This Week in Your Wallet: Back to School Edition
On Sunday, host of NPR Weekend Edition’s Scott Simon tweeted something that rang very, very true: “School starts tomorrow. How do we pack 8 weeks of reading and math into next few hours without cutting into pool time?”
My kids aren’t back in school just yet, but I’m all too familiar with the end-of-summer reading scramble, having done it myself and trying (with varying degrees of success) to prevent my own kids from doing it themselves. However, as a parent, there are only so many things you can control. Back-to-school reading projects typically aren’t one of them — unless, of course, you think you should add financial incentives to the process.
Paying kids to do homework or get good grades has long been a contentious debate, and as a recent Reuters article revealed, there’s still no easy answer. In my house, doing homework and working to the best of your ability are expected; if I do pay my kids for doing a task, it’s for tasks I would pay someone else to do, like grooming the dog or mowing the lawn. However, I know some kids need an extra push when it comes to school work, which is why I wanted to share two tips from that Reuters piece — perhaps they’ll help you decide what to do the next time you debate paying your kids to do homework:
- Reward with time. My parents certainly did this for me: “no playing outside until you finish your homework.” It’s a classic rule, but one that I think gets lost in the discussion about incentivizing kids to do their schoolwork. If your child loves to play basketball, or video games, tell them the basketball court is closed until the algebra homework is complete.
- Reward quality, not speed. Now of course, you don’t want your kids thinking that finishing work as fast as possible is the goal of all work, so if you do decide to do a time-based reward for completing homework, make sure you have the time to read through their work to see if they actually gave it their best effort.
How do you get your kids to do homework? Do you pay, or have you come up with a different type of rewards system?
Speaking of school… have you checked out Money School? The first class is getting closer — sign up here!
And now, here are the other headlines for the week:
Does your college student need renters insurance?
For the older back-to-school set, CNN Money recently asked this question: Is renters insurance worth it for college students? The answer: it depends. If your college student is living in a dorm on-campus, your own homeowner’s policy should cover any loss or damage to their stuff as long as your policy has what’s called an “off-premise coverage” clause. You’ll have to read the fine print to see exactly what’s covered, but in short, if your child is living in a dorm on-campus, there’s a good chance you’re covered. If your child is moving off-campus, however, it’s worth looking into renter’s insurance. CNN notes that a landlord likely has insurance on the building, but that insurance does not cover a renter’s possessions. If your child has a bevy of electronics and $800 worth of chemistry textbooks to protect, it might be worth it to look into renters insurance to protect their possessions. And it shouldn’t set you back all that much: CNN estimates that the average cost of renters insurance is $184 per year (though this will vary depending upon location and room size).
Back to school means back to work?
For students, back-to-school definitely mean
Because coffee makes everything better
Whether you’re going back-to-school or back-to-work, there’s one drink that can help ease the transition into a heavier workload: coffee. Okay, maybe it’s not the ONLY drink that can help (tea is good, and I’ve even felt more energetic when I make an effort to drink more water), but for those of you who, like me, need your morning brew, I wanted to share this Atlantic article with you: how to make the perfect cup of coffee. Obviously “perfect” is in the eye of the beholder, but I like their tips for home brewing: wait to grind your beans until just before you brew them (oxygen affects the flavor compound in the grinds, so as the grinds sit unused, the quality goes down), store your beans in an airtight container away from sunlight, and try the Golden Ratio of water-to-grinds: 30 grams of dry coffee grounds to 523 grams of water. Experiment from there, and enjoy!
Have a great week!
Jean
