Monday, February 4, 2008

Teaching Children, Part 5: Balancing a checkbook

Part five in our series on teaching children about money...

One of the tools my parents gave me in preparation for handling my own finances was teaching me how to balance a checkbook. I learned to balance a checkbook when I was about fourteen.

I remember sitting at the kitchen table where we did school (we were homeschooled), while my dad explained and demonstrated how to do it. I wasn't overly excited about math, but the practicality of the lesson caught my interest and I picked up the skill. All these years later, I'm still using what he took the time to teach me and my siblings.

Obviously, if you don't know how to balance a checkbook, you can't teach someone else. But if you don't know how, this is a great time to learn. :-) Here are some tools to help you get started: A step-by-step tutorial and a form to help along the way.

1 comments:

CC said...

Love this idea of creating independence in our kids! I hope my children will leave high school with good skills in balancing a checkbook, cooking, etc. Thanks for this!