What you think does matter

Games can be powerful teaching tools. These dynamic, educational video games engage kids while teaching them important money skills. Money Metropolis allows kids ages 7–12 to navigate a multi-dimensional world, making life decisions that will affect whether their virtual bank account shrinks or grows. And in Peter Pig's Money Counter, kids ages 4–7 can practice sorting and counting coins with the help of wise Peter Pig. "Children love to play games, and these colourful, creative games teach financial skills in a motivational and meaningful way. " –Gary Rabbior, President of the Canadian Foundation for Economic Education Money Games Cash Puzzler Money Metropolis Peter Pig's Money Counter Road Trip to Savings For centuries, play was considered a diversion rather than a means for education. But in the early 20th century, scholars like Swiss philosopher Jean Piaget began challenging these notions. He pioneered an educational theory that people build knowledge...

Always looking for interesting stories - here is a good one: 'Bare Knuckle Babe' wrestles in a 72-pound catfish Personally, I wouldn't stick my arm into a gigantic monster fish's mouth - at least not for fun or sport. Also not sure if the bikini calendar helps in moving women's rights forward? Lucy Millsap's bare-handed grab of monstrous flathead beats a field of about 200, mostly men, to claim prestigious Okie Noodling Tournament title! For years, Lucy Millsap kept her hidden talent as a catfish noodler to herself. “I went through my entire high school career and no one ever knew,” the 19-year-old Texan told The Oklahoman. But these days Millsap is anything but secretive about her passion, which entails wading through rivers and lakes and wrestling monstrous catfish from their cavernous dens—bare-handed. Millsap is a calendar girl for the Bare Knuckle Babes (Miss May 2014), and on Saturday she served the Babes proudly by wrestling a 72-pound flathead...

7 Ways to Encourage Reluctant Readers Reading is a tremendously appealing, satisfying activity, and children will become hooked once the adults in their lives consistently build it into their daily schedules. The key is getting children started. The following seven strategies will help even the most reluctant reader become more enthusiastic about the endeavor. By employing the strategies described below, reading will become something that students do willingly, even eagerly, and the adults in their lives will not have to resort to trickery, bribery, manipulation, or any other tactic that will, at best, lead to temporary compliance. After all, we’re striving to make reading a joyous lifelong habit. 1. Start with the child’s passions. Children will be more excited about reading when they can choose books or magazines related to their interests. This suggestion is far and away the most powerful one when it comes to encouraging those who are reluctant to read. When kids own the choic...

FaceBook wants me to “PAY” for likes? Considering that FaceBook is called a social network where the society of its members vote up or down by the votes they give people (votes as in –LIKES) I find it surprising and disturbing that I am bombarded with emails, notifications and the likes by FaceBook to pay for page "likes". Don’t get me wrong – I am all for business, capitalism – Go American entrepreneurism! I just find it odd that a website called a “social” website where people gather to share stuff is not only offering members to pay and purchase likes but it seems – at least by my test, to be restricting its members from sharing freely in order to entice people to advertise on what should be an open social site. For example: I currently have 57 likes on my FaceBook fan page. My understanding is that people who like your page will be able to see what you are posting “status update” – correct? My Page: www.facebook.com/dowellinschool But on numerous occasions I h...

My kid is not perfect, I and my wife are not perfect parents – but I want, I desire a better future for my children and I believe most parents feel the same way. And it makes me feel good when I see the subtle positive changes in my children. I surprised a Teacher today. As I walked across the school campus a former fifth grader in daycare came up to me and gave me a hug. I asked her what she was doing and she quickly said: nothing, I’m bored. So I broke out the speech I give my own children with a twist, I asked her: Is this not a school? Practice your math, read a book, keep your brain active. This quickly prompted the teacher standing near us to say: Yes, why not read a book that is on your summer reading book list? The young girl gave her this – are you crazy look. I quickly reacted by explaining to my young friend that my nine year old son has been practicing his math everyday this summer – why, because I bribe him, no video games, TV, nothing if he doesn’t compl...

Successful Children - I love sharing stories with my children about successful children in order to motivate them to learn and to succeed. 10 yr. old CEO, Entrepreneur Hannah Altman Business – Selling Pencil Toppers Only 10 years old (yes, you read correctly!), Hannah Altman is the founder and CEO of Hannah’s Cool World where she and her parents sell cool toys all over the world. In business since 2009, her site has sold more than 250,000 pencil toppers. She comes from a family of entrepreneurs – her Mother Lauren Altman started Cool Zips when Hannah was only six years old. In fact, the idea to start Cool Zips was Hannah’s – a really creative and practical thinker at such a young age, one must say! Her Dad, Rick Altman, left his full time job in 2010 when the Cool Zips business really took off. Once the family was out dining when Hannah spotted pencil toppers in a nearby vending machine and Hannah forced her Dad to buy them. Hannah, when reaching home, asked her Dad wheth...

