American History 101

Being a homeschool mom is not the easiest task in the world…and I’ve only got one to teach…and it’s first grade. But already I am being stretched. I flip through her science book and sigh at the little experiments with magnets or fingerprints. Really? Do we have to do the experiments? Can’t we just read it? Or her vast interest (and talent ) in all things art. Since art was never my favorite class, I bought an art book to keep me on task. But wouldn’t that half hour be better spent reading a good book? In Emry’s opinion: no.

 

But one thing I don’t have to stretch myself in is history. It delights the very depths of my soul when she expresses a desire to see the Statue of Liberty or Washington Monument. I can’t wait to show her all the things I desired to see when I was in first grade. In fact, her history book seems too short…but it sure is informative!

 

We are only a few weeks into it, of course, so probably about 10 pages. But already we have covered things Americans seem to have forgotten: the freedom to worship and the freedom to assemble.

 

I’m sure all of you remember what happened in March. A virus shut our world down – including church. And while I don’t have all the correct answers to how the church should have responded, I do know this: I was very sad at how quickly the church closed its doors in response to a government mandate that took away one of our Constitutional rights. We have the right to worship as we please. We have the right to assemble. And nowhere does it say a virus (or anything else) can take away those rights from us, even temporarily.

 

As I was reminded of that, I was also struck by how the book explained to Emry our freedom to assemble. It stated very simply that we have the right to gather in a group (assemble) and, within those assemblies, state what it is we are assembling about (protest) as long as no one gets hurt.

 

Emry, at the age of five, is not equating the freedom of worship to being away from church for four months. And she certainly doesn’t understand the significance of the freedom of assembling in relation to Black Lives Matter (which she knows nothing about) and the physical harm these protests are causing so many. But I did. And it crossed my mind that perhaps every leader in the United States of America needs a copy of Emry’s first grade history book.