The 3 best books to help you stop living paycheck to paycheck

Tired of living paycheck to paycheck? Can't quite get a handle on those personal finances? So many of us think we learned all we needed to know about money in school but the truth is we were simply taught how to be good consumers. Were you told to get good grades so you could get a good job once you graduated? Has anyone asked for your report card since then? Do you know what a financial statement is? Well, a financial statement is your report card in the real world. Looking back I cringe to think of all the time and money I wasted before learning the facts about money.

Not until I began teaching personal finance to our own children did I learn the truth about money. After countless hours of reading and research I am able to narrow my recommended reading list of financial books to the following three: Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Increase Your Financial IQ by Robert Kiyosaki and The Laws of Success in 16 Lessons by Napoleon Hill. 

Kiyosaki will teach you the difference between poor people and rich people in easy to understand terms. In his books you learn how to write and read a simple financial statement, your report card for the real world. Forget everything you ever learned in business and accounting classes because Kiyosaki turns everything you ever learned on its head. Both books are an easy read but very enlightening.

Napoleon Hill was hired by Andrew Carnegie in the early 1900's to observe the wealthiest men in America for 20 years. Hill published his findings in 1928. This book is out of print but can be obtained online for free or you can buy a copy on CD at eBay. Not only will you learn about finance but also how to generally succeed in life. Once Hill's book was published it caused an uproar within the circle of those interviewed so Hill published a watered down version ten years later titled Think & Grow Rich. If you want the full effect of his findings you need to read the original book.

These are not get rich quick books. Building wealth and getting out of ridiculous debt takes time. Use these books in your homeschool as building blocks to financial freedom. Many of us are concerned with the present economy in this country. Those depending on the government coming to their rescue are in for a frightening surprise when they realize there is nothing left in the coffers. Learn the difference between assets and liabilities. Learn how building a business can make you wealthy. Learn to invest. Learn to be financially free and be able to sleep at night knowing you can help your children have a better and brighter future.

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Unschooling Unexpected Benefits and Challenges {Friday Five}

Unschooling Unexpected Benefits and Challenges {Friday Five}

Sometimes the only way to understand this unschooling thing is to experience it first hand. I love it when a parent shares their own experience and can make heads or tails of it...eventually. Keep exploring moms and dads and keep sharing your home-based education discoveries.

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Want a Healthier Family? 12 Health Benefits of Homeschooling

Want a Healthier Family? 12 Health Benefits of Homeschooling

Yet another great article by the brilliant Linda Dobson. As a parent of grown homeschoolers she and many others like her could have just walked away after raising their children. With our collective experience and passion for homeschooling I'm happy to see so many of us still helping other parents learn about this natural and historic way to educate children. Thank you, Linda!

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Happy homeschoolers exploring their world...tending a flower garden

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Dos and Don'ts for a successful homeschool experience #16

The following DOs and DON'Ts for a successful homeschool experience are being presented in a series to allow for digestion and discussion. After homeschooling/unschooling my own children for over 22 years I've discovered what worked and what didn't work for us was universal. Feel free to add your comments and concerns or ask questions.


#16 DO look for ways to finance your homeschooling journey. Often homeschool families will decide there should be at least one stay-at-home parent while the other works a full-time job. Being a stay-at-home mom or dad doesn't mean giving up an income. Read 10 Ways To Pay For Your Homeschooling to learn how to finance your homeschool. Our present economy is rather rickety at the moment. It's best to start now preparing for a sustainable way to finance your homeschool before being forced to make hasty decisions later on.

#16 DON'T feel pressured to send your child to college. College attendance is highly overrated, not to mention a vehicle for putting you and your child into proverbial debt for the rest of your working life. If your child wants to become a brain surgeon then that's another kettle of fish. However, many other skills can be self-taught and apprenticing still does exist. There is always community college where your child can pick and choose courses without the added costs of housing, food, untold fees and frivolous non-elective classes. Many homeschoolers are ready for college courses by age 15 or 16 and many use community college as their high school. By selectively taking a few years of community college courses most homeschoolers will begin to know which direction they want to go academically and are free to decide if a college career is right for them. Many, however, discover full time college at a state or university campus is wasteful of their precious time and money. A year or two of community college business and accounting courses is just as beneficial and less costly than four or five years in a degree program far from home.

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Dos and Don'ts for a successful homeschool experience #15

The following DOs and DON'Ts for a successful homeschool experience are being presented in a series to allow for digestion and discussion. After homeschooling/unschooling my own children for over 22 years I've discovered what worked and what didn't work for us was universal. Feel free to add your comments and concerns or ask questions.


#15 DO teach personal finance in your homeschool. These are precarious times as far as the global economy is concerned. How is your economy? By teaching personal finance to your children you will finally receive the education concerning money, investing, debt, economics, business, liabilities, assets, barter, budgets, unions, and cash flow that you were denied in public school. Public schools teach consumer finance NOT investment finance. You need to know both and the difference between them. Learn to invest! Start sharing this information with your children by getting them a piggy bank. Better yet, get them several banks. When you go to a store show them how to shop. Let them earn some money to shop with. Math workbooks of different age levels are readily available at department stores or online. Own a business? Let your children participate to learn how it's done. We were fortunate to find the Rich Dad, Poor Dad book series by the time our children were in their early teens. These are excellent books and materials by Robert Kiyosaki. Kiyosaki turns everything you ever learned or assumed about money on its ear. Peprare for a real eye opener but also a better world financially for you and your family.
 
