We pay the kids for good grades. We figure we're investing a small amount NOW, so we won't have to invest so much LATER. Scholarships are our goal. Our kids don't get an allowance, so this is the only job they get paid for on a regular basis. They do chores for free for the privilege of being a part of this family and doing their part. We don't have a farm or ranch for them to learn how to really work, so we have to do something.
Elementary kids get $3 for an A, $2 for a B, and anything lower, they OWE US money. Fortunately for THEM nobody has had to pay us yet. If they make STRAIGHT A's, they get a bonus of $15.00. When they reach Junior High, they get $5 an A, and $4 a B, with $25 bonus for straight A's. It'll go up again when they get in high school - inflation, ya know. Report cards run every SIX weeks here - not nine.
We have to take out a small loan at report card time, but it really works for all of us. If they want anything electronic, they buy it themselves. Matt saved his money from 3 report cards last year (with help from babysitting money from Joe and Kelsey) and bought his own electric guitar with amp - how sweet is that?
It's a win win for everybody -
* I don't have to buy their dumb video game crap.
* They work hard for good grades.
* They have their own money to spend.
* They learn how to pay tithing.
* They learn how to SAVE for the big things.
* They learn the hard lesson of NOT saving if it
burned a hole in their pocket the first day.
We thought Bug was going to get 2 B's this time, but he pulled it out in the end (we were BOTH surprised) and got straight A's. He was ecstatic - "YESSSSS - I get the bonus!!" I don't know if other states do this, but here - you can go online and see every single assignment grade, class participation grades, EVERYTHING real-time. So there are no surprises. I love it. It's all online, and you can set your preferences for alerts - I get alerted if they get anything less than 85% on anything. That way we know what we need to work on.
The kids got paid last night, and I was helping Rylee count her loot. We separated the tithing from the rest and put it in an envelope. She has been saving up for awhile, and now has $44. She got upset when I said she could keep her 2 - $20 bills, but we needed to put $4.40 in an envelope and not spend it. The tears were welling up about to spill over - she REALLY wanted to keep that $4 ...
Perplexed, she looked up and asked, "Why do Heavenly Father and Jesus need it, they can't spend it?!"
We explained AGAIN (We go through this every "payday") what they need it for - to build churches and temples, to help missionaries and other people who need it, etc. etc. She accepted our answer only after we told her that she now had the most money in the house. (Boys already went to Game Stop.) She smiled and ran off to put the rest in her wallet.
6 comments:
we pay the kids for grades too. Usually starting in junior high. But Isaac has gotten straight a's for over two years. So maybe he should get something.
Kristen! That is such a great idea! Keep up giving me the great advice so I can use it for my future kids one day!
I like this plan. We don't have any grades coming in at our house yet, but I think this is a good idea for when they do, I am already tired of a 4 year old who just expects me to buy him everything whenever he wants it, followed by a melt down in the store when I tell him no. ARG! Also like that chores are done for free as a privilege of being part of the family.
your blog is sooo funny! i LOVE this idea too! YOINK-STOLEN! i laughed really hard at rylee's tithing comments...i sometimes feel that way too.
I love this. The only problem I see if I started it now is that my 12 year old, who has probably only ever had 5 B's her whole life, would use that brain to figure out how much we owe her in back pay and we'd have to sell the car and take out a loan. Hmmmmm.
Ah, I missed those paydays in college, but my parents started paying me when I straight A's in
5th grade and followed through to senior year.
I think it is really awesome that everything is online! Even better its real-time!
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