Preparing for Anarchy

It’s not that we are overly (or overtly) political in our house. My husband and I are both on the same side of the fence, which makes things easier. Hence, we don’t feel the need to discuss politics too much. Sure, he listens to more than his fair share of talk radio, and we occasionally watch some political banter on television. And he tells me about some crazy things going on in our government (because I, for the most part, like to bury my head in the sand and pretend that things are going along just peachy-keen; if I don’t know about it, it MUST not be happening).

And please don’t misunderstand…I know that it’s all corrupt. All sides…most people involved...crooked. It’s become the nature of the beast. I have no words of wisdom…I’m merely saying: It’s a mess.

However, we realized that we can’t make assumptions about our what children understand about politics and government (which are two very different things, mind you).

For the PBA, questions have come up and discussions have evolved, birthed from our history curriculum. We are currently studying the early 1800’s, just past the War of 1812. Last year we covered the American Revolution and the founding of our country. So clearly government discussions naturally play into all of that.

This year, since it is a presidential election year, I decided build on the knowledge they already have and assemble a unit on US Government for them. I purchased a high school government book at a curriculum sale last spring, and proceeded to write my own curriculum based on it. Clearly, since the boys are 9 and 11, I am not delving into everything that would be covered in a high school setting, but I am trying to give them a firm foundation for what our country claims to be. Ala the school of thought: How can you know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been?

I’ve added videos and movies to the curriculum as well, to give them additional media stimulation.  One of the videos, I believe, gives a fantastic progression of the “stages” of government; if you’re interested in checking it out, click here.

I realize that, perhaps, the PBA have become a little too locked into the idea of the stage which comes next, according to that video: our government’s potential collapse and the anarchy which would most likely follow it. When we were splitting firewood they each…independent of one another…came to both me and my husband (at different time, no less) and informed us that all their practice shooting arrows and BBs, as well as gathering firewood, would help us once our country was in anarchy. “We can protect ourselves and keep the house warm, even in the winter,” the 11yo went so far as to explain. Clearly they feel the demise of our current government is imminent…as in the next few months.

Somehow I think we slightly missed the mark on this assignment (no pun intended, but wasn’t it funny? Do you see what I did there?), as our intent was not to alarm them, or give them the indication that the time is close at hand. I have to give them credit for at least thinking about what they saw and attempting to give it a practical application to their lives. I also appreciate the fact that when the anarchy does come, they won’t be too surprised. Homeschooling strikes again!