Cultural Observations

We have been learning about money in homeschool this past week. The initial confusion was - what currency do we learn in??? Dollars, Euros or Sterling?? We settled for euros as that is what we use here.
Using my education training I decided that a practical role play situation would be the best way forward!!! (Also more fun for all involved.) We now have a shop set up in our school room, although all the items in our store cost either 50 cents or one euro!!! We will progress on to more complicated transactions in time. The shop is constantly being depleted when Tate is around as he tends to consume items before purchase and sits in the middle of the floor happily eating whatever he has managed to open!! He is fascinated with money in general and always has some in his pockets. I am constantly finding it in the bottom of the washing machine as it has fallen out of pockets I have missed.

One day when I returned I noticed the cheque book slipped under the cash till. I looked in it to see how it was being used and saw a long list of names with numbers beside. When questioned Quin looked at me as if I was completely stupid and said "Mummy, that is the book that you write the I owe you's in. People who don't have money to pay today write their names here. They come back another day when they have money!!!" This is acceptable practice here in most stores. We take advantage of the system if we need to buy something but don't happen to have the cash on us. The honor system lives on here. Our children think this is common practice and will certainly be shocked when they realise in the Western world the "honor system" is long gone.