#15 DON'T throw away any of your child's creations. That includes art, writing, drawings or awards no matter how many or how trivial you may think they are. Keep a scrapbook or special box to store them in. If your child is too young to sign their own name you should write the name of the child who created the piece and date it. Over the years our children have created drawings for our homeschooling newsletter (Right At Home) and booklets. It was a thrill for them to see their art published and led to our daughter creating her own homeschooling newsletter titled Jiggety-Jig. She eventually won awards for her 3-dimensional clay work at the local fair and that led to her own business called Flutternut Studios. Many of you may be searching for a way to boost your own economy. Use these creations for T-shirt, mug or calendar designs to raise funds for your homeschool. It's a great way to show off your child's talent and they make great gifts for the grandparents.

One of our homeschooled daughter's clay creations

 

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Dos and Don'ts for a successful homeschool experience #14

The following DOs and DON'Ts for a successful homeschool experience are being presented in a series to allow for digestion and discussion. After homeschooling/unschooling my own children for over 22 years I've discovered what worked and what didn't work for us was universal. Feel free to add your comments and concerns or ask questions.

#14 DO find some quiet space to call your own and use downtime for reflection, problem solving and planning. To let you in on a little secret, my favorite place for this was in my van while waiting for our children when they attended piano lessons. I would have a solid hour and a half all to myself to read, pay bills or simply enjoy the solitude. When the children are young take advantage of nap-time to do this. I promise you the dirty laundry and dishes in the sink will still be there but the rejuvenation and clarity you experience from that down-time will make housekeeping far more enjoyable. As your children grow older and become more independent you may discover you have more time for yourself, your job or your hobbies. If you are able to pace yourself, reflect and remain organized early on you'll be better able to enjoy life. You won't find yourself stressing over a frazzled and hectic existence brought on by trying to be the supermom you were not meant to be.

 

#14 DON'T be afraid to instill your own values in your children, not the political correct ones modern bureaucrats think they should be. Our culture has run amok. Good guys get mocked, ridiculed and punished while the bad guys are emulated, worshiped and get their own television shows. There truly are elements of good and evil on this earth. Much of the evil is perpetrated by the politicians doing the bidding of those who have bought their favor. Standing up for your beliefs is not enough anymore. You need to be armed with detailed information about politics, commerce, finance, education, medicine, religion and more. Only then will you be able to decide whether you want to participate or not participate in the factions that control your life and the lives of those around you.


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Dos and Don'ts for a successful homeschool experience #13

The following DOs and DON'Ts for a successful homeschool experience are being presented in a series to allow for digestion and discussion. After homeschooling/unschooling my own children for over 22 years I've discovered what worked and what didn't work for us was universal. Feel free to add your comments and concerns or ask questions.

#13 DO include your children in your life...warts and all. This can be done without depriving your children of a happy and memorable childhood. By 'warts and all'  I'm talking about explaining your frustrations with minor things such as household bills, relationships, unruly relatives you'd rather not spend time with, politics, money and your own lack of knowledge. Life and children don't come with handbooks. We as parents don't have all the answers and many of us are still finding our way in this world. Children have the uncanny ability to teach us about life, love and letting go of our hang-ups. If we open up to them and we begin to let go of our own adult baggage they can make our lives so much richer. The best thing I ever learned from my children was patience and they were great motivators by making me want to learn everything about anything. Remember what it was like to see the world through your eyes as a child? The good guys wore white hats, life was simpler, little things meant so much, and the stars in the night sky were shinier. You were convinced you could talk to the animals and you saw everything in black and white. Continue to see life through the eyes of your child but at the same time let them know that there will be challenges and obstacles to overcome. Those challenges and obstacles will be better dealt with if children are clued in early rather than left to suffer a rude awakening to some facts of life.

#13 DON'T let your child decide whether or not to attend public schooling. The consequences are far too serious to allow an immature mind to make this decision. Your young child has no idea of the history, the politics or the intent of the public schools in this country, or the world for that matter. It is imperative you never EVER send your child into this corrupt system. Don't be taken in by the 'carrots' they dangle in front of you such as athletics, proms, drama clubs, honor rolls, field trips and the plethora of feel good opportunities they use to draw you in. Today all of these 'carrots'  can be found and attended in the outside free world. Once you sign on the public school's dotted line you've given them your permission to force you to live by their rules, their whims and their warped beliefs. The public schools will rob your child of their dignity, their education and their very soul.


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One of the best & most honest campaign trail speeches ever

Ron Paul may have lost the 2012 New Hampshire primary but his message is resonating across America. I'm tired of hawk politicians and all the presidents in my life time have been war mongers. It's time for some peace.

Let me ask you, do you support this:

How can we teach our children to be peaceful when the powerful around us continue to inflict their policies and military might against us all on this earth. Many of us naively believed we left this deliberate destruction behind us after Viet Nam. We were duped then and we are being duped now. Some of us have awakened from our stupor but many have not. I do believe the 2012 presidential election is truly for the soul of this country. We cannot learn in freedom if there is no truth and no liberty in which to teach our own.

The public schools in this country have kept the masses stupid long enough. Get the children out. Get them out and teach them the truth. How much more truth than a baby's cry do you need?


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