Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

I hadn't planned to do much schooling today because C is home from work and I wasn't sure what we might do as a family.  But it turns out it's been a pretty quiet day.  So I took the opportunity to share with the kids a short Martin Luther King, Jr. biography (please don't scroll down to the comments below the video, ug) and we talked (again) about civil rights, segregation and how different our lives might be if people like Martin Luther King, Jr. did not step up to make a difference.

A coloring page completed by each of our kids and hung on the homeschool room door in commemoration of the holiday ... amazing how different one man can look in their eyes.

After questions about whether he was married and had kids, Z asked, "Did he die of old age?"

Even though I'm pretty sure we've talked about Martin Luther King, Jr. pretty much every year since we started homeschooling (at least), I answered their questions best I could.  I reminded them that no, he had been killed by someone who didn't agree with him.

J said, "See?!  There's one of God's best men trying to help people get along and then someone just shoots him!  I'll bet God wasn't very happy about that.  I agree with Martin Luther King, Jr.  I think people should all be friends and not have separate places to go and stuff.  We can all go together."

I said, "Well, it happened, didn't it.  Even though Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't live very long, it still worked out.  So if God wants something to go a certain way, He can do it. And now some of us live together in one house and nobody cares."

J said, "Yeah and there's nothing wrong with Z.  He's not dirty or something."

I said, "Well, he's usually pretty dirty, but that's not because of his brown skin, that's only because he doesn't like to shower.  But I love him anyway."

J said, "Me, too.  And if I wasn't peach, maybe I could be brown like him and you'd still love me."

Laughing, I said, "Yes, I would."