Suggestions for Gov & Civics Curriculum...

[sabrina]

Looking for ideas. Needing stand alone program. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks!

[praisefor3]

If you are interested in a Biblical worldview, Notgrass is an outstanding choice.

[2cents]

We're doing Calvert School Civics and it is working out very well! It is a little pricey but it is secular and through which is what I wanted for my 5th and 6th graders. The teacher guide is nicely done and the lessons are short but meaty. You can check it out at:

http://www.calvertschool.org/accredited-homeschool-curriculum/enrichment-courses/history-courses-/civics-in-america/

[Plaid Dad]

I just reviewed Declaration Statesmanship and was very impressed. My short review is under "History" on this page, and there are links to places you can buy the curriculum. The authors are professors at a classical/Great Books college (Thomas Aquinas), so their approach fits very well with TWTM and other classical homeschooling styles.

[Linda in NE]

Plaid Dad:

 

I haven't seen this text or the supplementary reader and teacher's guide that goes with it. I did look at the excerpts posted on the internet in the process of considering it for use in a co-op setting to teach a course on American Government. I dismissed the text because of its apparent focus on the Declaration as the source of our governmental system. As an attorney, it is abundantly clear to me that the Constitution is a document much more central to our governmental structure and our systems of law and justice. Is Declaration Statesmanship more even-handed in its approach than it appeared at first glance?

 

I am very attracted to the philosophical history Declaration Statesmanship appears to discuss so well. I just thought it was misleading to emphasize the Declaration at the expense of the Constitution in the context of the establishment of our government. The Declaration did predate the Constitution, but the colonies were governed under the Articles of Confederation during the intervening years. The argument could be made that the principles set forth in the Declaration did not inevitably lead to our present system of government by virtue of that intervention or that those principles were served equally well by the confederation as by the republican system fashioned by the later Constitution. Am I completely off base here?

 

Thanks.

[Kareni]

Here's a link to a previous discussion which also includes links to even earlier threads.

 

See: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31724&highlight=government

 

I hope you'll find something of use there.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Lisa in TN]

Have you looked at Sonlight Core 400?

[sabrina]

If you are interested in a Biblical worldview, Notgrass is an outstanding choice.

 

What is it that you like about Notgrass? I have seen it mentioned on many threads but don't know much about it. Is this a one or two semester course? Thanks!

[praisefor3]

It is independent and my dd has learned a lot from all the Notgrass history curriculum. And, for us, it comes from a Biblical worldview. Ray Notgrass was also instrumental in my very first months of homeschooling when I called to ask about the curriculum and he answered the phone. He spent a considerable amount of time talking to me about homeschooling in general, called me back when he needed to take care of something, and even sent me free tapes in the mail to help me get started in my focus on homeschooling...which had nothing to do with his curriculum. Now...that, of course, does not guarantee a quality curricululm, but it has been an important part in knowing that what he is teaching my daughter through his text comes from being committed to Christ and prayerfully researching what he writes. I like knowing that. Also...since we used 2 other subjects of his, each time we would look around for other options and our dd would beg to stay with Notgrass. She likes reading his style of writing. She could probably be challenged towards a more difficult, more demanding curriculum. But...would she ultimately learn as much? I don't know so we are very pleased with the path we took.

[Plaid Dad]

I have passed my review copy of Declaration Statesmanship on to someone else, so I can't go back and check the specifics you mention, Eliana. I will be seeing the person I gave it to early next week, though, and could ask for it back if it would help to get clearer answers to your questions. I have not read the textbook cover-to-cover.

 

The authors teach at a Catholic college, and I was reviewing it for use in a Catholic high school, so I would not necessarily have blinked at the particular political/social issues you mention had I noticed them. I would certainly describe the text as conservative in its assumptions, however, and that would be an important consideration, one way or the other, for anyone thinking of using it.

 

I did not see the authors implying that the Declaration was on par with Scripture or divinely inspired. (That would be a real stretch given Thos. Jefferson's religious beliefs!) They look at a number of historical foundations for the ideas in the Declaration, including philosophy (Greek, Roman, Enlightenment), the Bible, the Magna Charta, etc. It is definitely not what I would call Providential History of the sort you see in some conservative Protestant government texts; I was specifically looking for that, as it would have been a deal-breaker for the school in question (and for me personally). I saw the connections the authors make as a matter of intellectual history, not as promoting a particular interpretation of the divine will as applied to forms of government. That said, if a person did not want any mention of the Bible or religious ideas in their government text, this would not be the book for them.

 

It does use the Declaration as a focal point and is not an in-depth look at the Constitution, and that might make it insufficient for some people's needs.

