World Poverty Study

povertyFour years ago I did a study on world poverty with my boys.  It covered topics like poverty, lack of education, hunger, war, and the contrast between our world and the developing world.  I included several YouTube videos and many of them had dramatic pictures of life in poverty.  I’m now revamping the study for my youngest child.  Since she is only six, I have avoided the topic of the sex trade and graphic portrayals of violence.

When I first did the study, I gathered the statistics from several different places.  While I do believe they are accurate, I may have some figures a little incorrect.  Some activity ideas were taken from Connect the Thoughts: Global Poverty and Hunger.

Here is the study in the order we plan to complete it.  I separated it into different categories to make it easier to read.

Introduction

Clean Water

Hunger

Housing

Health

Education

Play

Love

Child Labor

War

Causes of Poverty

Materialism

  • Material World Mali pg 14-21
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World South Africa pg 22-27
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Ethiopia pg 28-35
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Mongolia pg 40-47
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Japan pg 48-54
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World China pg 57-63
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World India pg 65-71
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Bhutan pg 72-79
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Thailand pg 80-87
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Vietnam pg 88-95
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Uzbekistan pg 96-103
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Cuba pg 106-111
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Guatemala pg 112-119
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Argentina pg 120-125
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Brazil pg 126-133
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World United States pg 136-143
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Mexico pg 144-151
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Haiti pg 154-161
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Iceland pg 162-169
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Western Samoa pg 170-175
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Germany pg 180-185
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Russia pg 186-191
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Albania pg 192-197
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Italy pg 198-203
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Spain pg 204-209
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Great Britain pg 210-215
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Bosnia pg 216-223
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Iraq pg 228-235
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Kuwait pg 236-241
  • Play Free Rice
  • Material World Israel pg 242-247
  • Play Free Rice

Action

  • Count out how many grains of rice fit in 1/4 cup and then determine how many cups of rice have been donated through Free Rice so far.
  • Choose and fund project at Worldvision with money earned.

10 thoughts on “World Poverty Study

  1. How long did the whole study take you? How frequently would you do activities/lessons? I LOVE this idea and plan, and can’t wait to use it with my 3, but trying to figure out how to fit it in with our year plan.

    1. It was probably a couple days a week over the school year. We did it with other things.

  2. I am so touched by such a thoughtful and well intentioned post. It literally brought tears to my eyes just scrolling down the lesson. Tears for the sad reality of many around the world but tears for hope. Our children will be the ones who create a loving, United and peaceful world where love trumps money and we ensure nutrition for all beings. Thank you so much for sharing this lesson. It’s such a beautiful and difficult lesson and very necessary.

  3. I just started homeschooling my 7 year old daughter this year and find so much inspiration from your blog.
    I am really hoping to do this unit with my daughter but was wondering how watching the videos affected your children? My daughter is quite sensitive and I’m not sure if they would be too upsetting for her.
    The other questions I have is how did you calculate the percentages on the map, did you colour the actual countries effected and did you use the same map each time or colour different ones?
    Thanks so much for sharing all of your wonderful ideas.

    1. Watching the videos has been positive for my kids. Some of the videos were difficult and brought along tears, but they were positive in that it changed my children’s perspective. I can’t say how appropriate they would be for your child though. If you are unsure, maybe you can pick out one of the tamer videos here and see how she does with it.

      For the maps, we just colored a percentage of the page – water and land. We didn’t color specific countries and used a new map each time. It was to give my child a greater understanding of what the percentage looked like. If I was doing it with an older child who already understood percentages, I might do it differently focusing on some of the countries. HTH

  4. This was a great unit study! We did this back in September, and I think it was so eye-opening for my kids (ages 8 and 10). I hope it leaves a lasting impact on them. I think my son (10) was more moved to do something, he decided to sell a bunch of his toys, and is going to give some of the money to World Vision.

    1. Awesome! I’m happy to hear that it worked well for you! It has been eye-opening for all 3 of my kids. It has been 4-5 years since I did it with my older kids and we talk about these issues from time to time. These issues have really impacted their perspective on life.

  5. oh, I love this. we just finished reading a book about Swedish emigrants and my three boys (7,7 &6) were really interested. I loved it, as well, and it got the thirst going for something just like this unit study! Their hearts are still so tender and it is so easy to forget they do not realize there are people who actually die because they are hungry. They can’t go to Kroger when they run out of food.
    Our church is very missions focused and I think studies like this are the perfect primer for missions!
    Looking forward to browsing through your blog!

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