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Jacob Boone, 11, of Rifle, practices writing a check in Sue Auxter's fifth-grade class at Rifle Middle School on Monday morning.
Ten-year-old Amanda Rhule of Rifle is the banker. But it's not in a Monopoly game. Rhule is the banker in Sue Auxter's fifth-grade class at Rifle Middle School, where the students are learning about how to manage their money.
Remember getting your first credit card out of high school? Remember thinking that it was so cool to get free money for new stereo equipment? Remember not being aware that you actually had to PAY IT BACK ... with INTEREST?
Of course not! Back in the 1970s or earlier, nobody told us how to manage our money.
Then there's Auxter's middle school class.
These fifth-grade students are learning how to budget their funds in a real life situation.
“We're learning how to deal with money and budget and pay bills,” Auxter said.
Auxter is the landlord. She collects the rent. The students are also given the option of direct deposits into their bank accounts as well as having their “paychecks” direct deposited.
“By the time you're in high school, probably all paychecks will be direct deposited,” Auxter tells her students. “But until then, you need to learn how to write a check.”
Sierra Royalist, 10, of Rifle, said she has learned how to budget her money and pay bills in the class. The hardest part of the class for her is remembering to subtract everything from her account balance. Nevertheless, she thinks the class will help her to learn how to write checks, address bills and figure out zip codes.
“The hardest part is remembering to subtract everything,” Royalist admits. “But I think it will help. We're learning to write checks, address bills and write zip codes, and capital letters.”
Auxter also stresses the importance of putting a return address on bills — from personal experience.
“One time I didn't put my return address on and the stamp fell off,” she confessed. “It ended up in the dead letter office in California. Eventually they opened it and it got sent back, but it was my house payment — and I had to pay a late fine.”
Then there was the time she sent her car payment to the mortgage company and vice versa ...
Auxter gives each student a budget of $1,500 per month. Of that, $1,100 goes towards car, rent, utilities and groceries. Insurance ($200) is paid at the beginning of the year. Auxter uses “Cheers and Tears” cards to represent unforeseen expenses such as a breakdown of a washer or dryer, an injury, car accident, etc.
“One year a kid wouldn't buy insurance and he drew the ‘tree falls on your house' card. He had to pay me $200 extra a month off the rest of the year to pay it off,” Auxter said.
The students are also required to do two catalog activities in which they buy two outfits, shoes and a jacket.
Jacob Boone, 11, of Rifle, has learned the hard way about the value of clothing since taking Auxter's class.
“We had $150 for clothes,” Boone said. “That's hard to find.”
Of the $1,500, the students were allocated $500 paid to Auxter as their landlord; $150 for utilities; $250 towards a car; $200 for food; and $200 to insurance;
Miscellaneous expenses and tax refunds were also figured into the budget.
Auxter tries to replicate real life experiences and consequences such as fines, late fees, bonuses for job well done and more. Not getting their grade sheets in on time each week is a fine.
“I reduce the amount that they get monthly if they aren't doing their jobs (homework). We talk about when they miss days of work, they may not get paid unless they have a better paying job. Once again, working hard through school will get you more choices as an adult.”
Auxter has been teaching her finance program since 1993 to help kids learn to county money and help with math story problems, but other good things have come from it as well. . She has been implementing it in the fifth grade of the Re-2 school district since 2004.
“The main thing is that I think kids have more empathy towards their parents now,” Auxter said. “Now when parents say they can't have $100 tennis shoes, the kids have a better understanding of why they are saying no.”
Remember getting your first credit card out of high school? Remember thinking that it was so cool to get free money for new stereo equipment? Remember not being aware that you actually had to PAY IT BACK ... with INTEREST?
Of course not! Back in the 1970s or earlier, nobody told us how to manage our money.
Then there's Auxter's middle school class.
These fifth-grade students are learning how to budget their funds in a real life situation.
“We're learning how to deal with money and budget and pay bills,” Auxter said.
Auxter is the landlord. She collects the rent. The students are also given the option of direct deposits into their bank accounts as well as having their “paychecks” direct deposited.
“By the time you're in high school, probably all paychecks will be direct deposited,” Auxter tells her students. “But until then, you need to learn how to write a check.”
Sierra Royalist, 10, of Rifle, said she has learned how to budget her money and pay bills in the class. The hardest part of the class for her is remembering to subtract everything from her account balance. Nevertheless, she thinks the class will help her to learn how to write checks, address bills and figure out zip codes.
“The hardest part is remembering to subtract everything,” Royalist admits. “But I think it will help. We're learning to write checks, address bills and write zip codes, and capital letters.”
Auxter also stresses the importance of putting a return address on bills — from personal experience.
“One time I didn't put my return address on and the stamp fell off,” she confessed. “It ended up in the dead letter office in California. Eventually they opened it and it got sent back, but it was my house payment — and I had to pay a late fine.”
Then there was the time she sent her car payment to the mortgage company and vice versa ...
Auxter gives each student a budget of $1,500 per month. Of that, $1,100 goes towards car, rent, utilities and groceries. Insurance ($200) is paid at the beginning of the year. Auxter uses “Cheers and Tears” cards to represent unforeseen expenses such as a breakdown of a washer or dryer, an injury, car accident, etc.
“One year a kid wouldn't buy insurance and he drew the ‘tree falls on your house' card. He had to pay me $200 extra a month off the rest of the year to pay it off,” Auxter said.
The students are also required to do two catalog activities in which they buy two outfits, shoes and a jacket.
Jacob Boone, 11, of Rifle, has learned the hard way about the value of clothing since taking Auxter's class.
“We had $150 for clothes,” Boone said. “That's hard to find.”
Of the $1,500, the students were allocated $500 paid to Auxter as their landlord; $150 for utilities; $250 towards a car; $200 for food; and $200 to insurance;
Miscellaneous expenses and tax refunds were also figured into the budget.
Auxter tries to replicate real life experiences and consequences such as fines, late fees, bonuses for job well done and more. Not getting their grade sheets in on time each week is a fine.
“I reduce the amount that they get monthly if they aren't doing their jobs (homework). We talk about when they miss days of work, they may not get paid unless they have a better paying job. Once again, working hard through school will get you more choices as an adult.”
Auxter has been teaching her finance program since 1993 to help kids learn to county money and help with math story problems, but other good things have come from it as well. . She has been implementing it in the fifth grade of the Re-2 school district since 2004.
“The main thing is that I think kids have more empathy towards their parents now,” Auxter said. “Now when parents say they can't have $100 tennis shoes, the kids have a better understanding of why they are saying no.”
