Duet homeschooling in Taiwan & America: A Christmas gift 聖誕節禮物

2013/12/13

A Christmas gift 聖誕節禮物

In Taiwan, some radio companies cooperate with charity organizations and hold activities to allow people to share their stuff or buy new things for the needy. Usually they want us to send things like books, toys, or coloring pens, because most of the things go to poor children. They ask us to put the gifts into shoe boxes. They are called "Christmas shoes boxes". Then you send them to the stations where they are then distributed to people who need them during the Christmas season.

Last year I had a chance to participate and I encouraged Amira to share her favorite book and coloring pens to someone who needed them more than her. She agreed and her daddy took her to deliver the "Christmas shoes box" to the radio station.

So this year I asked Amira and Corban to do it again. But I was afraid they didn't know why they were doing it. The first thing I did was told them some stories about how much we are blessed and how we should be thankful for what we have. I also told them "Sharing" was a wonderful thing, and you can feel very happy when doing it. Then I told them, some people are sick or poor, and even though we don't know them, we have enough and we can share what we have.

The second thing I did, was that I asked them if they would like to use their two days payment to buy things for the poor. They both have to do housework, and they get a NT dollar a day. They agreed it to share their 2 days payment.

Maybe one day payment is not a lot of money. But they have to work hard to earn it. I am proud of them to make such a large sacrifice.

The third thing I did was make Christmas cards for the children who will receive the gifts.

The fourth thing I did was taking them out to buy gifts.

This activity was small thing I wanted my children to know

that we can do a lot things to help people.

** Radio: IC radio

去年我意外學習到一些可以教小孩'怎樣分享東西給陌生人'的經驗，所以我很快找到一個聖誕鞋盒的活動，我邀請我的大女兒，是否願意分享她的喜歡的書跟彩色筆，她欣然同意。於是我先生帶著我女兒親自把聖誕鞋盒帶到電台。

當然今年也不例外，但是我為了真正教導Amira跟Corban了解分享的意義。所以我做了幾個歩驟。首先我利用教會書籍、經文、童書..裡面的故事，教導他們了解到，我們受到許多祝福，應該感謝所擁有的。然後應該把我們受到的祝福也分享出去。第二，我問他們是否願意犧牲他們兩天的工作所得，去買東西送給需要的小朋友。他們也同意了。雖然兩天的所得很少，但畢竟是他們努力工作得來，當然工作是指簡單的家事，像是晾衣服、折衣服、掃地、擦桌子、拖地和裝垃圾袋...等。

第三，我請他們親自製作聖誕卡片，寫上祝福的話語，以表達我們的心意。

第四，我帶小孩去選購禮物。當然他們會選他們想要的，我需要引導他們選擇恰當的禮物。

透過這幾個步驟，希望他們真正體會跟感受到，分享是一件很簡單的事情，即便我們做的事情很小，收到我們禮物的人心裡會感到十分窩心的，同時神也會喜悅我們的付出。

**聖誕鞋盒活動: IC之音