A progressive's child's answers to a Civics test.

[Pacifist Patriot]

Homeschooling has plenty of opportunity for humor, not to mention holding your family up to a mirror. You learn a little bit about yourself. Our third grade "Communities" text book takes us up to the federal government at chapter 16 and today was the verbal quiz to see if my son understood what he read.

Me: You ready?

Kid: Shoot!

Me: What is the responsibility of Congress?

Kid: They debate issues and pass laws.

Me: How many chambers are in Congress and what are they called?

Kid: Two, Senate and House of Reps

Me: How many Senators does each state have?

Kid: Two, ours are Martinez and Nelson.

Me (raising eyebrow): Wow, you know the names of our senators?

Kid: Sure! You've got them on voice dial on your cell phone....you know, you do call them an awful lot mom.

Me: Okay then. How many Reps does each state have?

Kid: Depends on the population. The more people you have the more reps you get.

Me: Who elects the Senators and Representatives?

Kid: The voters elect them.

Me: Good, what does the president do?

Kid: He...well I guess it could be a she too...commands the military, makes treaties, appoints judges and once a year tells everybody what's going on.

Me: The State of the Union address?

Kid: Yeah, that's it!

Me: Who elects the President?

Kid: The Supreme Court (collapses into giggles)

Smart Ass Kid!

[meatloaf]

1. Is the kid too young to run for president?

[4morewars]

2. Too smart !

We only get imbeciles as leaders anymore.

[davsand]

3. They really DO take it all in.

My third grader nailed the civics portion on the Stanford this year. She was in the 99th percentile nationally according to that scoring chart.

Just see if they were blowing me crap, I sat down with her and we took some online test for adults about American Government and how much do you know about it. At 8 she was literally on the high end of the bell curve for adults. I about fell over.

The child knew the term lengths for both Representatives and Senators. She knew the term length for the Presidency. She even knew a couple of SCOTUS Justices names...

She knows the Illinois Senator's names and several State Rep's names. Our Congressional Rep, however is a GOPiglet of the worst sort, and she had no idea who he was. (I guess I haven't railed against him enough here at home--eh?)

Every bit of it, I think, has been fostered by our political activity and discussions at home. That kid has been raised in politics and she has been on the scene with us for most of it.

On a funny note, she actually gave advice to a congressional candidate last summer about how to ration candy on the parade route so as to still have some left at the end...

Ya gotta love these kids--they are our future--and it looks pretty bright when they are like Pacifist Patriot's kid and mine.



Laura

[Pacifist Patriot]

5. What she said!

Ya gotta love these kids--they are our future--and it looks pretty bright when they are like Pacifist Patriot's kid and mine.

I am so very grateful to the parents we have around here. I love the stories about their precocious kids.

[seabeyond]

4. so cute... just so cute

that is sweet. we do such giggle like this too. you know we talk about what our children are learning, but man, ..... we always see the higher of stuff, even bush. he is teaching us what we dont want. he is teaching us to be informed. my kids know more than what kids never knew in the past

cute cute.... thanks for sharing

and homeschooling. wow. just dont have it in me, but cool.