Let us celebrate our freedom this fourth of July! Let us give thanks to God for our liberties, families, friends, homes, pets and more! As part of your homeschooling curriculum, you might want to ask your child to write a paragraph listing the freedoms that he is thankful for this 4th of July. Ask him which freedom is the most important to him and why. Share with him one freedom that you are especially thankful for as well.

Many people lost their freedom during the Holocaust. A good place to learn more about the Holocaust is the Holocaust Memorial Center located in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The Holocaust Memorial Center honors as survivors any persons, Jewish or non-Jewish, who were displaced, persecuted, killed, or discriminated against due to the policies of the Nazis between 1933 and 1945. Many of these people were held as inmates of concentration camps, ghettos, and prisons.

Let me share with you the words of a Holocaust victim which gave him reason to celebrate freedom from a concentration camp. He experienced:

• Nightmares
• Crying, screaming in the camps
• Waking up to a deceased person sleeping next to him
• The same thing happening everyday
• No water, shampoo or soap to take a shower for over a year
• Diseases
• Hearing Holocaust victims finally shouting, “We are free, we are free!”
• SS families leaving the camp
• No longer having to wear a prison uniform

Freedom is a blessing from God that we should never take for granted. I hope you and your family have a great time celebrating this 4th of July!