Weekly Election Newsletter for Homeschoolers

Tips to Engage your Family in the Election
​This week we’re going to begin a series of tips that will help engage your homeschool family in the presidential election. These tips will help your middle and high school students—and your entire family—become more intelligent and savvy citizens.
 
Tip #1: Subscribe to a Newspaper
 
I just renewed my newspaper subscription this week! I’m very excited about it. For increasing political knowledge, there is nothing like reading a good, old-fashioned newspaper.
 
Since I teach government to college students, what I know directly impacts what my students know. By keeping up on current events, I’m always able to participate in conversations and answer questions. Plus, I love the feel of newsprint paper in my hand!
 
The newspaper has better coverage of political events than television news programs or the Internet. The coverage is deeper and more detailed. Newspapers are important because the political elite, or powerful decision makers and opinion leaders, read them. Elites rely on newspapers to shape their views on issues of national import. We should all strive to have elite levels of political intelligence!
 
So, consider subscribing to a newspaper. Then require your homeschool student to read the newspaper for thirty minutes a day—at the breakfast table or maybe after dinner. Your student may not understand everything, and that’s perfectly fine. By having them read the newspaper, you are enhancing their political knowledge and vocabularies, while also sharpening their reading and analytical skills.
 
What kind of newspaper should you subscribe to? You should subscribe to one with good, national coverage. Of course, readers must beware. Newspapers are biased, and you will want to be mindful about whether a newspaper favors one particular point of view.
 
Newspapers with good national coverage and a conservative slant include The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Times. Those with a liberal slant include The New York Times and The Washington Post.
 
You can find good deals on student subscriptions to some newspapers. Also, newspapers usually offer steep discounts for the first few months—so that you can try them to see if you like them. If you subscribe to the print editions, many newspapers will give you access to their content online as well.
 
Suggested Activities: 

• 30-Minute Challenge

After you have subscribed to a newspaper, have your student read selections from the newspaper about the election for 30 minutes per day. 

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Fast Facts:

The Wall Street Journal Readers:
-Average household income is about $272,000 per year

Republican Delegate Totals after Final Primary Contests
*1,237 to win nomination
Donald J. Trump: 1,447
Ted Cruz: 551
Marco Rubio: 167
John Kasich: 161

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​Presidential Election: Highlights from the Week

• Hillary Clinton crossed the delegate threshold for securing the Democratic nomination, finally beating her opponent Bernie Sanders in what turned out to be a close and bitter contest. Primary contests were held California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, and South Dakota on Tuesday. Clinton is now called the “presumptive” nominee. She is the first woman to earn this title for a major party.

• Some news organizations declared that Hillary Clinton had won the Democratic primary on Monday, just before the Tuesday primary states voted. How could they do this? They scoured around and got some more commitments from Democratic superdelegates. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the nomination of the Democratic Party—and these superdelegate commitments were enough to put her over the line.

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• Tuesday’s contests ended the primary season for Republicans. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, won all of them and further secured his delegate lead.

 
Question for Discussion:
Was it fair for news organizations to declare that Hillary Clinton was the presumptive nominee on the evening before the Tuesday primary states got the chance to vote? 

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Interested in more activities and suggestions for teaching your student about the election?  Buy our Presidential Election Unit Study.  Want more tips like these?  Sign up for our newsletter. 

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