Let me start by stating the obvious.  You don’t have to get good grades in school to be successful in life.  The question I pose is this:  are U.S. children being raised in such a way that prepares them for today’s world?  Do they obtain the tools they need, per their education, to be successful in life?  Let’s keep this discussion as an overview, and not focus on individual sects of society.  As a whole, are we raising our children so as to give them a “leg-up”, or are we handicapping them right out of the gate?

When I graduated college, I substitute taught for several months.  I only taught high school once, which was all it took to realize I never wanted to do it again; elementary suited me better.  During my stint as an educator, I continually compared what I needed to know to get by in this world, to the curriculum the students were being fed.  I understand that children need to learn the basics:  math, reading, etc.  Children need these building blocks without a doubt, and the school system provides them those blocks, most of the time.  The problem I see is a lack of application.  I argue that we’re not teaching the children to apply what they learn, for use in everyday life.

For example:  I learned math in school.  I loved math, it may have been the only subject I truly enjoyed.  What I didn’t learn, was how to budget my money!  I was never taught some of the most important things in life, like how to budget, how to secure a mortgage, how to prepare for retirement, how to compartmentalize my money so I could live below my means, and not live pay-check to pay-check.   How many people reading this feel differently?

So why the title of this article?  Good question.  I titled this article to point out a major flaw in our country’s thought process; that thought process is the belief that public educators are responsible for teaching our children life’s most important lessons!  Teaching these lessons is not the job of the public school system!!  It’s the job of parents!!

Parents should be taking the foundation a public education provides, and using it as a springboard to teach their children how to get along in this world.  One day as a substitute, a parent was outside my classroom at the end of the day, waiting there to scold me for sending her child to the office.  She didn’t want to know what he did, and couldn’t care less really.  She was simply there to chew me out for disciplining her child.  She informed me that I simply must not have been entertaining her child well enough.  What?  You crazy lady, I’m not here to entertain your child!  I’m here to give him the building blocks he needs to be successful in life; those same blocks that you’re supposed to use to enable him with more pointed, pertinent knowledge.  Ughhh!

Sadly, after speaking with many educators, this is not such an uncommon thought pattern among parents today.  Thanks a lot Jerry Springer! 

My point in this article is to urge parents to stop blaming the public school system, and start educating your own child.  School is not a day-care, it’s a system for giving children the basic skills they need to be successful in life.  Honing those skills is the responsibility of the parents!

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Attention readers and fellow bloggers:

I have a conundrum.  Whenever I have to fill out profile information for a website I register with, I always have to pick a category for eJabs.  It’s tough because there is no category that it fits nicely into since I blog about everything and anything!

Here’s my question.  What category do you think eJabs should be in?

Recently I ran across the only category I ever liked, ADVICE.  I like it because it’s the only category I think eJabs could belong to and feel at home.  Here’s the problem.  I have only saw “advice” as a category at a few different registration sites…so a lot of the times I have to choose something different…and I never feel that good about it.

As my readers you should know better than anybody…In what category should eJabs be classified?

This morning I received a call from my wife, while on her way to work.  She informed me that she had already run over a pheasant and a cardinal and wasn’t even half way there!  Let me add that she did finally make it to work uninjured, without any further carnage.

Her call sparked a memory from deep, deep, deep down within me.  A memory that I tried to put out of my mind, and thought I had successfully done so…until her call.  That memory, my friends, is one involving my wonderful father, and a not-so-common dinner one night at the Jabs residence!

We were on our way home from somewhere when all of a sudden we struck a pheasant with our 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity EuroSport Wagon, “the deer smasher”.  The car was so deemed “The Deer Smasher” by my friend Joe VonDoloski, because my dad hit like eight deer without getting the front end fixed!  It was hilarious.

Anyway, after hitting the pheasant my father stopped the car and stepped out to survey the damage.  Although The Deer Smasher was not injured, the pheasant didn’t have the same luck.  My dad examined the bird, saw no abrasions or lacerations, and did what any middle-class father would do; he stuck it in the trunk, took it home, dressed it, and threw it in the oven with some onions, potatoes, and carrots!

Let it be stated that we were not a poor family, my father was just very resourceful and knew ?a good opportunity? when he saw one.  Okay, maybe he was a little too resourceful!  

Well…I wish I could report that the bird was either the best thing I’d ever tasted, or that we all became violently ill for 2 full weeks after eating it.  However, that’s where the drama ends.  I don’t remember if the bird was good, or if I even ate any of it.  I do remember the experience and can look back on it now and laugh hysterically!

Can anybody top that story?

This article is in response to a recent post by Chris from Blog-op.

Chris was stating the UK tax laws and how they apply to bloggers. Most specifically, he was interested in finding out how much he can make without getting taxed (and considered self-employed) on his earnings. Per his post (correct me if I’m wrong Chris), apparently UK residents can make as much as $8,999/year without having to pay any tax! That’s pretty cool, we’re not so lucky here in the US. Wait, isn’t that one of the main reasons the Founders of our great country left England in the first place, because the taxes were too high? Well, I digress…anyway…here is the taxing information I found pertaining to US bloggers.

To avoid paying a tax on our blogs, here in the US we have to make less than $600 from each income source. Once we go over that $600 mark, the company we receive that income from has to 1099 us. I suppose one way to avoid this tax is to diversify our blogging income; then once we’re close to that $600 mark each year, we can pull the plug on that income source. While this is a possibility, seems like to much to keep track of.

When the time comes that I reach that magic number on any of my income sources, I’ll likely keep on trucking and comply with the system, whether I like it or not. I am assuming I will have to pay taxes on my blogging income in this first year. I have been monetizing for only two months and have already made $200. At this rate of income growth I hope to possibly make as much as $5,000 in my first year of blogging. If my blogging income never increased, and I continued to make what I’m making currently, I would be up over $1,000. However, my optimistic attitude doesn’t allow me to believe my income won’t grow, so I’m shooting for the $5,000 mark in my first year.

What are your income goals for your blog? Are you going to have to pay tax in your first year blogging; or did you have to pay tax in your first year?

Today I came across possibly the best blog article I’ve ever read.  The focus of the article was to educate people on how to take their existing income, and make it more useful and purposeful.  The author, Brian Lee of GeniusTypes, strives to pass on his formula for personal, financial, success; and is not just passing on good ideas or good budget information, his article gives us a personal account of how his mind-set change worked for him, and how it can now work for us.  Brian teaches us how to take our existing income, change our current perception of our income, and then apply the new perception to make our money go farther.

The point in the article that really drove it home for me was when Brian mentions talking to a buddy and asking his buddy to do something that cost money.  His buddy, who was pretty well-off said, “I don’t have any money.”

Brian was like, “What are you talking about?  You have all kinds of money. What about the $300 you made last night?”

His buddy responded, “That money is for rent. If I make a little extra money tomorrow we can hang out.”

Then…well…in Brian’s words, “I couldn’t believe my ears. Rent wasn’t due for two weeks. Besides, why was this guy trying to tell me he didn’t have any money when everyone knew he was doing just fine. Why couldn’t he just spend that money now and use the money he made the next day for rent?”

This conversation with his friend changed Brian’s way of thinking and I believe it has just changed mine!  I’m not in debt, but I don’t feel like my money is going where I want it to, the way I want it to.  Not any more baby!

I was so inspired by Brian’s article, that I donated to his PayPal account.  I too have a PayPal account that eJabs readers can donate to, but have never donated to another site myself…thanks for breaking me in Brian.

Here is the link to Brian’s fantastic, life altering article.  It’s very Steve Pavlina-ish! 

If Brian’s article helps you, please feel free to leave him a tip.