::: our sponsored child/letter writing :::

We sponsor a child from Brazil through Compassion International. We started this sponsorship because Edison heard a membership drive on our local Christian radio station and really wanted to be a part of it, so we looked into it. I allowed Edison to search through the children on the website and choose someone to whom he'd like to write, and he chose Diego.

Diego is close to Edison's age and has very similar interests, including soccer and music. It seemed like a good match.

We've now been writing to Diego for about two years. It's a little frustrating, because the lag time is so long. Today, we received a letter dated June 29th, and Diego talked about Christmas! Since I write to him often, it's hard to tell what letter he's responding to.

Today, each of us wrote a letter in response to Diego's most recent correspondence. Monet didn't really want to do it, but I gave him four questions to write about, and he did it. We talked about Brazil, looked up a few facts about their language, culture and customs, and looked at a globe to find where we are in relation to Brazil.

I worked with Edison on spelling, paragraphs and punctuation. I found a very helpful book at Wal*Mart called Punctuation Made Easy. I can't seem to find a link for it, but it's a very helpful book geared towards children that explores the different types of punctuation and their proper usages.

I also found a website called Punctuation Made Simple which gives a basic overview of colons, semicolons, commas, dashes and apostrophes.

Anyway, because Edison was anxious to go for a bike ride to the bakery, he was happy to do his letter and get it done. When he finished, he was actually proud of his letter and the fact that he wrote 88 words!

I think part of this pride comes from something that happened yesterday when we were with The Chasers. He and Josh are very good friends, have been since they were babies, and if Edison were going to write a letter to someone, it would be Josh. Edison came to me while at Josh's house and held out three letters, written on his Superman stationery. He told me to read them in the correct order, which I did. I wouldn't have needed him to tell me which was the first and which was the last because of the marked improvement in his spelling and his handwriting! I think the pride of seeing his own improvement spurred him on when writing to Diego.

I would like to get back into the habit we had formed last year, which was to write a letter every Sunday. I think it really reinforces handwriting, grammar and communication skills, as well as helps them to keep in touch with friends and relatives. It's always fun to receive a letter in the mail, and the best way to get one is to give one!