5 year old future world changer

In the homeschooling world, people commonly talk and write about the fact that we are educating our children all the time. Some of the best things they learn don't happen during a phonics lesson or even a great field trip. One conversation around the dinner table could plant a seed in the lives of our kids that shapes their future forever.

Tonight at dinner, it was just me and the girls. (Brett was at his first ever Hogs football game, hoping to see them beat USC.) Somehow, we started talking about Claire, a young lady that used to babysit Maitlyn and Elspeth and now is in college in Chicago. Claire went to the Dominican Republic this summer.

Maitlyn wanted to know more, "So Mom, tell me about Claire's trip." I told her that Claire taught school in a village in the Dominican Republic. The children in her class couldn't read because their parents can't read. Their parents can't read because they don't have much money. Maitlyn said, "So they can't buy any books?" Right, they don't have any books in their home. They cook on a fire in their kitchens instead of a stove. Their homes have only 1 or 2 rooms. Maitlyn said, "They must not be very happy there." They don't have soap to take a bath with and they eat beans and rice every day."Well, I like rice, but I wouldn't want to eat beans. I wish I could take such a trip." Yes, maybe when you get older, you can take a trip like that. "And I could take my own food." Maitlyn also asked if they had clean water there in the village. I told her that I thought they did. She said, "Well, that's one good thing."

I told Maitlyn that it is important to tell people about Jesus and that it is also important to help people to have food, shelter, clean water and things like that. She said, "Is that what Claire was doing on her trip?" Yes, Claire was doing both things.

A couple of weeks ago, I asked Maitlyn what she'd like to learn about in school this year. She said, "China and India". We're hoping our friends Kristen, Whitney and Gennie can come and share with us about those places. Maybe we'll have to recruit Claire to come back from Chicago to tell us about the Dominican Republic too.

I hope that God will use these seeds in her life to grow her excitement about the things that God is doing all over the world.