Many children first learn the value of money by receiving an allowance. The purpose is to let children learn from experience at an age when financial mistakes are not very costly.

    The amount of money that parents give to their children to spend as they wish differs from family to family. Timing is another consideration. Some children get a weekly allowance. Others get a monthly allowance.

    In any case, parents should make clear what, if anything, the child is expected to pay for with the money.

    At first, young children may spend all of their allowance soon after they receive it. If they do this, they will learn the hard way that spending must be done within a budget. Parents are usually advised not to offer more money until the next allowance. The object is to show young people that a budget demands choices between spending and saving. Older children may be responsible enough to save money for larger costs, like clothing or electronics.

    Allowances give children a chance to experience the things they can do with money. They can share it in the form of gifts or giving to a good cause. They can spend it by buying things they want. Or they can save and maybe even invest (投资) it.

    Saving helps children understand that costly goals require sacrifice: you have to cut costs and plan for the future. Requiring children to save part of their allowance can also open the door to future saving and investing. Many banks offer services to help children and teenagers learn about personal finance. A savings account is an excellent way to learn about the power of compound interest (利息). That may not seem like a lot. But over time it adds up.

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    Fort Scott High School English teacher Emily Rountree has been working this semester to raise money for Charity Water, a nonprofit organization that uses 100 percent public donations to help fund water projects in places without access to clean drinking water. Her goal was to motivate her students to use their writing in class to make a real-world difference. Twelve students got top grades for the project, and their articles will be published both in The Tribune and online. Here is one example:

    Did you know that there are many countries around the world that dont have access to safe drinking water? Just think: that could be you, or someone in your family. My name is Tanner Johnson, and I attend Fort Scott High School. In my English classes, we are trying to raise money for Charity Water. Charity Water is an organization that helps people get water in countries where there is no safe drinking water.

    In developing countries, 780 million people dont have access to clean drinking water. In Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year just walking to get water. Women and children are the ones that mainly do the walking. They could be attacked or get hurt while they travel to get water. When they do get home, the water that they have brought is unsafe water from swamps, ponds, or rivers. If they had safe drinking water, they wouldnt have to worry about these problems, and they wouldnt be wasting hours of their day. Unsafe drinking water causes many different kinds of diseases that could lead to death.

    You could help save someones life, by donating $20 so we can help get them some safe drinking water. You can easily donate online at mycharitywater.org/fshsenglish, or you can send a check to Emily Rountree, payable to Fort Scott High School. If we dont help these people, then who will?

    There are 115 distinct (独特的) species of pine trees with 35 native to North America. Pines are defined as evergreens with long, needle-like leaves and are only native to the northern hemisphere. Pine trees are an adaptable and tough species that can survive in many conditions where other plants cannot. The average pine tree is 45 to 60 feet tall, but some are nearly twice as high.

Western White Pine

    The western white pine grows the tallest of any pine tree, reaching up to 110 feet in height. They have blue-green needles arranged in bundles (束) of five and produce a long cone (球果).

Bristlecone Pine

    The bristlecone pine grows slowly, reaching about 20 feet tall. It is one of the oldest species of pine.

Mexican Pine

    The Mexican pine can grow to 50 feet tall, with long, slender needles that drape (下垂) off it like a weeping willow (柳树). Often nicknamed the “willow pine”, it is native to Mexico. Its leaves can droop up to 12 inches long.

Sugar Pine

    The sugar pine is another of the large pine species, such as the bull pine, but it also has the largest cones of any pine species, at 10 to 20 inches long. It grows from Oregon to California and is often used for construction.

Jack Pine

    The jack pine is one of the smallest species of pine with rare leaves. Compared with the pines mentioned above, it doesn't seem to belong in the family. It is considered a member of the scrub-pine family; it prefers sandy soil.

    Tim Richter and his wife, Linda, had taught for over 30 years near Buffalo, New York—he in computers, she in special education. “Teaching means everything to us,” Tim would say. In April 1998, he learned he would need a heart operation. It was the kind of news that leads to some serious thinking about life's purpose.

    Not long after the surgery, Tim saw a brochure describing Imagination Library, a program started by Dolly Parton's foundation (基金会) that mailed a book every month to children from birth to age five in the singer's hometown of Sevier, Tennessee. “I thought, maybe Linda and I could do something like this when we retire,” Tim recalls. He placed the brochure on his desk as a “reminder”.

    Five years later, now retired and with that brochure still on the desk, Tim clicked on imagination library com. The program had been opened up to partners who could take advantage of book and postage discounts.

    The quality of the books was of great concern to the Richters. Rather than sign up online, they went to Dollywood for a look see. “We didn't want to give the children rubbish,” says Linda. The books reviewed each year by teachers, literacy specialists and Dollywood board members included classics such as Ezra Jack Keats's The Snowy Day and newer books like Anna Dewdney's Llama Llama series.

    Satisfied, the couple set up the Richter Family Foundation and got to work. Since 2004, they have shipped more than 12,200 books to preschoolers in their area. Megan Williams, a mother of four, is more than appreciative: “This program introduces us to books I've never heard of.”

    The Richters spend about $400 a month sending books to 200 children. “Some people sit there and wait to die,” says Tim. “Others get as busy as they can in the time they have left.”

    In England, we look forward to our birthdays for 364 days a year! We invite special people to celebrate it with us.

    The Presents

    Presents are opened as soon as the children are awake. They can't wait for the birthday cake later in the day!

    The Cards

    Friends and family send birthday cards. Sending birthday cards is a custom that began in England about 100 years ago.

    The Party

    The birthday child will have a party to which friends and family are invited. Visitors to the party bring presents for the birthday child. The children play games such as Musical Chairs and Pass the Parcel.

    The Cake

    The birthday cake is decorated on a theme(主题). A candle for each year is lit and placed on top and the child blows out the candles making a wish. We don't put objects inside the cake as shown on many websites.

    The Bumps

    It used to be traditional for the birthday child to have the bumps. Friends would hold the child by the child by the legs and under the arms and lift the child up and down bumping them gently on the ground. The number of bumps given is the age of the child plus one for extra good luck. As this can be dangerous, clapping is often done instead.

    The Sweets

    Some children do take sweets into school to share with their classmates on their birthdays.

    I'd like to share a little story with you about something that happened when I was four. I remember it clearly. Our loving family dog was nearing the end of his life. My father picked him up and put him in a little bed we had made for him. Our dog, my companion, whom we had cared for, bit my father when he attempted to help him. How could he? Why? I couldn't understand it. I didn't like him anymore.

    I hadn't thought about that story for a long time but something that happened last week brought it back to me. I went to speak with a friend. When I knocked on the door, I met in an instant an angry look and a few harsh(尖刻的)words. When the door was slammed(砰地关上)in my face, I stood there shocked, and in a rush, I was reminded of my dog bit my father 20 years ago or so. What brought that story back was that same feeling of betrayal.

    Both stories taught me something the next day. You see, when I got up in the morning and was told my dog had died, it became clear to me that he must have been in great pain. For him to have bitten a family member, he could not have been himself. Much the same for the other story when I learned that my friend's wife had just left him.

    We are all beings of our environments, our opinions and feelings. And all of those things can cause you to say and do things that can't be understood by those who are not in the same situation with you.

    If you meet someone either behaving out of character or acting in a way that doesn't seem to fit the situation, put out your hand and be patient when you think it is least possible for him to do so. You may turn around a story that has a sad ending simply by your actions.