This week is Constitution Week. (It began Saturday, the 17th, with Constitution Day.) We’re celebrating one of the greatest documents in history, and the foundation of our nation’s governmental system. Constitutional literacy is so low in our country right now, with such frightening results, that it is absolutely essential to teach this document to our children! I’m not suggesting that they all need to memorize it. 😉 But an overall familiarity with the Constitution as a whole, and a very strong familiarity with the Preamble and the Bill of Rights would go a long way.
Do any of you have specific tips for teaching the Constitution to your children? Especially to young ones? In our household, certain facets are taught just as we go about our lives, much like Bible teaching. (I’m not likening the Constitution to the Bible!) When an issue comes up as a result of current events, our children may hear, “the Constitution says…” (By the way, this is conservatism. True conservatism is holding closely to a given standard. In Christianity, that standard is the Bible; conservatives hold closely to the Bible; liberals do not. In American politics, the standard is the Constitution; those who hold closely to the Constitution are conservatives; those who do not are liberals. The party that holds most closely to the Constitution, as a party, is, appropriately, the Constitution Party.)
I think that we might try a Jeopardy-style game around here this week, too. We don’t have any tried-and-true methods, though, of intentionally teaching the Constitution. If you do, I’d love to hear them!
- You can find the whole document online here: The Constitution online
- If you have older children (or just want to learn more yourself), you might be interested in Constitutional Literacy with Michael Farris, a DVD-based educational program that’s coming out in the next couple of weeks.
Also, next week is “remind people to register to vote” week. How ’bout I just save us all some time and remind you now? 😉 If you aren’t registered to vote, go do that now! (Or if you’ve moved since last time you voted; remember to change your address so they’ll have you registered in the right precinct.) If you wait much longer, it will be too close to Election Day, and they’ll have the books closed.
I think it’s great to incorporate The Constitution into our kids lives at a young. It helps define our nation and I bet most kids have no idea what it is, let alone what it says.