 

I'd be interested to know where samples are available online, since a few people have asked me about that. If anyone can provide links, I'd be grateful. TIA!

[Linda in NE]

http://www.declaration.net/store.asp

 

There are also two reviews linked there as well.

 

Thanks, Plaid Dad, for your input.

[Plaid Dad]

Thank you for posting the link to the samples.

 

I did ask the person I passed the review copy on to if I could borrow it back for a few days this week. I'll try to put together a more thorough review. In the meantime, if anyone's interested, there's a somewhat more detailed review here. It doesn't really speak to the particular concerns mentioned in this thread, although the next-to-last paragraph in this review touches on some of the issues Eliana mentioned. One of the things I will do when I have the textbook in my hands again is to see if skipping the final chapter would be possible without missing central arguments. I can see that the authors' opinions might not be shared by people with different religious and/or political assumptions.

[sabrina]

I really appreciate all the input. I have set my dh on the task of reseaching the curriculums that you all suggested. He is the political guy at our house! I really like the sound of "Declaration Statesman" and "Notgrass". If anyone has seen them both and would care to list any pro/cons I would be interested. I may just have to order them to take a look.

[sarah in tenn]

Listening in

:bigear:

sarah

[sabrina]

[Thank you, Drew for the time and caring you bring to sharing resource suggestions!

 

DITTO!

[Spy Car]

It's not a *program*, but to really understand the logic behind our Constitution it is really important to read at least a selection of the most important Federalist Papers. They make fascinating reading, and make one aware just how well thought through the Founders were when they drafted the Constitution.

[historybuffmom]

My kids had a great time in the teen program at our homeschool conference because the entire weekend was a mock legislative session put on by "Generation Joshua." They're a group run by former homeschooled kids--now young adults--who have an organization that encourages teenagers to get more involved in the political process. I had never heard of them before but was so impressed I paid $25 to get free access to their online classes for a year. I thought it would be a cheap and easy way for my senior this fall to get his civics out of the way. Anyone used this organization's online courses?

[sabrina]

It's not a *program*, but to really understand the logic behind our Constitution it is really important to read at least a selection of the most important Federalist Papers. They make fascinating reading, and make one aware just how well thought through the Founders were when they drafted the Constitution.

 

Which would you consider "most important"?

[Spy Car]

Which would you consider "most important"?

 

Far from a "sufficient" list, but two that really stick in my mind are Fed. 51 on the logic of divided branches of government ("checks and balances") and Fed. 10 which discusses how to turn the "problem" of factionalism into a "virtue."

 

It has been some years [should I say decades?] since I've read the Federalist Papers [note to self] and before I chose a selection for my child (or anyone else) I'd need to review them more fully (and no doubt cross check "my" list with those of other political scientists and historians). So I'm sorry I'm not able , a this time, to give you what I'd consider a fully thought-through list.

 

I do think any child who understood Fed 51 and Fed 10, would be way "ahead of the game" in appreciating "how" power is meant to be balanced under our system. These are quite "meaty", and would no doubt take parent involvement in simplifying, restating in other word, making up examples, etc. The reasoning is somewhat "complex" (or seems particularly so in the language of the day) but i think, with some effort, they could be "broken-down" into concepts a child could reason.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Bill

[hswarden]

I used a state-approved textbook with my daughter in 12th grade. I found there was so much context for the material that she did not have, I really wished I had started in 9th grade like I said I would. The chapter on the judicial system, for example, was so abstract when studied apart from any real-life experience she might have been familiar with. I wished I had invited her to sit with me late at night to watch all the lawyer shows I used to watch--I realized how much of what I know about the justice system, I really did learn from Law & Order--dispite minoring in Poli Sci with an emphasis in Constitutional Law! I vow that I will not put this off til 12th grade with any more of my kids. I am finding them videos, reading newspaper articles aloud, and especially engaging them in issues that are reflected in the current political process.

My daughter's favorite part of the course, by the way, was when I dumped the textbook and read aloud to her Ron Paul's "The Revolution: A Manifesto." This book motivated her to attend to and understand politics and government, while the textbook seemed to immunize her against any real concern.

[Plaid Dad]

Okay, I finally got a chance to go through Declaration Statesmanship more carefully. I decided just to do a chapter-by-chapter overview with quotes where appropriate. I'm going to focus on the areas that could be considered controversial, particularly the questions Eliana raised. I'm going to have to split this into at least two posts.

 

Chapter 1: The Declaration of America: This short chapter (3 pages) presents the thesis that the signing of the Declaration should be viewed as the real beginning of the America as a Republic. Includes quotes from Calvin Coolidge and Federalist 1. Questions for Reflection and Research (hereafter "QRR") have students looking at the symbolism of the Great Seal, taking a quick glance through the Constitution, and doing research on the bicentennial celebrations of both the Declaration and the Constitution.

