Blog Talk Radio’s Bearded Black Cowboy, Larry Stevenson, interviews owner and creator Victoria Khaze on Blog Talk Radio about the Money Munchkids mission to teach children everywhere financial education and money management, products that can help teach kids at home and in school, and tips for adults on how to master their financial problems.
Watch the video below or read the transcript.
Intro:
The Bearded Black Cowboy on Resilient Christian Radio. Talking God, family, country, letting the truth be told and not ashamed of the Gospel preached. Preacher, preach. Hallelujah.
Larry Stevenson:
Hey, why, thank y’all for listening in. I got a great show planned for y’all tonight. I got some great guests coming up on the show. About a quarter past the hour, I’ve got Victoria Kahze.
Larry Stevenson:
You know I’m from public school, y’all. Y’all know I don’t like to mess up people’s last names, y’all help me with the pronunciation of Victoria’s last name. We’ll ask her and we’ll make sure we pronounce it right, but it’s spelled K-H-A-Z-E. How do you pronounce it? Is it Khaze, is it Haze? I don’t know. I’m gonna cull up my sister Victoria. Sister Victoria is going to be on with the Bearded Black Cowboy, he is the leader, the visionary, the one that has been dealt the purpose and the passion and the calling to teach kids about money.
Larry Stevenson:
Money Munchkids, man. Victoria with Money Munchkids will be with the Bearded Black Cowboy. Listen, they teach kids, K through third grade, okay, five to nine years old financial education and money management. They also promote teaching kids about money in general, as well as their activity books. This is a blessing. Kids five to nine, K through three learning about money, money management, financial education and all that good stuff, I love it. If Victoria and them, let’s go back in the day old school, Victoria and them, and I know I can say it real eloquently, but I want you to hear what I’m saying. If Victoria and them don’t teach them, if people with passion and heart and understanding and the patience to deal with kids and to teach them about money, if people like Victoria and them, if people don’t take Victoria’s concept and understanding and understanding and pass it on and maximize it, multiply it, if Victoria and them don’t do it, who will? Who will?
Larry Stevenson:
It’s high time somebody step to the forefront and teach our kids money management other than the street. Some of y’all born and raised in the hood and backwoods and barrios and the inner city like I was. Y’all know, y’all know how the street will teach you about money. The street will teach you to stack up, put two on one and all this stuff. All the stuff that the street teaches you, but the multiplication, the addition and the division in the street is done by way of ill gotten gain and illegal means.
Larry Stevenson:
If you don’t teach them the streets will. If Victoria and them don’t teach them, the streets will. I’m glad somebody’s teaching our kids. I already give them five beards, man, because they have stepped to the forefront and said even kids this young in age and heart and mind can learn financial education and money management whereby right at this age, at this early age, instilling responsibility when it comes to money, awareness when it comes to money and money management and education in our kids. Breaking the generational and family curses of bankruptcy and foreclosure and all that stuff already, already in our kids.
Larry Stevenson:
Victoria Khaze, Haze, Khaze will be with the Bearded Black Cowboy, our sister Victoria. I have sister Victoria on. Y’all give me the annunciation- pronunciation of her last name. Real quick, Mission 22, hats off to all you that have served this country. Mission 22 is in a fight against veterans suicide, why? Because 22 veterans and one active member commit suicide on a daily basis. Amen, amen, amen, amen.
Larry Stevenson:
Welcome back to the show. Listen, we either all in public school in the same row cheatin’ off each others test and we all get it wrong because we cheated or we just all went to public school and they didn’t teach us how to annunciate right. Y’all know I make fun- I’m a product of- a proud product of public school. Although I homeschool my kids because I see what public school does to our kids now, but I’m a proud product of public school that’s why I make fun of myself all the time. All y’all talkin’ about its haze, it’s haze, it’s haze, the K is silent. We fixin’ to find out. Like I told you, I have someone that is teaching our kids money management, financial responsibility and financial responsibility. It’s such a blessing to have her on the show. Sister, my sister, Victoria, Imma hold her last name until she either corrects or paper and we all get an A or we all get an F.
Larry Stevenson:
Sister Victoria, how are you this evening?
Victoria:
I’m good. How are you, Larry.
Larry Stevenson:
Doing wonderfully well. Victoria, answer that $64,000 question. How do you pronounce your last name?
Victoria:
Alright, ready? This is some Star trek stuff right here. You gotta give it a ‘lil ghhhhh up in the front there and do a haze. You gotta sound like a real like through cling on right there. I’m a real nerd by the way. You’re gonna have a real lot of phlegm thrown in there.
