Constitution Day Preparations

Did you know that this coming Tuesday, September 17, is Constitution Day? I knew but actually

forgot until I got an email from Jolanthe over at Homeschool Creations. She shared what she was going to do with her family and also shared some printables she created to go along with their lessons. They looked pretty great so I decided that we would take advantage of them and integrate some Constitution learning in our homeschool next week as well.

I am planning on using her printables along with the Constitution Day DVD from Shlessinger Media that we got from our local library. This is a short 12 minute educational dvd that explains some key points about our Constitution and what it means to be a US Citizen. There are also discussion questions on the video and a Teacher's Guide that can be printed out from the link above.

We will also read some books we checked out including the following; A More Perfect Union, We the People, and If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution.

The book I am most excited about however is one entitled Constitution Translated for Kids by Cathy Travis. I have read through this book and find it so valuable to our week's studies. The almost 100 page book has pages divided into two columns, the left column for the Constitution in it's original wording and for the right column, Mrs. Travis has painstakingly translated each paragraph, article and amendment into language that is more easily understood by children (and adults!) Here is a peek:

The original, "No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken."

Quite a mouthfull!! The right, translated column reads,"Congress must tax according to the number of citizens there are in the country based on the census. (The Sixteenth Amendment changed this so Congress could charge and collect taxes any way they wanted.)"

Makes it more understandable doesn't it? The book includes the 7 Articles, The Bill of Rights, Other Amendments, Words to Look at While You Are Reading and more. This may be one book that I end up purchasing for our family. It would be a great reference tool to have on hand.

I am also hoping to work hard on having our older kids memorize the Preamble to the Constitution next week as well. (Jolanthe included this in her printable packet linked above.) I memorized it in 7th grade and still know it to this day! We will take a look at the Preamble sentence by sentence and talk about the meaning of each. 

With so much going on in our country right now I feel it's so important that our children learn about this document that our Founding Father's thought was so important to create. I am hoping that they learn, at least a little, about why our nation is so great. 

And also, Sept. 17th isn't just Constitution Day for us, but it happens to be the 8th birthday of our Boy! Wow, can't believe this handsome fella is already gonna be 8. What a blessing this guy is to our family. Couldn't imagine our 4 pinks without this blue!!

Thanks for stopping by!