4Real Forums: Discussing election issues with children

Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.

Active Topics || Favorites || Member List || Search || About Us || Help || Register || Login

Mothering and Family Life ( Forum Locked)
4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life

Topic: Discussing election issues with children

Author

Message

<< Prev Topic | Next Topic >>

lilac hill
Forum All-Star

Joined: Feb 15 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 643

Posted: Jan 15 2008 at 7:35pm \| IP Logged

Thanks to Elizabeth's blog post, linking to the Candidate Calculator, I found an easy way to start a conversation about different election issues in our home.

I copied, pasted and printed each issue and left them on the table.
They are part of my homeschooled daughter's "civics" lesson and topics to discuss at the dinner table with all our daughters.

As a matter of fact, my oldest daughter talked about one of the topics with her boyfriend and he started some research and had a conversation with her today.

I so appreciate this easy way to initiate discussion and research about more than one or two hot button issues.

__________________
Viv
Wife to Rick (7/83), Mom to dd#1(6/87), dd#2(1/90), and dd#3(6/94) in central PA.

Barbara C.
Forum All-Star

Joined: July 11 2007
Location: Illinois
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 882

Posted: Jan 16 2008 at 9:52am \| IP Logged

We've been having lots of discussion with our oldest dd (5) as we watch the primaries and the debates. It's been neat to see her becoming aware of how elections work. One night when we were watching the Democratic debate she said, "But girls can't be president." Her daddy explained that they can, but there hasn't been one yet. Her response, "Wow, women used to not even be allowed to vote."

I was actually discussing scope and sequence with another homeschooling mom and a mom who was considering homeschooling a few weeks ago. The other hs mom said that voting and elections were listed for kindergartners, and she was mystified about how to explain the process to her daughter. Luckily, we already had that covered as our daughter had been very excited to vote for Helio and Julianne each week on "Dancing with the Stars".

__________________
Barbara
Mom to "spirited" dd(9), "spunky" dd (6), "sincere" dd (3), "sweet" dd (2), and baby girl #5 born 8/1/12!!
Box of Chocolates

Elizabeth
Founder
Founder

Real Learning

Joined: Jan 20 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5595

Posted: Jan 16 2008 at 10:26am \| IP Logged

Candidate Calculator

__________________
Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)

SallyT
Forum All-Star

Joined: Aug 08 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2489

Posted: Jan 16 2008 at 3:59pm \| IP Logged

My older kids listen to NPR -- they are well aware of media bias, so that's provoked some interesting discussion. Usually they wake up to Morning Edition, and will come in to breakfast saying, "I heard such-and-such on the news." Even the 5yo now does this.

Last major election year, my husband was working a security-guard job, and we took him to work every day and picked him up at night. Listening to election coverage sparked a lot of conversation. At one point my then-6yo piped up from the back seat and said, "Well, I can tell who NPR wants to win." And he was right. He used to count campaign signs in people's yards and try to predict the election outcome based on which candidate had the "yard majority." This time around we're all just kind of shaking our heads at the field . . .

We'll have to do the Candidate Calculator. I know my resident politicos would like that.

Sally

__________________
Castle in the Sea
Abandon Hopefully

Sorry, you cannot post a reply to this topic.
This forum has been locked by a forum administrator.

[Add this topic to My Favorites]

Printable version

Forum Jump

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot create polls in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

Hosting and Support provided by theNetSmith.com