Larry Stevenson:
Right.
Victoria: Everyone just calls me Victoria because the last name’s just too hard. A lot like finances, it’s just too hard.
Larry Stevenson: That’s cool, there you go. You know what, if we- we either gone ride together or we gone die together so we all failed together and I’m glad to be in the same boat. It’s Haze or some like that. It’s sister Victoria, man.
Larry Stevenson: So glad to have you on the show, thank you for being on with us. I tried to give you my heaven’s best opening monologue and introduction, but-
Victoria:
That was a fantastic introduction.
Larry Stevenson:
Why don’t you take a minute to introduce yourself? Aww, bless your heart.
Victoria:
No, it really was. It was absolutely fantastic. You covered it right there. You hit it on the head. The education system just doesn’t teach us about money nor money management. I saw that problem and I said, “Something has to be done.” I created Money Munchkids. What we do is we teach kids, kindergarten through third grade, we specialize specifically in K through third, teaching them money management and financial education. Which means that we teach them everything about banks and checking accounts and saving their money and we just kind of start them off. As they get older, it becomes the parents’ responsibility.
Larry Stevenson:
You’re right. There you go.
Victoria:
Once we’re done with them that’s it, hands off, not our fault.
Larry Stevenson:
They’re either fixed or they’re broke or they’re perfect after they leave your hands. Answer me this, at that young age, a lot of people are saying, man you see banks and checking and the balancing and all that stuff, but kids are like sponges. Talk to us how kids most likely- more than likely easily get the concept of money and what you’re teaching them.
Victoria:
It’s actually amazing because even I was surprised. I put a ton of research in and spoke to a lot of professionals about this when I was originally creating Money Munchkids. When we did our own beta testing of our course, we have an afterschool course or camp, we also have our own retail products like activity books. When ii was doing the beta testing and really trying to see what the kids really could understand, I was blown away. These kids really are like sponges and they understand everything and its crazy.
Victoria:
Part of what we teach them they have to- if they have an answer, and sometimes there is no right answer in the teacher’s and the instructor’s guide and it’s more about getting the kids to really think about their decisions. I’ve had experiences where I’ll be like, “Alright, support your answer. Tell me why you’re saying that this is a need versus a want,” because you know we do cover needs and wants because you gotta get that decision making. They will put together the most logical argument that reasonably makes sense. You’re just like, “Wow! You know what, good for you. Take it, you’re right.” They really understand [inaudible 00:08:16]-
Larry Stevenson: Wow.
Victoria:
We can’t use the same kind of language we use with an adult, but simple it down, make it a little easier to digest and they understand.
Larry Stevenson:
Wow. Kids, we’re talking kids K through third grade, ages five through nine understanding money management and financial education. I’m on with sister Victoria with Money Munchkids. You can check her out at Money Munchkids all over social media, MoneyMunchkids.com. Let me slow it down for some of y’all that went to public school like me. Money, that’s common spelling, not with the dollar sign, bro. Stop trying to put a dollar sign, spell it out. Money. Munchkids, with and S dot com.
Larry Stevenson:
Look, some of y’all ridin’ around right now like, “Dang, I was ’bout to put a dollar sign.” No. Money Munchkids, man, dot com. I’m on with Victoria, MoneyMunchkids.com. Listen, Victoria. K through three, third grade, five through nine. When you initially started Money Munchkids, what were some of the obstacles you had to overcome with kids that just didn’t have any financial education or anything like that? And what are you seeing now?
Victoria:
It’s actually really interesting because I’m always continually surprised at either how amazing and how intelligent the kids are or how not they are. They’re not ready for school. At kindergarten, you should be able- there is a standard that we hold across the U.S. and each state adds their own little bit onto it. Generally, they should be able to read and write their name, a little bit of reading and writing some numbers and some kids are counting in the 100s, some in the 1000s and other kids can’t write their own name. It’s a real difficulty when you have to be prepared, particularly for our course, when you have to be prepared for a class and you know nothing about twenty kids, right?
You have to be able to immediately figure out- our course is only about eight hours. We’re only doing it in California, which is why we have our activity books for sale. That way, if we’re not in every location, teachers can teach finance education and because we do work with standards and kind of support overall what a child should be ready for at age five or when they’re going to do in kindergarten, you can work with the activity book at home if you don’t have a class and just work with your child. Every child is different and that’s what’s so difficult about what we do is that every child is different and being able to adapt our activities and how we teach kids to each individual child. It’s amazing, the scope is so wide.
