My little girls still have their ‘school’ today, but my kindergartner is off and we are still learning. I’ve been pinning and printing all morning. I sent my son downstairs to ask Alexa about MLK while I got dressed. I’ve pulled storybooks about Ruby Bridges and other people of color off our bookshelves, and they’re the stories we’re focusing on when we read today. We’re also listening to a killer Spotify playlist called ‘Black History Salute,’ and somehow it just got stuck on an old Michael Jackson album… 😉

We’re spending our day like this because today, maybe more than ever, it’s vitally important that we teach our kids about the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Watching a video reading of the book Martins Big Words

  
I share this because if you’re overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, I wanted to tell you that you’re not alone. These are big topics and big things to teach little kids. We had a ‘just start’ moment in our family (frankly we still have them from time-to-time) and we’ve learned that coloring sheets and picture books are wonderful, but it all won’t mean much if it happens just one day out of the year. This should be something integrated into our daily lives, this learning from and remembering and teaching the history of people of color. So that’s what we try to do as a family, and on special days we shift our focus to special circumstances. It’s not that my family is doing things perfectly – far from it. We’re just trying different things, taking one step at a time, and hoping to raise our kids up well.
Here are my favorite resources for teaching my kids about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Those are a few places that have been helpful to our family in starting – and continuing – good conversations today! I’m going to gather up some of our favorite pictures books that feature people of color and share them with you in a future post too, so hang tight for that one. {In the meantime, look at your students book order! Scholastic book orders from my kids school are the way I’ve been able to affordably extend our picture book collection to be more inclusive, and find books about historical figures that my kids can understand. We received book orders starting in preschool, and continue to receive and order from them monthly now in kindergarten.}

I also want to tell you – don’t fear the awkward. If these conversations are new to you and yours, it might feel awkward. But your kids will only feel the weirdness if you let them.  This is one of those times where ‘fake it til you make it’ will pay off.

Because widening our world and learning how to love others better is always the good and right way to be.

 

Pin It on Pinterest