"You'll Have to Pay a Fine for That!"

Evan is as smart as a tack, but he dislikes school work. I had a hard time persuading him to do any academic work this summer... until I started paying him. You might wonder why I would do such a thing. Quite simply, it is because it works. Evan realizes the value of money and really works to earn his quarter. He earns a quarter for completing a page of math facts, for writing a sentence and illustrating a picture in his journal, for practicing twenty site words, or for reading a book. He has a tin box that he uses to collect his quarters, and he is learning how quarters convert to dollars. But it gets better...

If Evan is disobedient, then he must pay a fine. He is obligated to pay me a quarter for every infraction. This has worked wonders with getting him to sleep at night. His dream of a new Ben10 Alien is persuading him to walk the line.

Now that Keagan is aware of the arrangement, he, too, wants to take part. Last night he earned two quarters; he completed a journal entry and work with site words. This morning he woke up and said, "Mom, let's learn some more words." I love it!