attention from you during school hours.  They should be able to do their work independently.  This is likely to be a huge benefit to parents who are also working from home during the pandemic.

The Credits Can Transfer

If you’re looking at online schooling just for a year or two while there is not a treatment or a vaccine, then you’ll want to be sure that your child can seamlessly rejoin brick and mortar school later.  If you choose an accredited online school, your child will easily be able to transfer classes to a physical school later.

Students Have a More Flexible Schedule

When students learn online, they have a much more flexible schedule.  For instance, teens are notorious for wanting to stay up late and get up late.  If they attend online school, they can do exactly that with no serious repercussions.  Or, if a student wants to get a part-time job, he could work any time of day and do school work during unconventional times.  He’s not limited to getting his education between the hours of 8 and 3 as he would be if he attended a traditional school.

The Cons of Online Schooling

When considering the pros and cons of online schooling, you must give careful consideration to the cons, as they may ruin your online experience.

Children’s Motivation Is Important

How motivated is your child to do work?  Kids who are highly motivated will likely do well in online school.  Children who need peer pressure to get work done may struggle with online schooling.  Think carefully about your child’s level of motivation before enrolling her in an online school.

Some Platforms Can Be Difficult to Navigate

Not all online schools are the same.  Some platforms are boring and difficult to navigate, which can be frustrating, especially for young learners.  Our oldest child tried online school a few years ago and hated the experience, largely because of the platform.

After two years in a brick and mortar school, we decided again to put him in an online school due to the pandemic.  We chose carefully.  The online school he’s currently enrolled in has an engaging, intuitive platform, and he’s enjoying his experience much more.

Final Thoughts

As you weigh your child’s education options as you consider next school year, carefully weigh the pros and cons of online schooling.  For the right child, online school can offer some incredible freedoms.  Or, online school can be a miserable experience.  The choice largely depends on your child and the school you choose.

Is Private School Worth the Cost?

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private school costsA lady I work with is paying for her daughter to go through an elite Catholic private school in the city. The other day at lunch she was telling me how stressed her and her husband were about now discussing paying for post secondary education.

Apparently the daughter announced that she was looking more closely at an expensive university in our nations capital, tens of thousands of kilometers away. The parents assumed she’d always stay close to home and live with them until university was finished, moving was never in the question.

I tried to remind her that she could still potentially get scholarships (she’s only in grade 11) or, worst case, get a student loan. Mom was appalled I had even suggested a loan. When I asked why, she said it was her ”duty” as a mother to provide 100% for her child, all education included. She would work full-time until she was 80 if it meant that her kid finished any and all post secondary debt-free. This, after paying $12,000 per year for the last 12 years for the private school.

While I agree that yes, it is a parents responsibility to provide for their child to the best of their abilities I am of the opinion that private school is a luxury and if my child choose to pursue a post secondary education beyond what my husband and I could help her with, then she’d be on her own to figure out the difference.

Private School Considerations

Our daughter is only two. We’re not yet thinking too much about where she will attend primary education, but I still think about whether or not we will enroll her in private school or public school. If we enroll her in private school there are many things to consider:

  • Arguable that she would get a better education and have a much more ”fun” time while in school since private schools have opportunities that public schools may not. However, both my husband and I, along with many of our friends who attended pubic school, had a very positive experience and many of us are quite successful. I have to wonder if, with our daughter growing up in an environment catered to nurturing her education, she would gain that much more in educational experience?
  • There’s the $12,000++ tuition every year for private school that, while a tax deduction for us parents, in my opinion may be much better used invested for post secondary opportunities (FYI: we already save monthly in a registered investment savings for post secondary for her). We could use the $1,000/month in many beneficial ways for our daughter in terms of extracurricular activities, travel, educational experiences as a family rather than for one member of the family.
  • Could be argued that if she is successful in private school, she may have more scholarship opportunities, combined with the arguable better education, may not need any savings from mom and dad.
  • Both private schools in the city are pretty far from where we would ever live and we’d need to deal with the expense of getting her to school everyday (gas, bridge tolls etc) in today’s dollars, based on our current location, would cost about $100 more per month in travel.

I’m leaning more towards public school and allocating a large portion of ”would be private school money” to other things for kiddo.

We couldn’t afford private school as well as many extracurricular activities. Both my husband and I will be very involved with her schooling, there’s no doubt she will be successful wherever she goes but we need to do what’s best for the family. If we have more than one child we certainly couldn’t afford two kids in private school, which is a whole other issue.

Did you/will your kids go to private school? Was it ”worth” it?

Paying For Your Kids Education

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paying for your kids educationI had zero financial help when it came to post secondary and I don’t blame my mom at all. Our children didn’t ask to be born so it is our responsibility as parents to provide for them and make sure their needs are taken care of, as far as I am concerned, it is not the responsibility of the parent to pay for post secondary education. However, if you’re in a financial situation that allows it, you may want to help.

We are currently setting aside a little bit of money each month for our daughter because we’re able to. My mom, though she had a good job, was a single parent and many other financial responsibilities. Though we are setting aside a bit of money for her (including any financial gifts she may get) I will not jeopardize my retirement or other financial goals so she can get a degree debt free.

I know of many people who have remortgaged their house, taken out of their own retirement funds just to ensure their kids have no debt when they graduate. This is crazy to me. Kids who go into post secondary ideally will get a job that allows them to repay any debt they borrowed. Though it will take another three and half years for us to be debt free we are 100% doing it on our own and I have zero resentment to my mom for not helping me. I chose to further my education and opted to do two degrees, not her. At 18 I was making my own decisions.

If you do want to contribute to your kids education, start early. We opened an account for her before she was three months old and continue to contribute monthly.  We made it quite clear that, especially when she is young, we didn’t need many gifts for her. We would rather have the money for her savings than another teddy bear. This helps beef up her savings and limiting the clutter in our home! Double win.

It is my hope that like both me and her father, come 16 our daughter will be able to balance a part-time job, school and extracurricular activities (though if she can’t job is first thing to go). It is important that we teach her the importance of saving and plan to match any savings she comes up with on her own (to a max we will decide when the time comes). I think this will encourage good saving behaviour, which hopefully will last a lifetime and allow us to reward her for a good behaviour. Saving money isn’t easy and I’m hopeful this will encourage her.

Though I have no intentions of giving up anything I want in my life her post secondary savings (I would gladly give up anything for something she needed) you’d be surprised how easy it is to find even $25 per month. Over 18 years, while it won’t pay for a degree, it will certainly help offset some post secondary costs and your child will appreciate it!

Do you save for your kids post secondary? Will you pay for all of it no matter what?