Step right up ... quickly ... and a free solar powered calculator will be yours, courtesy of VISA, which is giving away 50,000 of them in the US. To get yours – which Visa will mail out on a first-come, first-served basis -- visit Practical Money Skills, a Web site Visa set up to further financial literacy.

According to a Visa survey, 77% of parents believe money management is a subject "very important" to their children -- second only to writing at 89%. In response, PracticalMoneySkills.com helps teachers, parents, and students learn about personal finance. There are educational resources for the classroom as well as lots of interesting tools for parents and kids – including quizzes (what’s your money personality?) and tips on everything from giving allowances and banking to preparing for retirement and smart shopping.    

Visa’s already sent out over 15,000 calculators, so get clickin’. I just did, and found the registration process painless. I wasn’t even asked if I had a Visa card, although it’s a pretty safe bet, since there are over 1 billion Visas out there.

While Visa promises to get the calculators out asap, you won’t get yours in time for the first day of school. But it’ll probably be there by the time some little urchin misplaces theirs. In the meantime, you might want to visit the site’s tips for back to school shopping.

Even though there are no urchins where I live, calculators disappear with great regularity, so I’m certainly looking forward to getting one on Visa’s nickel. I’m also going to spend some more time on the Practical Money Skills site, and urge you to do likewise. It’s a great time of year to get the whole family focused on money smarts. Chances are, you’ll also find resources to share with a teacher or two. It’s a great time of year for that as well, before the semester is eaten up with the required three R’s. Let us know how you make out!