Teaching Social Consciousness: Building with Books (continued)

Fundraising to Build Schools

Put your high schooler in the driver's seat for this one, and let him brainstorm ways to raise money to help sponsor a school. Your child can also choose one of five countries where they would like their school to be built. This gives kids the opportunity to learn more about the country that they're sponsoring. The program asks teens complete at least one sponsorship activity a semester, but the monetary goal is up to them. Mishra says it costs between $15-17,000 to build a school. Whether your child raises $500 or $3,000 it all goes towards the building of the school, and it all counts for a whole lot.

Global Education

Your high-schooler can follow along on-line with schools being built in another country to see how his hard-earned money is being spent. A special feature of the on-line program is e-mail correspondence with people in a developing country. Questions like "What's it like to go to school there?" and "What holidays do you celebrate" are exchanged. Mishra calls it a "one-on-one sharing of culture."

What makes Building with Books special, is that it allows kids to make a difference in both their local and global community. Your teenager will soon be leaving the naivety of childhood behind--give her a headstart towards becoming a socially conscious adult.