constitution bowl

the second semester of this year Seri took a class entitled "Key of Liberty". It was a very in depth study of the constitution. During the semester they analyzed the constitution, memorized the preamble, wrote their own constitution in a simulation experience, read reference books, and many other activities.
When Matt was trying to find all the books, movies and other articles on her list he mentioned that the class was more in depth than his high school and even college classes.
For the semester Seri enjoyed it. She did not have the same enthusiasm that she showed for her Shakespeare class but she did OK. I am not sure if it is because she missed the first semester so she never really fully got the benefits of the course or what but she did not complete very many of the expectations for this course.
she did her presentation on John Hancock and I did not help her one bit. She did great.
For the conclusion of this course they had a constitution bowl. I was shocked and amazed and what these children and my own daughter knew. She knows who all the delegates were and where they were from, what they believed. The questions asked covered things in the constitution, some of it I knew but a lot of I had no clue about. Not only would the children answer but they would then explain it and state what article, what section and what clause it could be found in!!!! Amazing!!!! I can't explain the pride I felt as my daughter sat there and answered these questions in this manner, getting them right! How many well educated adults don't even know how many articles there are?
I left grateful that my daughter now had this knowledge but overwhelmed at how much I do not know.

On a home schooling note it validates a lot of things that I have held true. One being that the parent does not have to be a genius to be able to teach their children effectively. There is no way I could have taught Seri even half of those things, but I can find her someone who can and will. I can't keep up with her in math hardly now (please note here that I have taken college math courses and passed them) but that does not mean that she can't follow the curriculum on her own with help from other mentors who can. It is insane to deem one person a "Professional" at teaching and then trust your child to gain a whole education through them. What I see often enough is teaching on a basic level. I want my children to learn through those that are passionate about a subject and who are therefore able to teach it with charisma and energy. From this, children truly learn. Not from a person who has sat through boring lectures for at least four years of "higher learning".