I was inspired by Amanda, on her blog Impress Your Kids. She posted a wonderful idea called “Impress Your Sponsored Kids” which I immediately fell in love with! It fits perfectly with my plan to do something mission/service oriented every Wednesday for our Something Special group time.
We sponsor 2 children, both in Rwanda; one through Compassion and 1 through World Vision. We will be adding 2 more children when Krash and Ladybug both reach age 5. This is when we “gave” Pac Man his own sponsored child. It was a really big deal, we even made a child sponsorship lapbook all about it! I also sponsored a child many years ago-who is actually a teenager now! I try to write to her/email her often and plan to make sure I write a letter each time we write with the kids too!
For our first project, I was inspired by Amanda, and decided to go with not only Albert’s initial, but also names. In order to include the littles-I made everyone their own name to decorate-with Pac Man working on the ones we were making for Albert. I just made them in Microsoft and printed them on cardstock. Then I let the kids get busy!
They used: dot paint, glitter glue pens, crayons, & stickers!
Everyone contributed to our big “A” and it turned out cute 
. Ladybug was VERY into putting the stickers on it!
Pac Man wrote Albert a letter to go along with our crafts… 
I also wrote a letter from me and included updated photos of us all on it…
To keep things easy when it comes time to send things to our sponsored children, I have a notebook for each of them, containing all of the letters they have sent to us and any information we have about them or their project. I make sure to keep the 6×9” envelopes {what we use to send things to Albert via World VIsion’s requirements} in this notebook so I can always find them. They are preaddressed too, so all I have to do is load it up and take it to the PO for proper postage!
See more…
- All Something Special Posts
- Something Special Intro and Schedule
- Our Sponsored Child Lapbook
- Posts here on 1+1+1=1 about child sponsorship
I write to her often and send photos of our family. Christine will be 14 this April, I actually just sent her bday gift $$ in the other day! Christine writes to me a few times a year and although the letters aren’t often very personal (I know it’s tough crossing language and cultural barriers) I feel close to her. My favorite letters are the ones when she tells me how she spent her birthday or Christmas money…I remember one telling me she bought a goat, a pretty dress, and a sweet Pepsi! It brought such joy to my heart to know that needs and wants were being met for this precious young lady.
He used our 
to draw a zebra and a giraffe on the cover. He also drew the flag of Rwanda.
This is the back…we learned a lot of geography through this lapbook, it was wonderful!
This is a tri-fold I created to teach him about the foods eaten and crops grown in Rwanda.
Below is a great template I got from Homeschool Share, where they offer 
If any of you know our story, you know we are not financially wealthy, but we make it a priority to sponsor these children (both are HOPE kids, living in AIDS communities, so their cost is a bit higher). YOU can do it to! But don’t just sponsor… take this as an opportunity to make geography come alive as you learn about your sponsored child’s country. Help your own child learn to not take American life for granted by teaching them all about the life of their sponsored child. Write and send small items to your sponsored child often so the “fire” never dies in their heart. If you have any questions about sponsorship, let me know in a comment, I would be glad to help in any way I can!