 

Chapter 2: A Look Backwards: Reviews the historical events of 1763-June 10, 1776; gives first "Order of Events" timeline (at least one appears in almost every chapter); a subsection discusses "Liberty and Republican Governments in the Ancient World," especially the mixed legacy of ancient Athens; another subsection looks at "The British History of Resisting Tyrants," focusing on the 16th and 17th centuries and the relationship between the Crown and Parliament and placing Thomas Paine's Common Sense in this context; another subsection discusses the difference between Athenian democracy and what the American colonists hoped to achieve: a form of government based on the natural rights of human beings; discussion of natural rights as deriving from English and French political writers of the 17th and 18th centuries (Locke is mentioned as the most prominent) and from the Bible (Genesis is mentioned specifically):

 

 

 

"The colonists were nearly all Christians of one sort or another, and the Bible was the most widely read book in the colonies. Even those who didn't believe all the miracles in the Bible (Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin are the more famous of these who held this view) thought that its moral teaching was the most enlightened ever developed and perfectly consonant with what their minds showed them."

 

 

Order of Events II: The Development of English Political Liberty from 1215 (Magna Carta) through reign of George III; QRR: suggests research topics on various historical events and figures that influenced the Declaration; reading Federalist Papers 9 and 10; paper/dialog on declaring independence (using Thucydides as a possible model) [i'm not going to give all of the rest of the QRR details, since I'm not sure how much of that I can do without violating copyright. Every chapter has a range of possible topics of varying types.]

 

To be continued...

[Plaid Dad]

Chapter 3: The Declaration Itself: Consists of the text of the Declaration, a map showing eastern North America in 1764, a timeline covering June 7-Aug. 2, 1776, and 5 QRR topics. One of these asks students to identify the ways in which God is referred to in the Declaration; another has students memorizing at least part of the Declaration.

 

Chapter 4: The Roots of American Liberty: This chapter treats the intellectual history of the ideas that inform the Declaration with a focus on the concept of natural rights. It is divided into several parts. Part 1 (5 pages) is called "The Witness of the Bible." It includes two Scripture quotations (one from Genesis, one from Romans), two quotes from Calvin Coolidge, a set of readings from four Protestant divines (including John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration), a half-page discussion of Catholic ideas (quote from Robert Bellarmine), and 5 QRR topics. Part 2 (9 pages), "The Witness of the Philosophers," discusses ideas from Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, and Algernon Sidney, all philosophers that Jefferson himself cited (in an 1825 letter) as sources for the Declaration. The chapter concludes with a "Roots of Liberty" timeline covering the Bible and philosophers mentioned in the chapter, plus an additional 6 QRR topics.

 

Chapter 5: Thinking through the Declaration: This is a close reading of the text of the Declaration with a focus on its language. The first set of subheads are "Independence," "Revolution," and "Prudence"; these are followed by 2 QRR topics. The next section covers the Crown's abuses as listed in the Declaration, broken down into legislative, judicial, and executive abuses; four more QRR topics follow this section. The final section of the chapter looks at the actual words by which the document declares independence; there are three more QRR topics.

 

Chapter 6: American Constitutions: This chapter is also broken down into a number of parts. The first deals with the Articles of Confederation (one QRR topic, with reading from the Federalist Papers). The second covers the US Constitution: first the Preamble, with in-depth analysis of its language and 4 QRR topics; next the structure of government laid out in the Constitution, with a chart of checks and balances and 4 QRR topics; finally the Bill of Rights and a conclusion, with three more QRR topics.

 

The Bill of Rights discussion contains a number of points that might be problematic for some families. The authors discuss what they describe as abuses of the BoR, including the use of the First Amendment "to ease God out of public life in so many ways." (p. 68) (Christmas displays, school prayer, "laws regulating risky and peculiar sexual behavior" and the Boy Scouts' "faith-based moral code" are some of the examples mentioned.) The authors fall very clearly on the side of interpreting the Second Amendment to allow for private citizens to own firearms: "The Second Amendment exists to sustain the practical possibility of precisely such a just rebellion, and to instill fear in potential tyrants. We must admit that allowing ordinary citizens to have weapons might be dangerous. But the Framers thought that allowing the government to command a standing army while at the same time disarming its citizens would surely invite tyranny." (p. 69) A paragraph on pp. 69-70 argues against Roe vs. Wade on the basis of the Declaration's "assertion of the fundamental right to life."

