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May. 17, 2009

Week 32, May 4-8, 2009

Posted in General
Another week of great discussions. 

It seems that we will be covering the Civil Rights Amendment in the next few weeks.  Our first lengthy discussion was about the Civil Rights Movement as it pertained to Blacks or, to be more PC, African-Americans.  Chapter 2 from The Story of the USA was about the Jim Crow laws and subsequent segregation and the long road back to integration, from Plessy to Brown v. Board.  The readings mentioned that even today, cities are not fully integrated.  This surprised K., and so we plunged into a very long discussion of the segregation in cities today.  We talked about how most cities are divided up into sections--poor areas, middle class areas, upper middle class areas and upper class areas.  In addition, some cities seem to have specific ethnicities living in their "own" specific parts of town.  While it is legal for any person to live anywhere in the city, there are still barriers such as what a person can afford for housing and where a person feels comfortable living.  We talked about, e.g., how a person who may have endured a lot of racial prejudice may feel more comfortable living with others of the same race to reduce the chance of having to endure any further prejudice.  We talked about how, because of the inequality that Blacks endured in the workplace and in academia, many Blacks could not make enough money to live in the "nicer" parts of town.  We talked about affirmative action, how many universities and colleges offer scholarships to attract qualified students of specific minorities, in an attempt to undo some of the injustices of the past.  We discussed how this can and has caused hostility with whites who feel that some schools will accept minority students who are less qualified, just to have the numbers. 

Whew!  What a heavy discussion.  In fact, we realized that we had discussed it for nearly an hour and a half and had to quickly rush to Chik-Fil-A for lunch and then dash to piano lessons! 

The next day we discussed in more detail what the fight for equality for Blacks involved--we discussed MLK and his method of non-violent protest, including boycotts and sit-ins.  We talked about Ms. Rosa Parks, and the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.  We ended with the assasination of Dr. King.  For our discussion questions, we talked about whether we personally would be able to use non-violent methods if we were attacked.  This is such a sticky topic.  I have taught my children that they are allowed to defend themselves if attacked.  I did discuss other things to do, like walking away from the situation and/or informing a person of authority.  But I do not want my children to lie like limp rags while someone is truly threatening their lives or safety or in any way harming them.  In fact, I will be signing up the children for karate/self defense classes this summer and A. is already in karate classes year round. 

Our last heavy discussion was about JFK and his brief time as our president.  We discussed why someone might want to assassinate a president or important leader and why some people might care about the religious beliefs of the president.  We discussed JFK's actions at the Bay of Pigs and whether we thought it was the right thing to do or not.  K and A both said they thought that he was right not to really involve any US troops but that honestly, he should not have supported the exiles with weapons to begin with.  They both thought that he should have just granted them political asylum and told them to trust God, more or less, and to try to move on in their new country.

Heavy stuff!  We finished up our excellent Bible study book, Starting Strong this week with a lesson on how a seemingly insignificant spark could light a big fire.  We read the story of Naaman and how his servant girl's advice to him helped turn this skeptical leader into a believer.  We discussed ways to be encouraged and strong for Christ, even if we think we're just one person.  We talked about how one person could make a wealth of difference. 

Otherwise, K finished up Bruchko, and I finished reading A School Story to A.  K and I finished listening to Miracles on Maple Hill on audio.  We were supposed to start In Search of the Source as a read aloud, but I decided to do that book during the summer.  So we are enjoying a nice read aloud break right now, at least K and I.  LOL

In science we covered musical sounds, how some animals "see" with sounds, and what things are made of (atoms and molecules).

God bless!!

A.H.
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About Me

HELLO!!! This blog is a place for us to publish some of our children's work and just to journal our amazing educational journey.

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