Best American Government Curriculum Options for Learning Abled Kids
American Government Book Choices and OTHER American Government Curriculum Choices for Homeschooling
For a complete high school curriculum in American Government, Thinkwell’s American Government course is a good choice. It is taught through teaching videos on the computer and is much better than even an American Government textbook online!
Thinkwell’s computer-based course includes teaching videos, an American Government Book in the form of a workbook, and is an at-your-own-pace course. This American government curriculum option is among the most ideal for a student who needs extra time and is an audio-visual type of learner. Thinkwell also offers an AP version of their American Government course online if your student is an advanced learner.
Whether your child is accelerated or needs to take his time, your child can work through the Thinkwell lessons at their own pace and has a calendar year from the date of activation to complete the American Government course. The course also provides immediate feedback for quizzes and exams, so your child will know immediately if he understands the material.
There is no “resetting” of the course if your child is failing. Therefore, you would want to be sure your child is capable of understanding the material before launching into Thinkwell for you American government curriculum choice. 😉
For your child, you probably want to consider whether they are likely to be college-bound or not. Having basic knowledge of how our government works is worth having for anyone, but deeper details may not be necessary. Again, only you can really gauge what your child needs. And at the age they’re studying an American Government curriculum, you could even let them choose a book or two to read. Having your high school child choose what they use for their own American government curriculum is always a good option! It helps with a child’s willingness and buy-in for using the materials they’ve chosen!
On the more traditional side, below are 4 books that are more engaging than standard textbooks for American government curriculum. Here’s some more traditional American government curriculum options:
– It’s an easier read than a lot of books and explains things at a more general level of knowledge.
If you are a Christian, you may like Government: God’s Blueprint/Man’s Agenda: 1-Credit High School Government Course by Meredith Curtis. This course is a book-based, work-at-your-own pace program that suffices as a American government curriculum, but it’s not going to be a typical college-prep course.
AOP Monarch Government & Economics course By Alpha Omega Publications – You can also have your child complete the Civics course under the AOP Elective courses. These courses combined will equip your child with a better understanding of the American government, as well as their roles and responsibilities as an American citizen with the Civics elective. Your child will learn about the American government; state and local government; worldwide politics; and citizenship responsibility. The online American government curriculum program includes quizzes and tests and each of the two courses is a single-semester course. This is a relatively comprehensive option that lays a solid foundation for a college bound student, and is great for kids to understand government as American citizens.
Among the two most popular American Government curriculum offerings are Ray Notgrass’ American Government (and Economics) as well as Magruder’s American Government. Both of these American government curriculum options are book-based programs, but they are more engaging than your standard, dry American Government textbooks. 😉 Both of these programs get great reviews from homeschoolers, and they come highly recommended. We used the Notgrass Literature series and liked it a lot.
Of course, you can find many traditional, secular American Government curriculum textbooks from various publishers. There are also a LOT of American Government courses with online lessons.
My children took courses with via Cengage online lessons. One took American Government and Politics Today using Cengage American government curriculum through Georgia Perimeter College Online. The other took a course through Marshall University’s Online College Classes for High School Students program. Both of my children liked the courses pretty well and did well using the online lessons and learning format. When taking the courses through a University, they are NOT at the student’s own pace, and they are taught in a semester rather than over the course of a traditional school year.
As another alternative, Justice By The People is an interactive curriculum that needs at least two students to complete. You can download the materials via a tiny link in the righthand column! Justice By The People is more suitable for students with kinesthetic learning styles or any student that’d prefer to learn by doing rather than reading.. Although the description says it’s for up to 8th or 9th grade (depending upon which description you read), all high school students I’ve known who’ve done this program seem to enjoy it.
The Justice By The People sales lingo: “The jury has reached a verdict! Justice by the People is a powerful new way to build your students’ language arts skills and understanding of civics. This national standards–based program, created by the Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates and Scholastic Inc., underscores the importance of the Sixth and Seventh Amendments to students in grades 5–8.”
The Description: “This interactive curriculum has been developed to teach students about one of their most important rights as citizens, trial by jury. Knowledge about this right is critical since most of today’s students will be called to serve on juries at some point in their lives. The curriculum’s goal is to help students understand the history and value of their constitutional right to trial by jury. The week-long curriculum, for use in grades 5-9, contains a teacher’s guide with complete lesson plans, a mock trial on videotape, and a CD-ROM trial simulation game. Each interactive lesson in the curriculum challenges students to apply critical thinking and decision-making skills as they experience and explore the roles of attorneys, judges, and jurors in the U.S. justice system. The curriculum begins with five classroom lessons which involve students in such varied hands-on activities as a group decision-making game developed by NASA, a trial by ordeal, a trial by combat, and a video trial of “Gold E. Locks and the Three Bears.” Each lesson ends with an individual assignment designed to reinforce what students have learned and to assist teachers in assessing students’ understanding of key concepts. The culminating activity in the curriculum is a multimedia computer game called “Make Your Case” in which students match wits as opposing attorneys in a simulated movie-like trial.”
There are some American Government DVD options. Standard Deviants was one program my kids found quite entertaining. Putting fin into the learning process goes a long way for student learning retention and for success!
