Coin Collecting

Ever since E11 took a coin collecting class at our homeschool co-op, he's had a great interested in coins. He's been steadily collecting and we've made visits to the local coin shop to purchase some special coins.

So for Christmas we set out on a journey to find some supplies for him to properly store his collection. At the suggestion of an online friend, we got him a Whitman Coin Collecting kit which came with a book about collecting, two coin tubes. a magnifying glass, and two folders for coins- the Lincoln Cents and the Roosevelt dimes.

We also learned that using these sleeves to hold the coins in their cardboard cases is a great to store coins. E11 has been working on taking his coins and putting them in to the cardboard. We recently were sent bunches of foreign coins from a fellow FIAR user and missionary. Very fun coins!

E11 is an almanac type of kid, so I know he'll enjoy his choice of one of the books below as part of his Christmas present. I don't quite know how it happened, but it never got ordered. Ack! So, we'll take a trip to the coin shop for him to pick it out.
He can choose between the red and blue books. He won't be buying and selling, but I'm sure it's a fun book to pour through if you are a kid as excited about colleting as E11 is!We are steadfast collectors of the Presidential Dollar Coins. I have the quarterly release dates on my computer and we hit our small village bank which always has the coins the day of release.

Every so often I post on coins, but I'll share the US Mint information here as well. They have a great kids site- H.I.P. Pocket Change (History in your Pocket). US Mint Fun Links:

• Parent & Teacher Page
• Teacher Resource Page
• Lesson Plan Page
• Class Activities- which include webquests, tours, games, etc.
• Financial Literacy

These Parent and Educator pages have reorganized and added to so you don't want to miss it. I often look at how to tie coins into what we are studying. One simple, fun item is a coloring page of a coin. We've been collecting the new Lincoln Cents coins which have been released as part of President Lincoln's bicentennial birthday. This is a great tie in to our Civil War study and the US Mint has a lot of lessons based on the Lincoln Penny.

I ordered up some coin books from the library today- they love us there. Encyclopedias of coins, all about collecting and some other fun activities.

Coins are definitely a fun way to gain another perspective on history. Have fun!