Counting coins

A little while ago, our daughters finally reached their savings target to buy this Littlest Pet Shop Hamster house:

They saved their pocket money each week, did extra chores and counted their money every few days - sometimes every day, to see how close they were getting.

When they finally reached their goal of $39 saved between them, they counted and checked their money one last time, then put it into their purses and off we went to the shop.

When we got to the checkout, the sales assistant scanned the hamster house and then waited while the girls opened their purses.
You should have seen his face when they emptied all the coins onto the counter!

He said nothing, but began to count.  He counted the single $10 note, then $19 in gold $1 and $2 coins.  He then set them aside and turned to me to say, 

"That's $29, now do you have a $10 note for the rest, as I can't put all those coins in my till."

I have to say I was shocked.  My poor daughters who had spent so long saving and counting those coins - and they were now worried the shop wasn't going to take them!

I politely told him that I didn't have any money - that was the remaining money - pointing to the pile of coins on the counter.  

At this point, a supervisor walked past, saw the pile of coins and rolled her eyes.  She said to the sales assistant, "Is it all there?'
He replied that is was, and she told him to put it in his till and she would bring some bags to sort it out.

Thankfully we managed to pay with those coins and the girls left the store very happy.  

But I was left wondering about how it is becoming rarer and sometimes more difficult to deal in cash - particularly coins.

Did you ever have a jar that you saved up a particular coin in?  I remember as a kid saving up 10 pence pieces.  When I'd filled my money box, I took it to the bank, where they counted it and put it into my account for me.   

Nowadays, in banks (certainly in Australia - I'm not sure about other countries)  banks won't count coins for you any more.  You have to count and bag those coins yourself before they will accept them (even though they will then count them themselves anyway to check you counted right!!).  I have even heard of some banks refusing to take piles of coins at particularly busy times as it takes up too much of their time.


I also learnt that in the UK, shops are only legally required to take payment up to a certain amount in coins:

COINS: 

Coins are legal tender throughout the United Kingdom for the following amount: 


$5 (Crown) - for any amount 

$2 - for any amount 

$1 - for any amount 

50p - for any amount not exceeding $10 

25p (Crown) - for any amount not exceeding $10 

20p - for any amount not exceeding $10 

10p - for any amount not exceeding $5 

5p - for any amount not exceeding $5 

2p - for any amount not exceeding 20p 

1p - for any amount not exceeding 20p




While I can understand shops not wanting big piles of coins when they could have nice easy notes and larger value coins in their place, to have this as a fixed law seems a bit extreme.

Particularly with kids, this rule is a bit harsh.

Children should be encouraged to save for things, to learn about money - particularly cash, and be able to spend their carefully earned and saved coins. This is an important part of their education - to see and experience this in real life

For our daughters, in the national curriculum for their age groups, the younger (grade 2) must learn to:

Count and order small collections of Australian coins and

 notes according to their value


And the elder daughter must learn to:

Solve problems involving purchases and the calculation of

 change to the nearest five cents with and without digital

 technologies


Kids are far more likely to learn and remember concepts that they can experience in real life.
We will continue to encourage our kids to earn and save up their coins for things, and they take them to shops to buy what they choose.
I hope the sales assistants we encounter will be sympathetic to what our kids are doing!

Have you ever had an experience like this ?  Do your kids save and earn small amounts of coins? What do they do with them?










Learning to push yourself


Here in Australia, the Biggest Loser TV series is on again. This is a family favourite for us - our girls love watching it and I think it is a good thing for them to watch and be aware of what can happen when you let yourself and your body go, when you don't exercise or eat healthily


Watching the show this year, I've particularly noticed how much the trainers are telling the contestants to push themselves out of their comfort zones.  They have made comments, that some of the contestants , particularly the younger ones, have never done this before and don't know how it feels to push themselves.

I believe that learning to push yourself is something that every child should learn at a young age. 
When something is difficult or painful, by far the easiest option is to stop, to give up.  But knowing when and how to push on, helps develop skills of determination, confidence and that of overcoming fears.

In watching our girls as they grow and encounter new things, I see their reactions of both fear and refusal of trying something new, and that of excitement and wanting to have a go.  

Both our girls have experienced both reactions in different situations and at different times, but character-wise one daughter is more prone to the fear than the 'have a go' attitude, and we do our best to help her overcome this and to learn to push herself out of her comfort zone.

There have been times when I've felt like a cruel pushy parent  in getting her over a mental hurdle of not wanting to participate in something. (and I'm sure people watching would have perceived me as such).  But the end result has been worthwhile as I've seen the joy and delight on my daughter's face as she realises she can do these things -and even better, enjoys them!
The older she has got, the better she has become in pushing herself in situations that may be new or scary and I am proud of her ability to get out of her comfort zone

I think part of learning to push yourself, is learning about consequences of your actions.  Watching the Biggest Loser, you can see this clearly over the series as you watch the contestants pushing themselves physically and mentally; the pain this causes them and how hard they find it - but in the end the amazing transformations starkly show the clear benefits of their actions.

In relating this to our kids, I think of academic work - of times when our daughters don't want to do their homework, or spelling practice.  They are now beginning to understand the reasoning behind the practice and it's benefits in class as their confidence grows and test results improve.  

