Tuesday Summer Tip #3

You can educate without them knowing.
It is a sad thought that printed materials are slowly being replaced with electronic equivalents. With mom being blind there were always braille books & Magazines around the house. And in the 1960's started the onslot of Audio books put on records and then tapes. Reading both print and Audio books were second nature to us kids. To this day I am a veracious reader. I have a book in the bedroom, dining room table and several on my Ipod. (I love my Ipod for books rather than music).
I'm drifting from my topic sorry.


During the summer the Sears Winter & Toy Wishbook would arrive in the mail. My brother & sister and I would practically tear it apart to get at it first. Mom's solution was great.
She would "pretend" give us each $200. Of that $200 30% could be spent on ourselves and the other 70% had to be spent on family member gifts. We would take our piece of paper and start "shopping", writing down page #'s and costs and descriptions. doing the math long hand on another piece of paper. No calculators back then.
then when our hour of shopping was done we would go to mom and read her our list.
This activity provided several benefits.
First - We had to consider our family members and their likes & dislikes to choose the right gift for them.
Second - The math skills of course. Learning percentages and money handling.
Third - Referencing skills, being able to write down the information needed to go back and find the item easily.
Fourth - By our reading our list and the catalog descriptions outloud to our mom, she got the "High points" of the catalog and a good idea of what we wanted for Christmas.
Sears still produces catalogs. And I am sure all of you will soon be receiving the multitudes of Christimas Catalogs in the mail. Everything from Garden catalogs (could be used to decide how to decorate the yard) to Lillian Vernon catalogs. Don't toss them.
Make up your own variation of this game. Take the money part out and give a limited number of items to the young ones who don't know how to do money yet.
For those with older kids. . .consider contacting the Commission for the Blind and volunteering to be a reader. There is always a need for someone to read printed material to a student or an adult. I know some people that made extra $ in college reading to fellow blind students.
Take advantage of printed material while it is still prevalent in our world. By your grandchildren's time. . .Books could be obsolete.