Math: cool way to teach my son math with YouTube? Here is a question: what is an integer? How do you teach a 9 yr old “fourth grade math” and more over the summer, when all he wants to do is to play video games late into the night? Let me tell you – he doesn’t make it easy. But I did make it interesting for him: I found this interesting math tutorial on YouTube. My 9 yr old loves watching You Tube videos about MineCraft and other games – so it was a no brainer. I sit with him and I watch the videos with him and then I create questions and/or math equations that go along with what we learned in the video. (Check one video out below) As of today we are up to video seven where the lessons start on multiplication and division – considering we have heard everything from natural numbers, whole numbers, unit numbers and integers which to my – is a bunch of different ways of saying: numbers. But according to the videos – integer is positive and negative numbers and zero.  ...

Now these are some awesome sand castles creations.

Real Man of Genius Matt Moman had fake limes, actual beer and a flash of inspiration. What entrepreneur hasn't fantasized about the million-dollar idea that's right under his nose? Well, meet Matt Moman, the man who turned a piece of plastic fruit into a multimillion-dollar licensing deal with Grupo Modelo, the behemoth behind the Corona Extra beer brand. How did he do it? Says Moman, "I always start with what I know." As owner of Moman Sales, a South Florida specialist in plastic flowers, what he knows is fake flora. In June 2007, Moman was on a business trip to San Francisco, checking out the latest in nature's plastics, when he hit on the citrus creations of Winward International. The lemons and limes looked and felt so real, Moman was convinced there had to be another way to market them. A few days later, back home sipping a beer, it came to him: The limes would be a perfect match for the Corona brand. Enter "the limer," or as it is offic...

Food may be the perfect item to fence on the black market. After all, a hunk of cheese doesn't carry the type of high-tech tracking equipment often loaded in electronics. Who would have thought - the hamberglur is actually a true criminal master mind - people are actually stealing, high jacking large amounts of food items. I have seen (only in movies) how criminals in the mob would highjack trucks filled with electronics, cigarettes and even furniture - but food - this is different. I guess with the price of food continuing to grow making it expensive for regular people to buy - criminals must think that "food" must be a highly desired commodity. Don't believe me - check out the reports below. The 21-ton cheese theft. In March, an Illinois man was charged with stealing $200,000 worth of Muenster cheese from Wisconsin. Authorities claim he provided false paperwork to a distributor, allowing him to load 42,000 pounds into his 18-wheeler. He was supposedly plan...

Why teach your kids about money and the reason I wrote books for my kids. The financial future is bleak - for us currently that is, things may improve in thr far far future for our small children or grandchildren. But teaching them about how money works, what the importance of how to manage money - they need to learn today so they can be prepared should a crisis ever arise again. The current situation Who says there's no inflation? Food prices are expected to rise as much as 4% this year, according to Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, meaning household budgets will be eating the difference. That is faster than 2012's food inflation rate, driven higher by the rising cost of beef, pork, chicken, fruits and other staples. Higher cost of food (the basics) and growing older population The oldest baby boomers have already turned 65, and the older population of the U.S. is beginning to swell. The age-65-and-older population grew 18% between 2000 and 2011 to 41.4 mi...

Who invented the pencil and what is so important about it? Hymen L. Lipman (March 20, 1817 - November 4, 1893) is credited with registering the first patent for a pencil with an attached eraser on March 30, 1858 (U.S. Patent 19,783). Hymen L. Lipman was born March 20, 1817, in Kingston, Jamaica, to English parents. He immigrated to the United States around 1829 with them, arriving in Philadelphia, Pa., where he resided for the remainder of his life. The idea of the video below is, that the complexity of a simple pencil proves that it requires the work of "many" and not that of just one individual ( I am paraphrasing ). Apparently the professionals would say that the short story written by: Leonard E. Read and adapted into this video is about creative destruction - about finding new better ways to create more with less that serves more people. But fist the video. In basic terms the professionals say that the free markets work by creative destruction. For instance the p...

Computer help: Here is an experience you might find helpful. I know a little bit about computers but all in all I know as much as anyone else does. I am not a super nerd, computer whiz or Einstein. With this said, I have several people who come to me asking for computer help – people who are willing to pay me and are often surprised (if they are generous people who like to pay for services rendered) - are surprised to find out that I helped them out for free.    I usually get the “Are you sure? I know your time is valuable…” Don’t get me wrong, I do not do it because I am wealthy or because I am gullible. I offer my services for free because 9 times out of ten – the problem was simple in nature. For example: I had a co-worker ask me to help him with a used laptop he purchased because it wouldn’t connect to the internet. After playing with it for about 20 minutes I figured out the problem and the issue was solved. Know that was just my basic knowledge – but for things...

Funny - the future is now, check it out. Remember watching all those futuristic movies and cartoons and wondering to yourself - is that how the future will be? Then the sad truth of reality hit when you grew up and even now - we can't even build a decent flying car, much less fly into space or live on the moon. So I guess people have just gotten tired of waiting for the future to happen and have brought the future to us in the here and now. Take a look at some of these pic's and tell me this doesn't remind you of all those space movies or cartoons. ______________________________________ Eric Wong, the managing director of a capsule bed manufacturer, and his son Osbert pose in capsule beds in Hong Kong. They are aimed at university students and budget travelers visiting the territory from mainland China. A visitor walks past rows of closet-sized sleeping quarters in Moscow's first micro-hostel. Manager Akiyoshi Kaneko inspects sleeping compartments at the...