November Letter-Writing Topics

We're almost at the end of the year! I can't believe it! Here are some ideas for letters to sponsor kids this month. : )

1. Thanksgiving. Well, this one's pretty obvious. You can write to your sponsor child about Thanksgiving! Just leave out the parts about nationwide gluttony and midnight shopping sprees. : ) You can say that in the United States we have a holiday celebrating thankfulness in November. You can say that this is a time when many families come together and have a meal together. You can even say that traditionally, that meal involves eating turkey! Tell your child what you're thankful for (my kids are at the top of my list!) and ask them what they are thankful for. Many countries also celebrate a thanksgiving holiday, even if they don't take place in November, so your sponsor child may write back about that! There's also an abundance of crafts you can send this time of year- handprint turkeys, construction paper cornucopias. You can also make some artwork out of Bible verses about thankfulness!
2. United States government. We don't have any elections this year, but November is when we tend to have the big ones. Why not write a letter about our government? Keep it super simple, and maybe stick to the older kids with this sort of letter. But there is quite a bit you can talk about. You can say that our country was founded in 1776 by people who moved here from Europe. You can say that we have had 44 presidents, and tell a little bit about the one we have now. You can say that the capitol is in Washington, DC, and describe where that is in relation to where you live ("it is located in the eastern United States, about 15 hours away from where I live!") And you could talk about the kinds of things that are in Washington, like museums and important government buildings and a zoo! And it's so easy to find coloring pages and other activities about our government, the presidents and everything else. 
3. Veterans Day. This holiday is on November 11. If you know any veterans, you can write about this holiday and tell your kids it's a day that we honor people who have served in the United States military. If you know any veterans, you can talk about them. My alma mater has a really cool tradition- every year they have a Veterans Day service. They have breakfast for the veterans in the gym, and all kinds of people come. It was always neat to see which classmates had family members who served. The junior class serves breakfast- when I was a junior I didn't work with the food, but I was a greeter and handed out carnations for our veterans to wear on their lapels. Then they have a special chapel service, including songs sung by all the different choirs, and a presentation of an art piece that the art department works on for the first several months of the school year. They've done murals depicting the memorials in Washington DC, and for four years of the five years that I was there, they did murals for different branches of the armed services. And then they recognize the different veterans by asking them to please stand as different wars and conflicts were announced. Up until very recently we had a veteran of World War I who was still able to attend the services (he passed away my senior year, I think.) So if I write about Veteran's Day this year, I might write about those experiences I had in high school (and my brother in law is still at that school, and my father in law usually comes to the service!)
4. Local holidays. There are several holidays in November that are celebrated in the countries where Compassion works. Children's day in India is celebrated on the 14th, which is the birthday of India's first prime minister. The Day of the Dead is a very popular holiday in Mexico, but I'm not sure how much a Compassion center would talk about that with the kids. November 10 is National Heroes Day in Indonesia, and Revolution Day is celebrated on the 20th in Mexico. 
5. Christmas. This is just a reminder that if you want to send Christmas stuff to your sponsor kids, you will want to be sending them soon! I would recommend sending them no later than the 15th, the middle of the month. It takes time for everything to get sorted at Compassion, then things need to be mailed to the countries, translated, and delivered. Don't forget to label any extras you're sending, like activity books, with your sponsor info and your child's name and number!