Our School Store

For rewarding, encouraging, bribing, etc. our children we have used a school store. I have a clear storage bin (27 Qt.) that has all kinds of stuff in it. Any time we go to the store & they (even the babies) want something(within my budget that week) rather than argue with them, I just buy it. BUT it goes in the school store & they have to earn it! Or if I see something I want them to have or that they would like I will get it & sneak it into the school store -- surprise!

Here is how it works:

I have a dry-erase board in my office that I write their names on the bottom (Taylor & Tyler - I'm going to do *something different w/ Trevor & Tucker) & how many "points" they have. A point is 25 cents. They get points from good behavior, review questions, mom is in a good mood ... you get the idea. NOTE: Points can be taken away! On Friday's they can buy items out of the school store. I also have a list of things they can buy. Example: Glass of sweet tea, stay up 30 minutes passed bed time, free day of chores, movie at bed time. I have set prices for everything. They can also cash out their points; however, they can only have a max of $10 in their wallets (unless we are going on a field trip or I make an exception).

This system has taught my kids to be accountable for their actions, manage their money, save, bargain (yes, they work me), add/subtract money, understand the value of money & realize how much some of the things they want cost. They love the school store!

*Instead of using money for the little guys I created a "POINTS" section on their charts & I am just going to use numbers for points (as they are learning their numbers).

Some of the things in our school store are: bubbles, t-shirts, pencils (oh yes, I make them buy these b/c they are constantly loosing them & those digital pencils are expensive!), water balloons, water guns, gift certificates, toys, crafts, & candy.

Oh, this is a family affair! Grandma's & Paw Paw's can add items to the school store too!

Have a good day!

Tiff