Every year right around April, I start to panic that we haven't met our state's "civics" requirement for homeschoolers. Sure, we read plenty of books about presidents and history, we talk about current events (to an extent) and we experience the real world, where civics is actually taking place, but I always wonder if I should be a little more intentional in this area.
This year, Miss H asked me if we could celebrate holidays and special observances a little more intentionally than normal. That's when it occurred to me that some of these minor holidays were the perfect opportunity to bring in areas that we needed to learn more about. Constitution Day, September 17, suddenly took on a new light.
Constitution Study
I didn't find out that public schools were legally required to teach about the Constitution on or around September 17 every year until I had been teaching for at least a couple of years. Yet, this became law in 2004 and is supposed to be a part of every public school curriculum if the school accepts public funding.
Since I didn't know or understand the Constitution very well myself, I always struggled to meet that requirement. Thankfully, after years of paying closer attention and learning about how our country works, I felt confident enough to make a resource that I wish I had been able to use as a teacher. My Little Robins' Constitution Study was a part of a homeschool bundle earlier this fall, and now is available to you!
What you'll find:
- 26 page study with watercolor illustrations
- Diagrams to demonstrate concepts
- Primary-source text of the constitution, as well as summary for brevity
- Questions to guide narration
- Copywork
- Memory work, to solidify learning of the Preamble
- Insight into the founding fathers
- A break down of the Bill of Rights
- Primary source letter explaining the context of "Separation of church and state"
- Book suggestions to further your study
It will only take you an a couple of hours to do this study. Finish it all on one day (September 17 or any other day!) or break it into several lessons. The page labels will help you with that!
This study doesn't share any opinions, and therefore is non-biased. It contains religion as far as a primary source letter describing the context of the idea "separation of church and state."
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