Is this for a government class or for a civics graduation requirement?

Both work. The content maps to a full-year or semester US government and politics course, and the same material — branches, federalism, rights, elections — covers most state civics assessments. Tell Evelyn which one and the emphasis shifts accordingly.

Does it cover comparative government or only the United States?

The default is United States government and politics. Comparative topics — parliamentary versus presidential systems, party systems in the UK, Mexico, Russia, China, Iran, Nigeria — can be covered on request, but they are not part of the standard sequence here.

How are required Supreme Court cases handled?

Case work focuses on the constitutional question, the holding, and the reasoning, then applies each case to a new fact pattern. Recall drills on facts and dates are available but are treated as secondary, since exam questions usually ask you to apply a precedent rather than recite it.

My child knows the vocabulary but loses points on free-response questions. Can this help?

That gap is usually a structure problem: the response defines a term instead of answering the specific task verb — describe, explain, compare. Sessions practice reading the prompt's task verb, giving one direct answer sentence, then adding the required evidence, with feedback on where a point would not have been earned.

Government & Politics

High School (11-12) · Social Studies & History

This topic covers the structure and behavior of American government: how the Constitution distributes power, how the three branches actually make decisions, how federalism divides authority between Washington and the states, and how citizens, parties, interest groups and the media shape policy. At the 11th–12th grade level the work shifts from naming institutions to arguing about them — using specific clauses, landmark Supreme Court cases and data on voter behavior as evidence. Sessions are built around explaining causal mechanisms (why divided government slows legislation, why incorporation changed state power) rather than memorizing lists of terms.

Start a session on Government & Politics

What this covers

Reading and citing the Constitution by article, section and clause — necessary and proper, commerce, supremacy, and the amendment process — instead of paraphrasing from memory
Applying landmark cases (Marbury, McCulloch, Gideon, Tinker, Roe/Dobbs, Citizens United, Shelby County) to new fact patterns, including identifying the constitutional provision at issue
Tracing a bill or a rule through the real process: committee gatekeeping, cloture, conference, veto, and then agency rulemaking and judicial challenge
Explaining federalism in practice — categorical vs. block grants, unfunded mandates, preemption, and how conditions on funding pressure states
Analyzing political behavior data: turnout by age and education, party identification trends, polling margin of error, and what a sampling method can and cannot support
Writing timed argumentative and concept-application responses that state a defensible claim and back it with a named constitutional or case-based piece of evidence

Where learners get stuck

Treating civil liberties and civil rights as the same thing: Both get taught as 'rights' in the same unit. Students then answer an equal protection question with a First Amendment argument. The distinction — restraints on government action versus protection against discriminatory treatment — depends on which amendment and which clause is doing the work, so it has to be practiced case by case.
Believing the Supreme Court can strike down a law whenever it disagrees with it: Judicial review is introduced as a power without its limits. Students miss that the Court needs a live case, a party with standing, and usually a lower-court record, and that it grants cert in a tiny fraction of petitions. This produces essays that describe the Court as a policymaker that simply acts.
Assuming the Bill of Rights always applied to state governments: Modern experience makes it feel obvious that states cannot violate free speech. Selective incorporation through the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause happened case by case over decades, and questions about state power in the 1800s versus today turn entirely on that fact.

What a session looks like

A session runs as a spoken back-and-forth. Evelyn poses a scenario — a governor refusing a federal condition, a school searching a locker, a president issuing an executive order — and asks which clause or precedent controls it, then pushes on weak reasoning. Free-response practice is done aloud first, with the learner stating claim and evidence before writing anything down, and Evelyn flagging where a claim has no constitutional anchor. Learners can bring in a textbook chapter, a case brief, a returned essay, or a current news story to work through.

Helpful to know first

A prior US history or civics course, or general familiarity with the founding period and the Civil War amendments
Comfort reading dense primary-source prose — the Constitution, Federalist 10 and 51, a majority opinion excerpt
Ability to write a paragraph that makes a claim and supports it with named evidence
Basic percentage and graph reading for polling and turnout data

Questions

Is this for a government class or for a civics graduation requirement?: Both work. The content maps to a full-year or semester US government and politics course, and the same material — branches, federalism, rights, elections — covers most state civics assessments. Tell Evelyn which one and the emphasis shifts accordingly.
Does it cover comparative government or only the United States?: The default is United States government and politics. Comparative topics — parliamentary versus presidential systems, party systems in the UK, Mexico, Russia, China, Iran, Nigeria — can be covered on request, but they are not part of the standard sequence here.
How are required Supreme Court cases handled?: Case work focuses on the constitutional question, the holding, and the reasoning, then applies each case to a new fact pattern. Recall drills on facts and dates are available but are treated as secondary, since exam questions usually ask you to apply a precedent rather than recite it.
My child knows the vocabulary but loses points on free-response questions. Can this help?: That gap is usually a structure problem: the response defines a term instead of answering the specific task verb — describe, explain, compare. Sessions practice reading the prompt's task verb, giving one direct answer sentence, then adding the required evidence, with feedback on where a point would not have been earned.