Taking Advantage of Teachable Moments - Presidential Election

Taking Advantage of Teachable Moments – Presidential Election

Since my boys were babies, I’ve always hauled them to the polling places with me to watch me cast my ballot.  We go almost every time we have the opportunity to vote and we MOST DEFINITELY go whenever there is a presidential election.  They’ve enjoyed watching me pull the lever, poke the paper, and fill in the circles.  Sometimes the poll workers are very strict and don’t allow talking while we’re in the booth.  But most of the time, they are glad to see that I’m trying to teach my boys about the process and they are willing to answer questions as well.

Taking Advantage of Teachable Moments - Presidential ElectionBecause of my sons’ interest, I wanted to be intentional about teaching them as much as I can about the election process.  It’s especially important during this year since we will be having a presidential election.  That’s where the U.S. Elections Lap-Pak from Home School in the Woods comes in.

I was given this product for free and will be compensated for my time, but all of my opinions are honest and I was not required to write a positive review.

The U.S. Elections Lap-Pak unit study contains very detailed instructions for creating a lap book about the U.S. election process.  They make it easy for moms to follow even if you aren’t familiar with creating lap books.

The product comes on a computer CD.  So, you simply stick the CD in your computer and start by viewing the file called START.  (Could it be any more intuitive than that?) Inside this file, there are step-by-step instructions for preparing the lap book, what needs to be printed, how to assemble the book, and more.

If you aren’t familiar with lap books, they are basically a tool that many homeschoolers use to help drive lessons home for their kids.  Every time a different concept is taught, a mini-book or a display of some kind is created.  These smaller projects are then combined together to create a larger lap book.  These books can then be saved and gone over again down the road to help kids remember what they learned.Elections-lapbook

The U.S. Elections Lap-Pak  unit study also contains reading selections which teach kids about things such as political parties, national conventions, presidential campaigns, and even the electoral college.  I need to learn more about the electoral college myself because my boys were asking me some tough questions about it that I was having a hard time explaining.  Talk about confusing!

Rather than having to do a lot of searching for information in books and on the internet, I can simply go over the included reading in this unit study saving me a ton of time!

And if your child isn’t a big reader, he or she can elect to listen to the MP3 versions of the reading instead.  Or you may choose to read these selections aloud for the entire family.

This product is perfect for families who:

  • Love crafts and coloring – This can easily be done by printing everything and following all of the directions.
  • Want to include more art in their homeschool day – This can be done by printing less of the included mini-books and allowing your child to create their own mini-books instead.
  • Enjoy scrapbooking – This can be done by allowing your child to include more photographs (ones she takes or prints off the internet) and then embellishing them however he or she would like.
  • Want a portfolio of completed work – The lap book becomes a record of what your child has learned and contains writing samples and other examples of their work.

Lap books can be as simple or as complicated as you would like to make them.  The U.S. Elections Lap-Pak  unit study is intended to be for kids in grades 3-8 so you can see that there would be a wide range of difference between lap books made from kids at the younger and the older ends of the age spectrum.

Taking Advantage of Teachable Moments - Presidential ElectionHome School in the Woods also recommends many other books, websites, and videos for learning about the election process.  Some of these videos include things such as the Schoolhouse Rock “Electoral College” video.  I can’t wait to go through that and several of their other recommendations with my boys.

The U.S. Elections Lap-Pak  unit study comes as a download for $18.95 or on a CD for $19.95 plus shipping.

Taking Advantage of Teachable Moments

It’s important that we raise our children to be engaged citizens.  Since presidential elections only come around once every four years, it’s important that we take advantage of this teachable moment in history by doing some or all of the following:

  • Take our kids to the polls
  • Watch the news with them (CNN Student News is great)
  • Listen to talk radio on occasion
  • Be willing to answer their questions
  • Read books and watch movies about the process
  • Invest in a teaching tool such as the U.S. Elections Lap-Pak unit study

Consider purchasing this or another unit study from Home School in the Woods.  They have created a wide variety of quality products including timelines, maps, and lap books and more.

You can find out more information about their products by following them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, or their YouTube channel!

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