 

Chapter 7: The Stain of Slavery: This relatively short chapter gives the background for Chapter 8. It briefly discusses the history of slavery and opposition to it in the colonies and the political compromises made with slave owners. The tenor of the text makes it clear that slavery is a great evil. There are a total of 9 QRR topics.

 

To be continued...

[Plaid Dad]

Chapter 8: Declaration Statesmanship: This long chapter (pp. 83-139) looks at how the principles of the Declaration informed later American statesmen and thinkers. The focus of the first part is on Abraham Lincoln. His "Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois" is studied in depth. The text then reviews the events from the repeal of the Missouri Compromise through the Emancipation Proclamation. A timeline traces "The House Divided" from 1775 (first abolition society in the colonies) to 1863 (Emancipation Proclamation). There are 9 QRR topics in this section. Part 2 looks the Civil Rights Movement. It begins with Reconstruction, goes through populism and the Jim Crow laws, and then looks at "the Declaration Politics of the Civil Rights Movement" of the 20th century, with extensive quotations from Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DeBois. The timeline here covers the years 1905 (Niagara Movement)-2003 (Grutter v. Bollinger).

 

Chapter 9: A People Worthy of the Declaration: This chapter is the one I think most likely to bother parents who do not share the authors' political and religious perspectives. It seeks to apply the Declaration principles to contemporary social and political issues. Alexis de Tocqueville is a major source for "the Character of our Forefathers" (Part 1). This section discusses self-government, education, and religion, quoting heavily from Tocqueville throughout. Part 2, "Timeless Questions," argues that true freedom requires a moral citizenry that does not confuse liberty with license. The last paragraph of this section invokes religious ideas (what follows is the entire paragraph):

 

 

 

In our times, as in Tocqueville's, you can hear some people say that submission to God takes away our freedom. But given all that we now understand about freedom, it makes sense that authentic respect for God's will, and His laws, is what makes political freedom possible. Fear and love of God lead men to act justly. God's laws direct us, blunt our natural selfishness and encourage us to think of the good of others. Respect for God can also lead each person, in accordance with the light he is given, to worship Him and seek His aid. Prayer, repentance, forgiveness, mercy, are the well-springs of the strength we need to take up the responsibilities of freedom.

 

 

Part Three of this chapter is one that some parents may want to skip or at least discuss in detail with their children. It is entitled "Dangers to Freedom in our Time" and refers directly to homosexuality, stresses on the "marriage-based, two-parent family" (including taxes, government daycare, high divorce rates, deadbeat dads, illegitimacy, and non-traditional definitions of marriage), and abortion. The perspective here is consonant with Catholic social and moral teaching, although this connection is not expressly mentioned. This discussion is, however, quite short (2.5 pages) as compared with all that comes before. Interestingly, it is followed by a section critiquing "workforce education" - something I think many homeschoolers will find refreshing. A single page on "God in Exile" follows, which decries the exclusion of God from public discourse. The chapter ends with an extended quotation from a speech by Alan Keyes, discussing the Declaration's principles and their importance. There is a three-page bibliography as well.

 

Here is a list of the primary sources from the Readings book (these are assigned throughout the course; lesson plans are included in the teacher's manual):

 

The Gettysburg Address

Federalist papers (1, 2, 9, 15, 16, 84)

Speech by Calvin Coolidge on the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration

Articles of Confederations

The Constitution

Cornerstone Speech by Alexander Stephens

House Divided Speech (Lincoln)

Speech at Peoria, IL, on the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise (Lincoln)

Speech on the Dred Scott Decision (Lincoln)

Excerpts from Tocqueville's Democracy in America

 

There is also a list of Internet sites for the other primary sources mentioned in the textbook.

 

To be continued...

[Plaid Dad]

After this closer examination, I would say that this course would definitely not be appropriate for parents who do not want any religious material to appear in their government course. The sections I've quoted from could be deal-breakers for some families, as could the overall conservative tone of the textbook. Although the authors are Catholic (or at least they teach at a Catholic college), I saw no assumptions that I would identify as exclusively Catholic. They definitely reflect traditional Christian morality.

 

I do not, however, consider this course to be in the same category as the "Providential History" texts put out by fundamentalist publishers. Its religious references are almost entirely focused on the concept of natural rights; Scriptural quotes are minimal compared to some other texts. There is no proof-texting and little moralizing. I don't think the name Jesus appears once. In my opinion it manages to provide a healthy corrective to courses that entirely ignore religious influences on the Founders without succumbing to religious triumphalism, sectarianism, or millenarianism.

 

The discussion of the Constitution could be considered too scant if this is the student's only crack at that material.

 

HTH!

[Spy Car]

Drew, thank you so much for all the time you put into this enlightening review. Very helpful indeed!

 

Bill