Last week's second grade homeschool curriculum unexpectedly included a lesson on the Great Migration and Reparations.

Other weeks included: Anglican colonialism, the documentary hypothesis, the nuclear arms race & Nagasaki+Hiroshima, and theodicy.

My kid is a little advanced, I think. But he's not a prodigy genius.

Children can be told the truth about the world, about what is wonderful and also what is terrible. It needs to be spread out over time, and told with love and care, but it needs to be told to them.

You can't wait until their ready. Telling them is what makes them ready. You can't just wait until they have a fully formed world view that could potentially understand the implications of nuclear bombs dropped on cities and then, only then, tell them it happened twice.

No teenager should be surprised to find out that other people think other things about the Bible than we think in our house, and by the way they might be right because we can't prove this stuff. No first year seminary student should have their faith shaken by OT class.

And the idea that we even *could* shield our children from knowing about police violence or the separation of immigrant mothers from their children or the destruction of indigenous language and culture or countless other terrors... that's entirely a product of white privilege.

&, in case anyone is *CONCERNED*
I'm not systematically indoctrinating my children, w/e the eff that means. I didn't put "White Guilt" or even "History of Slavery" on our curriculum.
I have simply chosen to answer questions truthfully and follow conversations where they lead.

Here's what led to convo. on reparations.

Driving in car. E says he thinks our new neighbors might be Chinese, based on the guardian lion/dragon statues placed outside the door. He also says he knows it's impolite to just assume things about ppl. "It's just a guess"...

Me: You know, I think we're really lucky to live in an area of the country that has so many different people from different places around the world.

E: THAT IS LUCKY! [rambles about like different types of restaurants and grocery stores we have available...]

E: [rambling about restaurants]... we have a lot of Mexican restaurants, especially.

Me: Right, because California shares a border with Mexico. So many people leaving Mexico end up coming into California. Also, ppl coming from other places in Central and South Am.

E: Probably a lot of the people migrating in are poor.

Me: Why do you think that?

E: [paraphrasing] If they had enough money to buy enough food, they probably would have just stayed where they were.

Me: That makes sense.

Me: Is there any other reason they might leave?

E: I don't know. Maybe if people were trying to hurt them?

Me: Yeah, that's often a reason.

E: Or like if they are a different color and the other people won't let them have good jobs and stuff.

A: Right. I mean, not exactly that, but things like that happen all the time.

E: I bet a lot of black people moved after slavery.

A: What makes you say that?

E: even after they were free, they probably had a hard time getting good jobs to get enough money

A: So, you're totally right about that. [brief summation of the Great Migration]

E: But. They wouldn't have had any money to buy horses to travel that far. There must have been some white people who gave them money or horses or something.

A: Well. There certainly were a few white people who helped. And there were already free black people with money and resources who also helped. But, largely they were on their own.

E: But they had NO MONEY. And NO HORSES. They would need money. And horses.

A: So, it turns out - people knew that was a problem at the time it was happening. So the government promised to give all the recently freed, formerly enslaved people some land so they could start farming for themselves and build resources.

E: How did that turn out?

A: Not well. [Brief summation of government breaking its promises]... and, you know... there are people today who still think we should work to make up for that, to try - somehow - to keep that broken promise.

E: Yeah. Good idea [attention trails off as we arrive at destination

I am, by no means, a perfect parent. I did not post this thread to win points or brag.

I am trying to say:
This stuff is possible.
It is not beyond the ability of a seven year old to understand.
Things don't have to be Dick&Jane, Precious Moments Children's Bible, good guys win.

You just have to be willing to be honest. First with yourself. And then with your children.

And you have to decide ahead of time you will be honest even when it makes you uncomfortable, when you wish your child didn't have to know about the world.

Anyway this week's scheduled curriculum includes some Chemistry Set fun creating Prussian Blue pigment and I am not looking forward to it.