My son is a collector. Baseball cards, football cards, hockey cards, hockey pucks, state quarters, stamps, travel brochures, maps, atlases, soccer balls, and on and on and on.  His room is so cluttered with stuff that the producers of show "Hoarders" would probably run screaming in terror. He is quite passionate about his collections. He recently spent several hours in the back seat of the car, refusing to come into the house until his father and I agreed to let him spend $15 of his own money on a valuable "Magic: The Gathering" card. We did not agree. "But it's my money!" he tearfully protested. And indeed, it was. He had earned every dime through hard work: making beds, raking leaves, unloading the dishwasher.

Which is why we said no.

 For those not in the know, Magic: The Gathering is a trading card game full of wizards, magic spells, and monsters.

From 2011-2012, the  8 and 9 year old boys in the City of Decatur were wild about the cards... just as they had been wild about Pokemon cards from 2010-2011,
and Beyblades the year before that,
and mini-football helmets before that,
and on and on and on...
all the way back to the days of Thomas the Tank Engine and his vast locomotive empire.

 And just as I knew that my childhood passions were fast and furious (er, Shaun Cassidy, replaced by *cough* Rick Springfield and then replaced by--mercifully--David Bowie), I knew that the magic of Magic would be short lived. So, no, spending $15 on ONE CARD was simply not going to happen. His father and I calmly explained (in the backseat of the car, with him still refusing to enter the house) that though he didn't understand our reasoning, we felt that $15 was too much money for one card. We told him that if he still wanted the card in 6 months, we would reconsider, but for now the answer was no. I'd like to say our talk was met with understanding and everlasting household peace. Alas, it was not to be. My kid spent two more hours in the car, and then refused to speak to us until the next day. But as my husband always says, parenthood is not a popularity contest. And guess what? It's 6 months later and we are no longer under the spell of the Magic: The Gathering deck. JP and I recently had a very mature 10 year old conversation about it. He actually thanked me for not letting him buy the card because "I wanted it, but I didn't need it. And now I've saved a lot more money." Score 1  for Mommy and Daddy!

How does this story relate to our money investigation in class? I use the word "investigation" rather that unit or lesson, because that is what it is, an investigation. Sure, we want the class to know how to count change and how to make change. But money is so much more than that. Money has weight, money has history, money has value. Why is it important to know how to count money correctly? What does hard work have to do with money? Can money buy happiness?  Is it worth it to spend a lot of money on one card/video game/Lego set? If you really want to buy something is it better to wait or to buy it right away? How do you feel when you spend money to help someone else?  Here are some "thinking" questions we asked the them this week:

 "How much money would you need to buy a car?", the answers ranged from $150 to 7 million dollars.
 "Is it fair that you have 5 nickels and I only have one quarter? After all, isn't 5 more than 1??"
"What are some ways you can make money?"
"Why should we save money?"
"When should we spend money?"
"What do you think grown ups spend money on?"
"Can you make 38 cents with only 5 coins?"
"How many different ways can you make 50 cents? What if you can't use dimes?"
"If we had a class lemonade stand, would we rather buy a toy for the classroom or use the money to help an endangered animal?"
 "If I stack 10 dimes and then 10 quarters, which stack would be taller?"
"How much do you think a line of quarters as long as your arm would be worth? How about a line of dimes? Why?"


We are really proud of this group; they have all learned to count change to at least 50 cents. We have been incorporating a lot of movement into our money work, as well.
Here are some shots of Aidan and Tani, and then Paul and Bo. They are making change on the stairs, having to use their bodies to find the correct change requested by the teacher. Other variations of this game include: having to pay the witch a certain amount to rescue a Pokemon character and having to use only certain coins to make the amount.

Check out Annabella figuring out some tricky Money riddles:

Use only 5 coins to make 35 cents. Then try to make 42 cents with 5 coins.

Use only 3 coins to make 31 cents

Use 7 coins to make 52 cents

Challenge: Use 8 coins to make 77 cents. She did it!!! Can you?

Here's a super fun game that we played this week. You can play this at home, all you need is a die and some change. I always like to use real coins, not fake money.

The "Dollar Dice" game:

Object: to be the first player to reach $1.00

How to play: Each player takes turn rolling the die. 

If you roll 1: take a penny

If you roll 2: take a nickel

If you roll 3: take a dime

If you roll 4: take a quarter

If you roll 5: take any coin

If you roll 6: lose a turn

Count your change after each turn!

Back to my son, the collector. For his 10th birthday, my father gave him a wonderful gift: his coin collection, started with his grandfather on his 10th birthday in 1953. It is quite amazing. If you do not already have a coin collection, I highly recommend starting one with your child. It is such a great family activity! Check out this coolness from JP's collection:

2 different kinds of $2 bills

Error money: a misprinted $1 bill

From left to right: Booker T. Washington half dollar, a half dollar from 1904, a 1950 Benjamin Franklin half dollar; 1893 World's Columbian Exposition half dollar (that's Christopher Columbus on the front); back side of the Ben Franklin (with Liberty Bell; 1925 Stone Mountain half dollar

Last night we had some friends over for dinner. JP brought his coin collection out to show our guests. As we oohed and aahed over the coins, my friend Denise told us that she had acquired quite a large collection of valuable coins as a child. 

"Do you still have them?" her son excitedly asked.

"No, I sold them." 

Turns out, she sold them at age 15 to purchase concert tickets. Yes, Aerosmith and Ted Nugent were worth more to her than a collection of rare coins. Sigh.