“Why should you give your child the world?” You might be asking. I have found many reasons especially after reading Jamie C. Martin’s new book Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time.

I am in love with this book since I have a passion for traveling and for the nations!

If you been following me for a while, you might know by now that our family comes from many different nations and we have been involved with world missions for many years! As Jamie’s family also does (I’ve learned this in her book), we often joke and introduce ourselves saying: “call us the united nations” when someone asks where we are from.

FUN FACTS ABOUT MY INTERNATIONAL FAMILY:

I was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, my husband is from Durban, South Africa, two of our children were born in Jerusalem, Israel and one was born here in Canada. My in-laws are from Zambia and Zimbabwe, I have a sister-in-law from Colombia, another sister-in-law from Guatemala and my brother-in-law leaves in Turkey — so call us the “united nations family”!

What a trip around the world spending time with our family alone is! You may be confused with the many languages you can hear when we are all together.

Jamie’s new book reminded me that the whole world is our home and it gives her readers a little taste of each continent around the globe.

Give Your Child The World

Give Your Child the World includes more than 600 children’s book recommendations from around the world. Reading lists are organized by region, country, and age range (ages 4-12). Each listing includes a brief description of the book, its themes, and any content of which parents should be aware.

Stories are so powerful! And what child does not like to spend quality time reading a book with his/her parent or grandparent? But reading the stories is not the only way they will learn, you can also look for recipes and crafts online to add to the fun too.

Some of the multicultural books Jamie recommends are:

   

3 Reasons to Give Your Child the World

Raising Globally Minded Kids will:

1 – Teach Your Child to Know The World Beyond Our Geographical Limitations.

I find it important to let my kids know that we don’t live in a bubble. The world is so much bigger than we can ever imagine! Their dad and I did not grow up with the luxuries and privileges they have here in Canada. We have both, Ryan and I experienced the social contrast and deep poverty of Africa and South America growing up.

Teaching them about how children live around their world will not only help them appreciate and be grateful for what they have but will also awaken them to the fact that they too can do something to help these less privileged kids. And that’s my next reason…

Swaziland
Ministering in an orphanage in Swaziland, Africa. Ben, our oldest, was only 2 months old here.

2 – Develop Appreciation, Love, and Compassion for Other Peoples and Cultures.

Reading about other nations, peoples, and cultures also gives them a great heart to help others in every way they can. Either by committing to pray, filling out Christmas shoeboxes to be sent out to other children or saving their allowance to give to missions. We love teaching our children to give, to be generous and to think of others before they think of themselves.

Raising globally minded kids open their horizons and make them better persons.

Give Your Child The World
One of our favorite books: Missionary Stories With The Millers, takes us around the world through beautiful and powerful stories.

3 – Plant In Your Child The Desire To Travel The World

WE LOVE TO TRAVEL!

Ryan and I met in Israel and together we have lived in Israel, Brazil, and Canada. Prior to that, Ryan lived in South Africa and England and I lived in the United States. By the time my oldest was 2 years old, he had been to 10 different countries already! Then our life of traveling slowed down and my youngest have only crossed the border to the USA once! But that does not stop us from giving them the world! We continually read books about other nations, exquisite places, interesting peoples, different cultures and religions on a regular basis.

After our third child was born, our life of traveling slowed down and my youngest have only crossed the border to the USA once! But that does not stop us from giving them the world! We continually read books about other nations, exquisite places, interesting peoples, different cultures and religions on a regular basis.

Some of our traveling around the world (really this is just a tiny bit of it! LOL):

Simple Ways to Give Your Child the World

Jamie’s Give Your Child the World is a wonderful way to travel the world without leaving your living room. Her book is rich in fantastic literature that will engage your children and enrich their knowledge about other countries of the world. In fact, her book alone will give you a perfect Geography curriculum for your homeschool and this is exactly what we are planning on doing this year!

We will be combining our Sonlight Core A: Introduction to World Cultures and Core B: Introduction to World History curriculum with Give Your Child The World with the lessons of our Little Passports World Edition‘s subscriptions, we will cook traditional meals from different countries, learn a few words in different languages, create fun lapbooks, and record our learning and memories using notebooking pages!

Little Passports + Give Your Child the World = a PERFECT combination! Read Jamie’s post on 5 ways to invite the world to your home this school year!

This year will be the year we will travel around the world together! No passports required, just great books and a lot of imagination!

You don’t need to homeschool to use this! You can Give Your Child the World too! Focus on reading about one or more countries every week, go to the library and pick up the books Jamie suggests on her book and have a wonderful time reading aloud with your children any time of the day!

Some of Our Favorite Books About Missions Around The World

   

Your Turn: How are you planning to give your child the world? Is there a country or a few in your heart that you would love to learn more about? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments.

PS: Jamie offers a gorgeous FREE printable coloring book for anyone who buys her book all you have to do is claim it HERE!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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About Ana Willis

Ana is the unhurried homeschool mom of 3, wife, and homeschool blogger. She loves to encourage, inspire and empower moms to go from stressed to blessed by providing them with the tips, strategies, and resources they need to succeed. Ana is the founder of They Call Me Blessed and the creator of: Hebrew for Homeschoolers, Charlotte Mason Online Conference, The Homeschool Sisterhood, and the Beyond Blessed Life Planner. She leads a vibrant free community for homeschool moms on Facebook and you can connect with her at www.facebook.com/theycallmeblessedblog.