The Kids' Essays from School

Jared and Kamryn brought home their report cards yesterday.  They both are doing very well in school. They also brought home their recent essays from UtahWrites, a program they use at school for testing writing skills.  I loved their essays and want to save them here:

Here's the prompt they were given:

"Is it a good idea to pay kids for good grades? Some parents think it is.  Others think kids should always do their best without expecting a reward.  What do you think? Write an essay giving your opinion and use strong reasons and examples to tell your opinion is best."

Kamryn's essay -

"Parents should pay their kids for grades for several reasons.  One reason is that if you pay for grades it could make them try harder.  If you pay them they can learn to use the money properly.  If, they get bad grades they should pay you.  You can save up your money for special occasions.  Your kids could be working really hard to get and go where they want.  Those are some of the reasons why parents should pay their kids for grades.
Now I'm going to tell you a few reasons why parents shouldn't pay kids for their grades.  Your kids might expect money for everything like unloading the dishwasher, cleaning your room, and doing chores.  Getting smart is good enough payment for education.  Your kids might waste your money on silly things.  You would be losing your money.  You already pay for everything your children use.  Plus they would get too spoiled if you pay for grades.  Those are some of the reasons why parents shouldn't pay their kids.
I know that my parents won't pay me for grades but I would prefer to get payed for grades to save up money for important things. I would save up my money for stuff like college and a mission.  Three or four dollars would be for each good grade I get.  Paying my parents would be a punishment for me getting bad grades.  I don't care if I don't get payed for grades, but if I had more money I could save up for important things.  Those are my opinions of being payed for grades."

Jared's essay -

"Parents should pay for grades, and i'm going to show you a few points of view about it.  One reason why paying kids for good grades is because it would motivate them to try harder.  Another good reason to pay kids is because they can save up for college.  One last reason to pay them for their grades is because they can learn to use their money wisely.  Those were a few reasons why parents should pay their children for good grades.
Parents shouldn't pay their kids, and I'm going to share a few reasons with you about why they shouldn't.  One reason why you shouldn't pay them is because they might waste the money you give them on toys that they won't want when they get older.  Another reason is because they will expect money for everything, like brushing their teeth, making their bed and so on.  One final reason to not pay your kids is if you don't have the money to do it. These are three reasons to not pay your kds for their grades.
Now for a final paragraph I'm going to tell you what I would prefer.  Firstly, I think that kids should get payed for their grades, because I think kids deserve something for their hard work.  Secondly, I don't get payed very often, and my six year old cousin has more money than me.  For one final reason about my opinion is, because I want to save up for college, and go to the Brigham Young University.  That was some of my opinion about payment for grades."

I love their essays and thought they did a good job.  Maybe we'll have to think about paying them for good grades :)

Kamryn's 2nd essay

PROMPT - If you could change one part of your life, what would it be? You could change where you live, the size of your family, your personality, or anything you like.  Describe the change and what it would mean to your life.

"If, I could change my life I wouldn't change too much because I already have a great life.  I would never change my family though because I love them.  If I lived by everyone I know and love I would be able to.  I wish I could say "I love you" to all of my relatives that died.
It would be awesome to get anything I want or anywhere I want to go for free.  Even though I'm already getting a new room I would still want a new room.  If, I could have a baby brother or sister I would want one.  I would also want to have more friends.  My best friends are Leah, Ryan and Olivia (I don't play with Ryan and Olivia a lot though, Olivia goes to gymnastics and Ryan is always playing with someone).  They are some amazing friends.  My family got three French exchange students in the last three years so I would want to know how to speak French without learning it.  If I could change the weather I would make it snow in the summer when it's hot, be able to go swimming in the winter, and not have it rain in the Spring and Fall.  In school I wish we didn't have to take science, I wouldn't want there to be recess, and I wish we could go to drama class twice a week. I would also want my own iPod (everyone in my family has one except for me, but Jared lost his).
Teleporting would be awesome, because I wouldn't have to do nothing in the car for as long as we would be in the car.  I wish my teacher gave us more math homework too.  I also wish I could go back in time and change wrong things i did.  The future would be awesome too.  That is all of the things I would want to change in my life (well, most of the things)."