As a child, I remember my father giving me extra Maths and English work to do each week. It wasn't much, but I never enjoyed it.  However, I do remember liking being a little bit ahead at school often and grasping concepts quicker, having already covered them at home with my father (who was a teacher himself).  In hindsight, I am grateful to my father for the time he spent helping me push myself at a young age!

As with everything it is important to find a balance and not push your child too much.  I hope we achieve this balance and our girls grow up to be both confident and determined with an ability to go out of their comfort zone to move forward and achieve their desires in life.

Do you push your children?  Do you believe children should be pushed?



Dominoes


After school today, our girls got out a box of dominoes each to play with.  I never know what might spark their interest at any time. They just went to the games cupboard and that's what they came out with today.

They didn't then play an actual game of dominoes - but used them to set up 'domino runs'. These developed to include spoons and balls!

It's great to see them using their imaginations and creativity to construct these things.  Perhaps inspired by science experiments at school - or just kids boundless creativity and exploratory play.  It's great for their hand-eye co-ordination, problem solving and also patience.  Amazing how much you can get out of a few small blocks!

Of course I had to look up Dominoes online to get some background information.  I discovered that Dominoes is believed to have originated in China in the 12th Century - and the number combinations are taken from those numbers found on 2 dice!  The game then gradually spread around the world, and has been and is popular in many cultures.  The more complicated tile game Ma Jong developed from the basic Chinese dominoes game.

To play the actual game of dominoes, you share out the tiles face down on the table amongst the players, and then take it in turns to place them down - matching the same numbers together until no more tiles can be placed. The winner is then the one whose dots on their remaining tiles add up to the lowest value!
It's a nice simple game with easy numbers so even young children can play.

Of course there are the inevitable online versions of dominoes, and I even found an app for your phone to play domino rally!


Do you ever play dominoes?  Do your kids?

I'll leave you with a video of a domino rally - an impressive number - just a little more than my girls games this afternoon!!




Homework - is it really worth it?


Our two girls are now back into the swing of school after the long summer break.  Homework started last week for the eldest, and this week for the youngest.  Both are expected to read each night, and record what they read to show the teacher.They also have spelling words to learn each week, and Maths and English work too.  This homework, together with after school activities makes for a busy time - but there is still plenty of time for play, and I am happy with the amount of work they are doing.

There are state policies on the subject of homework. I had a read of our Queensland policies and saw that in Prep (the first compulsory year of school here) generally no homework is set.  I remember our youngest daughter wanting homework when she was in Prep as her older sister (2 years age difference) was then getting homework.  At that age, homework can sound like fun.  I remember wanting the same as the youngest child - and our teacher giving us homework like - "bring in as many different types of paper as you can"  or we made a paper basket in class, and we had to fill it with as many things beginning with 'b' as we could! Fun homework!
As the school age increases, so does the expected amount of homework.

I know many people don't like the idea of homework - there are arguments both for and against.
While researching these arguments, I found an entire book written about the case against homework! which states that,

"it is a hidden cause of the childhood obesity epidemic, creating a nation of "homework potatoes."

Personally I think this is a bit extreme - but then that's my opinion

 based upon the homework our girls get, and remembering my own

 experiences of homework as a child.


I believe that homework is an important way for children to

 reinforce things they learn at school, and also a way for parents to

 see their child's progress and what they are learning at school. It 

also provides the children with a chance to work independently.

Sometimes, children may not have understood explanations and

 concepts in class, and then difficulties arise when they have to

 complete tasks for homework.  But this provides an opportunity to

 learn about consequences - the importance of listening in class;

 learning to ask questions when you don't understand things; and

 even learning to research things yourself - asking parents for help,

 checking in books or online for help.


I think there are many things that will influence how you feel about

 homework. Each country and indeed school will set differing 

amounts of homework for children, and have differing 

expectations.  


What do you feel about homework? Do your children get enough?

 too much?  What about your own memories of homework from

 when you were a child?






Rubik's cube


Do you remember the Rubik's cube?
Created in 1974 by Erno Rubik - a Hungarian sculptor and professor. It was originally meant as a way to explain 3D geometry but the Rubik's cube became incredibly popular as a toy in the 1980s.

I remember my brother and I getting them as kids, and learning the moves to be able to solve the puzzle - making each side one solid colour.  Initially Dad got a book with the solution in, and he taught me the moves - giving each move a 'name' to help me remember.

To this day - around 30 years later - I've found I still remember those moves - "twiddle twiddle up.... down down round round up up....."  I think I did it so many times, that in the end I learnt the moves by rote - just like my times tables - and they stuck!

Santa brought our daughters a Rubik's cube each for last Christmas - and they are very impressed with Mummy's skill in being able to solve it!


Now there is a whole website about Rubik's cubes.  You can buy all manner of Rubiks cubes and novelty items; learn how to solve the Rubik's and other cubes; see pictures of Rubik's cube cakes, and watch Rubik's TV including seeing someone solve the cube in just 5.66 seconds!! Unbelievable!


This amazing cube is used as an educational tool in maths classrooms.  There is a whole website dedicated to ways to use the Rubik's cube to teach various maths skills.

I don't know how technical I could get with this - or would want to, but I do think I'll try to teach our girls how to solve the Rubik's cube.  If nothing else it is satisfying to be able to do it - and pretty cool too!  If it can also help with their maths, fine motor skills, and provide a good way to help improve memory skills when learning the moves, then so much the better!

Have you got a Rubik's cube? Can you solve it?