Cleaning out..... Looking Ahead

I'm hoping to post pictures later (if I can locate the camera, which Elijah thinks is ours to share now) but today I am working on cleaning out some things in our classroom (I know, not really part of that cleaning list but since I'm behind, it shouldn't matter much).  I'm finally pulling out the curriculum that we had purchased at the beginning of the school year and getting it ready to sell.  I'm simplifying our shelves so that the boys know just what they need to be working on through the end of the school year. 

I am so excited with how this year has gone for us and I'm excited about the possibilities for next year.  Elijah has already decided on our first Social Studies topic for next school year and I will spend my summer preparing for that.  It will require lots of preparation and prayer because it is such a sensitive topic.  He wants to know about slaves and why people were so mean to African Americans.  We have worked very hard to teach our children love and respect for everyone, no matter their skin color.  Yesterday with tears in the corner of his eyes, he asked, "Why did peach people used to be mean to brown people?"  Someone told him that whites once fought the blacks and made them be slaves.  We've never referred to African Americans as blacks nor ourselves as whites.  The story that he has been told was no-doubt learned from another child that doesn't know and understand our history either.  He and I talked about it for a little bit and I promised that we would study that period of history so that we can both better understand it.  We have read a few books about it in the past and we will be reading much more about it soon.  If you have any suggestions for websites or books that would help in teaching this, please leave a comment below.  I want to be sure that in teaching this, I will teach an attitude of sympathy, love and understanding rather than one of entitlement and hate.  Please be in prayer for me as I work to prepare this study for the fall.