The Johnson Crew!

So how do you help your kids understand principles of freedom how do you describe economics to an eight-year-old should your kids care about the government well today we're going to look at an amazing children's book series that helps to answer all these questions hi friends welcome back if you're new here my name is Sarah johnson and I have four kids they're eight six four and one and we've been homeschooling from the beginning this channel is all about homeschooling tips and mom life and traveling as a family

So if that interests you go ahead and hit that subscribe button below and ding that little bell so you don't miss another video and go ahead and introduce yourself in the comments below I'd love to get to know you and be part of this community together so whether you homeschool your kids or your kids are in public school the fact is that a lot of curriculums leave out key principles of freedom and history is watered down and just not enough time and attention is given to teaching the ideas of government

And economics and there are a lot of books out there to teach these ideas to adults but not really for kids enter the tuttle twin series we're so glad that we found this series it has been amazing the tuttle twins books help us parents to relate the principles of freedom to our kids in a fun way and for them to learn important truths and develop crucial critical thinking skills if you're having a hard time explaining current events to your kids trust me these books will really help you out with getting to the core of the issues at hand

And why is it so important to our society for our kids to learn these big ideas well obviously because they're going to eventually become voters and it's our job to prepare them for that huge responsibility each book in this series focuses on a different aspect of the principles of a free society free markets competition individual rights the non-aggression principle personal responsibility protectionism and a variety of other issues all boiled down to core concepts that children ages five to ten can easily understand and honestly I have felt ill-equipped

And my knowledge of these topics and have been really surprised how much these books have taught me about these concepts these books use storytelling to help you introduce important economic civic and social principles to your child which even for me as an adult is a much more helpful way to understand these concepts and to have a clearer idea of what the implications are and having the main characters be children I think is what really helps our kids to latch on to these stories and to actually care about the principles that they're learning about which is really the key they even have discussion questions

And a downloadable pdf of activities that help reinforce the lessons they learned in the book the books are sold for a really great price too I highly recommend getting the whole set that gets you the best deal and they're each about 55 to 60 pages long so really substantive books I mean you certainly won't find any curriculums that cheap so really good stuff and you won't find it in this unique storytelling format which really improves on comprehension and on retention of the concepts that they learn

So they have 11 books out now when we bought our set there were only 10 out they keep coming out with more so let me show you the books we have I'll give you the quick synopsis on the back of the books the fate of the future in a world where dystopian fiction might seem too close to reality ethan and emily learn that the fate of the future depends on thinking of ways we can work together peacefully to build a better society without relying on coercion

And the state based on murray rothbard's book anatomy of the state this is an important book and I think it helps kids to start thinking outside of the box rather than just accepting the country and the state that it's given to them so this is a great read the search for atlas what happens when hard-working people quit in a world filled with consumers what happens if the producers give up and leave and how can people better practice personal responsibility and not have a sense of entitlement about the things they think they deserve incorporating ideas from ein rand's novel atlas shrugged this book shows how things begin falling apart when socialism creeps in

And this book has already impacted how my kids view what's fair and not fair in our own house so I can already see the effects of these principles the miraculous pencil ethan and emily have taken for granted the many things they use clothes cars backpacks even something as simple as a pencil on their trip to an amazing factory the twins learn about the miracle and importance of the free market by learning how pencils are made using parts from all over the world and how in an economy people work together in harmony to produce helpful products that improve our lives based off of leonard reed's classic essay eye pencil they definitely found this one pretty interesting

And it's neat to go around the house and then pick out things and try to think about where did all these different pieces and parts come from were they all manufactured in one spot or did someone have to source them from different countries so this is pretty cool food truck fiasco the oldest economic battle is repeating itself disruptive businesses must fight against their crony competitors the ones with friends and government who try and protect them from innovative upstarts ethan and emily tuttle witnessed this battle firsthand with their food truck friends as they embark on a campaign to win public support

And overturn the laws that shut them down incorporating key concepts from the classic economics and one lesson by henry haslet this book helps young readers learn about business regulations economics protectionism competition and other basic market principles learn alongside the tuttle twins how government harms the economy and what one person or two can do about it the road to serfdom history abounds with examples of government officials making decisions well-intentioned or otherwise that harm others unfortunately these unintended consequences are never anticipated and rarely considered once they occur the tuttles uncover why the new serfdom resort is causing their favorite beach to lose public interest

And learn about central planning problems the creature from jekyll island fun fact we actually live about an hour and a half from jekyll island it's a beautiful beach but I did not know that the federal reserve started at a meeting there back in 1910 until we moved to savannah the twins learn all about central banking bartering inflation and money as they uncover the mystery of how a powerful creature is stealing their grandparents hard-earned savings and how they can fight back to protect the money they make in their family business what is the creature

And why can it raise prices and steal people's money and what exactly is money anyway I don't know about you but even as an adult I have a hard time wrapping my brain around all this debt that our country is in and how the government is dealing with it all and how our money is backed like if you haven't given it a second thought this is really worth a read even for you as an adult and maybe a little further research education vacation after hearing an award-winning teacher discuss some problems with schooling

And share a vision for how children are best educated the tuttle family decides to embark on a new learning adventure long-time educator john taylor gato shares ideas with the tuttle family from his book the underground history of american education as they soon learn education works best when we have the freedom to discover our interests and develop our abilities rather than being shaped into what somebody else wants which of course as a homeschooling family this is certainly one of the reasons we've chosen homeschool interesting read no matter if your kids are in public school or you're homeschooling or they're in private school just to kind of make you think about how they're being taught this is my son's favorite the golden rule ethan

And emily tuttle embark on their first summer camp adventure competing teams turned into fighting rivals but chief ron and his camp counselors helped the twins and their teammates learn the dangers of aggression revenge and blowback and why peace and friendship are important spectacular show business can a child be an entrepreneur the twins recognize an opportunity and with the support of family and friends navigate the exciting and tiring world of entrepreneurship your kids will learn the ins and outs of becoming a business owner the law what are individual rights in a fun adventure that involves pirates

And plunder ethan and emily learn about law liberty and limited government this story helps children learn what individual rights are and how true laws help protect them from bad guys messed up market why we act the way we do after making some money the twins decide to loan it out to other kids like them in order to earn some interest and in the process learn about risk bailouts and subsidies and what happens when their children's market gets messed up what do you like about the tuttle twins books um that they explain stuff to you very easily in one book

And that it teaches you about entrepreneurship and the states and walls and the golden rule so that's the end of my review for you I give the tuttle twin series two thumbs up really hope that you guys get those books in your hands and in your home and can start teaching your kids these amazing principles with these really fun books I hope that your family loves them as much as ours does let me know in the comments below if you have any other recommendations for literature for kids about these types of topics I'd love to know about them if you're not a subscriber yet go ahead

And hit that button below so you don't miss another video and I'll see you in the next one