It's amazing what you can learn from money!

Today I mentioned to the girls that we were going to go get groceries this morning and right way they said, "Can we take our money?" Matt wants them to SPEND their money, so they will run out and then do their chores more to earn some more!

So I said, "sure." They ran upstairs and got their money jars and proceeded to dump their money on the kitchen table and start to count it.

Here is my conversation with Courtney as she was looking at all her money.

Me: How much is a penny worth?
C: One cent!

Me: How many nickels do you need for one dollar?
C: 20

Me: Who is on the one collar coin?
C: Sacagawea

She then proceeded to count out 20 nickels and put them into piles, I helped her eventually, but she had about $9.

Here is my conversation with Megan. She knows all the denominations, so she got drilled on history (let's see how much she learned this year)

Me:  Who is on the quarter?
M: George Washington
Me: What did he do?
M: He was the first president of the United States.

Me: Who is on the nickel?
M: Thomas Jefferson
Me: What did he do?
M: He wrote the...hmmmm...thingy...hmmm.
Me: think..July 4th, 1776
M: Oh yah, the Declaration of Independence!

Me: Who is on the penny?
M; Abraham Lincoln
Me: What did he do?
M: Um.. he um..made the United States one. (she means that he fought the Civil War in order to keep the United States together as one country since the south seceded)
Me: Explain further.
M: He ended slavery and the president during the Civil War.

Me: Who is on the dime?
M: I don't know.
Me: Let me see, it looks like Roosevelt. ( I looked online to double check and I was correct).
M: Who was Roosevelt?
Me: He was our president during WWII, we'll learn about that next year!

I switch back to Courtney.
Me: Why was Sacagewea so important?
C: She went with Louis and Clark!
Me: What did Louis and Clark do?
C: Sailed the seven seas?
Me: No, they explored the Louisiana Purchase.

Turn back to Megan.
Me: What was the Louisiana Purchase?
M: The Mississippi River
Me : Close, it was the land around the Mississippi  River that we bought from France.
Why did we buy that land from France?
Me: They were fighting the French Revolution and needed the money.
Me: Why were they fighting the French Revolution:
M: Because America had just had their revolution and they wanted freedom.

Ah, I think we have definitely learned something this year in school!!!