Larry Stevenson:
That’s amazing, amazing, amazing. Again, America, world, family, church, listen. I’m on with Victoria of Money Munchkids, you can check them out at MoneyMunchkids.com. They are locally in the state of California, but, like she said, you can get the activity books- that’s global. They’re literally a global program.
Larry Stevenson:
Talk about the activity books. Give them the carrot, don’t give them the whole steak. They gotta buy the steak. Talk about the highlights of the activity books and then tell them where they can get it from, where you would like them to purchase it from.
Victoria:
Absolutely. We have two activity books right now. We have the first one, which is kind of an overview, it’s book one. It’s “Make It, Count It, Keep It”. Kind of get the understanding of what’s gonna be taught there. Some little bits of information about how kids can make some money as a child, as a kid. You know they’re looking at all those fancy toys and its not gonna come out of mom and dad’s pocket.
Larry Stevenson: That’s right.
Victoria:
Then, a little bit about banks and how they can keep track of their money and keeping track of how much money they’re making as well. Then we have our second activity book, which goes a little bit more into depth about income and expenses. We do actually use those words. They learn what those words mean and what counts as income, all the things that count as expenses like rent and bills that adults have to pay for. They learn about that, that’s important.
Victoria:
You can get them either on our website at MoneyMUnchkids.com, that’s K-I-D-S, not with the dollar sign. Or, if you like, we are up on Amazon and you can find us on Amazon. Look up Money Munchkids, we’re the only one there, promise you that.
Larry Stevenson: Nice.
Victoria:
A little sneak peek for your viewers, we are- I heard you mention that you do home school your kids, I was home schooled through high school myself, so we are coming out with a homeschool guide, instruction and student workbook. Something for the parent to work with their child and workbook for the kids. That’s gonna be coming out in May. Just a little sneak peek there in case you want to get a little bit more into depth. Keep on us, keep coming to the site and keep coming to our FaceBook. We do also do- until then, we have tons of raffles. If you’re waitin’ for the homeschool guide, we have educational raffles, lots of free downloadable materials to help start that education going.
Larry Stevenson:
Man, this is awesome, awesome, awesome. Again, Victoria with Money Munchkids. Go check them out at MoneyMunchkids.com. If you’re not- the website is typed [inaudible 00:13:52] is Money Munchkids all over social media, Twitter, FaceBook and all that good stuff.
Listen, I know this touched the heart of a lot of our listening audience. A lot of you are homeschooled, have been homeschooled or thinking about homeschool that really- I didn’t know we got a homeschool kid. I thought I saw a something when I was looking at the website a while ago, about a week or so ago, but that’s huge. I’d love to- we’re of course gonna get a kit, when it comes to the homeschool stuff of course. That’s a done deal. I encourage all of you, get the activity books. Get everything that Money Munchkids has to offer to help and be used as a resource, as a tool to teach your kids, where schools are failing, to teach your kids about money. ‘Cause if you don’t, believe me, the streets will and you won’t like what the streets have to teach. Victoria, you agree?
Victoria:
Oh, absolutely. You don’t wanna make the mistake and make a very expensive mistake. You need to try to nip that in the butt because no one likes accidentally spending a few hundred or a few thousand dollars and going, “I wish I had known earlier.”
Larry Stevenson:
That’s right, that’s right, I love it. You said y’all are in California, is the book, is the activity book a part of a curriculum now? Are schools accepting it? Are districts accepting it as part of their curriculum yet?
Victoria:
Actually we have a separate materials for schools. We have a school curriculum that is what the homeschool curriculum is going to be based off of. It really goes into a lot more depth than the activity books. We do have a couple of schools utilizing our curriculum out here in California. We’re trying to reach out into your neck of the woods but it’s a little hard when we can drive over to the school here and be like, “Hi,…did y’all forget that you need to teach money management?” We’re reaching out and we’re getting our curriculum. Our curriculum is available to order regardless of what state you’re in. If we have any school administrators listening, we’re happy to deliver. Because Money Munchkids and our goals is to really teach as many kids as possible about money management because they’re not getting that education anywhere else. We use it every day, everyone buys things, everyone sells things.
Larry Stevenson: That’s right, that’s right.
Victoria: It’s in our daily life. How can we not teach it?
Larry Stevenson:
That’s right, that’s right. You got the snapshot and the niche of K through three, five through nine, is that where you’re going to stay at or are you going to create things that go above the ages of nine and the grade of three?
Victoria:
Immediately in the immediate future, we’re probably going to stick to K through third because we are just coming out with that homeschool guide. In the future, I would love, personally my dream of dreams, is to just take over the school system-
Larry Stevenson: Amen.
