Day 134: VD and Millionaires

So my kids are totally fried.  I made them a study guide for the test next week that I described as “That thing you pull out of your pocket in the two minutes before a test in hopes that you might absorb a bit more knowledge before you get there.”  I told them they should look at it three or four times before they test next week, then they should have a bonfire and burn them.  They kind of wanted to burn it right away; I can’t blame them, but I at least want to know that I gave them everything they needed; whether or not they used it is up to them.

After we had this discussion and went over next week’s testing schedule, I shared this article with them.  It was the headline on Drudge Report last night when I had two boys in for tutorials, and had a good conversation about it.  In class we briefly discussed the implications – that if the article says the US has 110 million cases of STDs, and the US population is 313 million people, this would mean that more than 1 in 3 people has an STD.  The kids were horrified.  And shocked I decided to share it in English class.  I often go for the shock value in class; I feel like if they never know what to expect from me, they will pay more attention lest they miss something interesting or inadvertently hysterical.  The discussion we had reminded me of a poster I had seen at the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning, GA, that I found entertaining:

Source

Following this little class convo, we headed to the library so kids could check out a book to read post-test next week, since they’re not allowed to leave the testing room.  I caught a few of my boys checking out pick-up trucks on Craigslist.  I guess there are worse things for them to be doing.  One of them said that some day he wants to buy a $70,000 truck.  I asked him if he wanted to blow that much moolah on a truck.  He said yes.  I asked him if he knew what else he could do with $70,000.  He said nope.  So I got on my soapbox.

Those that know me well know that I am a huge Dave Ramsey fan; I listen to podcasts of his radio show on my commute, and my husband and are attempting to follow the general Financial Peace principles for our finances.  I love sharing with other people how easy and freeing budgeting can be.  I think I first got interested in family finances when I was in my senior year economics class in high school.  My teacher showed us the classic bar graph to explain the importance of compound interest when saving for retirement, similar to this one from financiallife.org: