Jan.16th Martin Luther King Jr.

Ellar's first week back homeschooling!

Monday, January 16th, was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day so we spent the week talking about civil and human rights. 

We remembered back 18 months ago when we visited the Centre for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia!  We watched a YouTube I Had A Dream Speech of Dr. King.

 

I read MLKjr.'s "I Had a Dream" speech to Ellar and he did some great activities!

I have a dream that...there is no slavery.  I dream that there is no war and no being rude.  By Ellar.

We talked about maps, compasses and legends and how to read a map.

Ellar and I talked about peace in the world.  We discussed peaceful protests and why people might use peaceful means to communicate their message.  We talked about miscommunication.  We also discussed what happens when people aren't peaceful.  We talked about when things happen on purpose versus by accident, our intentions.  Ellar understood that some people do things because they don't know better, and when we know better most often we all want to do better.  We can't make people change because it's not our job to teach people a lesson (not to judge), but we can be a good example that people will want to follow.  He replied "just like Jesus did," that made my heart smile! 

We talked about how some people think they deserve things that aren't theirs.  We talked about people who have hate in their hearts for people they've never met, just because of the colour of their skin.  We talked about how some people are prejudice against others because of what they've been taught.  

Ellar asks a lot of questions about war.  He wondered who wins in a war.  I told him nobody does.  There are no winners in war because there are always hard feelings that are left behind and there are always lives that are lost.  He understood that even when there is a winner, we all lose.  Peaceful protesting is a way to have your voice heard and make changes without causing pain and suffering.  This lead to a lengthy discussion about Gandhi, but that will be a blog for another day.