Victoria:
And be in charge of teaching everyone from kindergarten through- up to getting into college about money management and- You know what, it’s super complicated, we make it real simple for the kids, but we can go into a lot more depth. We want to make sure that education continues. We put out tons of blogs and educational articles to encourage parents with children of all ages to- it’s never too late to start teaching your kids even if they’re older than third grade or older than nine years old and beyond third grade. If you haven’t done it already, please do it because they are going to need that for the rest of their lives.
Larry Stevenson: Amen. Are you seeing an effect home? Say when you start teaching the kids K through third grade or five through nine in age, when you start teaching the kids and they start communicating back home with mom and dad or mom and dad have to assist them in their activity books, are you seeing a change at home too? A lot of adults don’t know how to budget. I know you teach them how to budget, but a lot of adults really don’t know how to budget. Are you seeing a change, a positive impact at home with the adults through the kids with your program as well?
Victoria: We’ve gotten some reviews online and some people have written up about us actually, both individual parents as well as large organizations. We’ve actually been in a couple magazines, LA Parent, Attitude, CNBC wrote about us. Those individual people and the people in charge of those articles seem to really think that it was making a difference.
Victoria: At our course, the couple courses that I’ve personally taught, I’ve had parent come to me and say they are talking about it, they love the course. We, unfortunately,- I would love to get more feedback from parent. I would love parents to come back to me months later and say, “My child really understands.”
Victoria: Unfortunately, they tend to just purchase the items or take their kid to the class and then go home and we never hear from them again.
Larry Stevenson: Right.
Victoria:
I want more. Please. Please. If you get the books, just send us a review, send us a note. I swear, it makes our day, my day in particular. I love hearing that parents are continuing education.
Another little treat for your viewers, if they are- if the adults are having a problem budgeting, we actually do have a free budget sheet download on our website and on our Pinterest and I think it’s on our FaceBook as well. We also have a free banking game that parents can download for their kids as well, both you and your kid can learn at the same time.
Larry Stevenson: I love it. Listen, America, world, family, of course, I give Money Munchkids the highest review and that is five full beards, man. Please, please, please get out and support. Teach your kids money management.
Victoria: Ha ha, love a good beard.
Larry Stevenson:
That’s right, that’s right. Teach your kids money management, get them the financial education that they so deserve. It’s gonna be a useful tool throughout life. From now until the end of days and the end of time.
Alright, please do that. Check out Money Munchkids. That’s MoneyMunchkids.com. Check them out all over social media as wells as the website. If you do anything, if you make a purchase, or you even talk to Victoria, please tell her that the Bearded Black Cowboy sent ‘ya, alright? How ’bout y’all do that for us.
Hey, listen, Victoria, if there’s something I didn’t ask or if there’s something that you want to get out to our listening audience, please take about two minutes if you will. We’ve got about two minutes left in the segment, but take the time and speak to the American people if you would.
Victoria:
Oh, absolutely. Thank you and thank you for having me on the show first off. Thank you for the five full beards. I just really want to encourage all of you if you have kids that are K through third, whether you use our books, obviously I’d prefer if you use ours, but if you use our products of if you’re just teaching them at home, just start that education. If it’s just taking them to the bank with you and opening up a savings account, it is so important.
If you have children that are older, make sure that you- there’s tons of great resources out there. We have a resource section on our website. Take that time to educate your children regardless of age because they’re gonna need this for the rest of their lives. It is essential to their daily life. Please, please start that education.
If you have any comments or questions or want to leave a review, please reach out to us on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, Pinterest, we’re on everything, or just send us a note through our contact sheet on our website. We’d love to hear from all of parents from all walks of life. That’s MoneyMunchkids.com. Thank you so much and thank you for having me on the show.
Larry Stevenson:
Absolutely. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You’re welcome back anytime especially when the homeschool- the deal with homeschool comes out. I’m gonna have you on the show-
Victoria: We’ll come back. We’ll send you one.
Larry Stevenson:
Awesome, awesome. I love it, I love it. God bless you, Victoria. Thank you for everything that you do and may God continue to bless your vision over this, okay?
Victoria: Thank you, you too.
Larry Stevenson:
Awesome. Again, that was sister Victoria with Money Munchkids. Man, please get out there and check MoneyMunchkids.com out. Check them out on social media, send her a message, purchase the activity books, get ready for the homeschool books as well. I can’t wait, can’t wait, can’t wait. The beard is already gettin’ a ‘lil bit fuller because we’re excited.
Hey, Imma run to break real quick. Imma jump off, fix me some gotcha six coffee. Y’all get ready for whats up next..