battlemaiden Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 I don't remember. Is there a high school year of Government or just a section within American History. How does the Constitution get taught in public school? A neighbor asked me how our homeschool's amount of Constitution/Government/Current Events "courses" would compare to the public school. :001_huh: I dunno. Can you help me out? Jo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomofSeven Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 not enough!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 In GA, students are required to take a half credit of government and a half credit of economics. Some students opt to take a full credit of AP Government. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Back in the olden-days when I went to High School here in California, "Government" was a one-semester course. Additionally, one took two semesters (one year term) of American History. I took AP History (a novelty then) so we spent more time on the founders and the Constitution than usual. The Government class cover some of the basics, but it was pretty superficial. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battlemaiden Posted April 9, 2009 Author Share Posted April 9, 2009 Back in the olden-days when I went to High School here in California, "Government" was a one-semester course. Additionally, one took two semesters (one year term) of American History. I took AP History (a novelty then) so we spent more time on the founders and the Constitution than usual. The Government class cover some of the basics, but it was pretty superficial. Bill Do you, or anyone, recall if your first exposure to Government and or the Constitution took place in high school? I just cannot remember. I was more worried about trading my Oakland Raider football pencil for a Pittsburg Steeler one. Sad, but true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 I remember memorizing the preamble in Mrs. Gregus's 7th grade social studies test. In first grade we visited the National Achives and saw the Constitution. Of course, people who were allowed to watch Saturday morning cartoons saw the Schoolhouse Rock version. I was not allowed to watch much tv. This was back in the 1970's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 In Va, I think middle schoolers get a 1/2 year. In high school a full year is required for graduation. This is separate from a required full year of US history and at least 1 (maybe 2) year of World History and Geography. That's the basic requirements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Illinois 8th graders must pass a test on the Constitution after a year of Am. History. 11th grade is US. His. again - 12th is half economics, half civics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Do you, or anyone, recall if your first exposure to Government and or the Constitution took place in high school? I just cannot remember. I was more worried about trading my Oakland Raider football pencil for a Pittsburg Steeler one. Sad, but true. For me, first exposure to the Constitution certainly did not come in High School. But I was a kind of weird kid that way (don't say it! :D). I was a nut for history, politics, and current events at a very young age. And I had a 5th grade teacher who took civics so seriously that he wrote his own text-book to teach from. Since his views and mine were often not in alignment there were some pretty interesting moments in that class, including one occasion when I challenged the founders commitment to the notion that "all men are created equal" since many of these men kept people enslaved. This got me dragged (literally) out of class, and into a kindergarten room where I spent the rest of the day re-learning the ABCs :lol: It only pushed me to study more deeply. Bill (Political Science major) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SheWillFly Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 When I was in school, I remember having at least three years of American Government. One was in elementary, one was in middle school and one in high school. I don't know if they still do it that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 At a private prep school, I got one semester of "Civics" in 7th grade. In 8th grade we had "American History". In 9th and 10th we did world history, so that doesn't count for what you are asking. In 11th we had "American Government" for one semester. In 12th we had "Economics" for one semester and a current issues course for another semester (we discussed stuff like the Jim Jones commune which was current to the times, also stuff like the legalization of Marijuana, Abortion etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlebug42 Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 When I was in school in Kentucky, we had American History in 8th grade and again in 11th grade and in 10th grade, one year of civics/government was also required. I also took political science as an elective in 12th grade so I cannot really remember what knowledge came from what class but I do remember having to memorize the preamble to the constitution in 8th grade I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink Fairy Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 (edited) My dh teaches American Government in a California High School. It's 12th grade, and one semester for regular, a full year for AP. You can look up the California State Standards for a good idea of when you teach what for all grade levels. Edited April 9, 2009 by Mamabegood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 We had a year of "Civics" in 9th grade, but about the last 9 weeks were spent on Economics. I remember memorizing all the amendments, but I'm not sure if that was in Civics or 8th grade American History. Anyway, we covered American government and the Constitution pretty thoroughly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K&Rs Mom Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Michigan public schools, as of 15 years ago (am I really that old?!), required 1 semester "civics" in 9th grade, and 1 semester "American Government" in 12th grade. Constitution? Mentioned in passing during those and US history. :glare: If the Constitution was taught in government schools, there would soon be far less government.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Here in Kentucky, "Civics", whatever that is, is actually listed as a yearly requirement for homeschoolers. But when I go to our public schools website and search deligently through their info for what they're doing in that regard, I can find nothing. So, several years ago, I had several long conversations with an attorney at HSLDA about all this. I was told that if a school system requires something of us that they do not themselves do (and they agreed that there is no set curriculum for this in place in Kentucky schools), then they cannot ask us to do it or hold us accountable for not doing it. That said, I tend to cover civics and government issues more heavily during the two years of my history cycle when I'm covering the early modern and modern periods. Those two years encompass U.S. history more heavily and we study our system of government, the presidents, etc. as we're studying history. I have a series of elementary books I've used in past, as well as checking out various books from our library system, that cover our system of political parties, voting, the Constitution, Bill of Rights, our justice system, our three branches of government, presidents, etc., etc. In some of the private schools around here, I've seen/heard evidence of some teachers in some grade levels teaching various civics issues - but I've never seen an across the board curriculum for handling this. Many schools in many states seem to cover state history in fourth or fifth grades, but I know of no standard sort of civics programming in this area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 I know our local hs offers a wide variety of history and civics classes, but I'm not sure which are required and which are electives. When I was in high school, 9th grade was "Global Awareness", which was pretty much social geography, 10th was US History I, 11th was US History II, and I took a semester of Vietnam History in my senior year. Sadly, I can't come up with a single example of what I learned in any of those classes right now. :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deidre in GA Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 my son is in 9th grade PS. his social studies class is American Civics. they began by studying the formation of the US government, the Federal Government, the Constitution, Georgia State Government (including getting to meet the Governor), and local city government. it's a year long course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tammyla Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Way back in my day, we had US History in 11th and Government in 12th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhonda in TX Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Half a year of government. Half a year of economics. I don't know what they actually learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyThreeSons Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 We did a year of "American Government" in both 8th and 12th grades. Here in SC, the requirement is one semester of Government and one semester of Economics in high school. I never had Econ, but wish I had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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