Welcome to Robyn Nordell's Conservative California Election Website
Recommendations For the Tuesday, June 3, 2008 Election

If you find this election site to be helpful,
please tell others about it!

HOMESCHOOLERS – ELECTION & GOVERNMENT RESOURCE IDEAS

(5/08) Great Sources for Keeping Up-To-Date on the California Homeschooling Situation:
Roy Hanson's Private & Home Educator's of CA and Home School Legal Defense Association
On March 25, 2008 the California Court of Appeal granted a motion for rehearing in the In re Rachel L. case—the controversial decision which purported to ban all homeschooling in that state unless the parents held a teaching license qualifying them to teach in public schools.

Robyn urges ALL California private homeschooling families who want to support private homeschooling and to continue to effectively protect their homeschooling freedoms, to:
-Become members of HSLDA
-Financially support the outstanding work of Private & Home Educator's of CA!
-Regularly act upon the action alerts sent out by these excellent organizations.

JOINT STATEMENT RE: HOMESCHOOLING
By the Major Statewide Organizations Representing California Homeschoolers




HOMESCHOOLERS – ELECTION & GOVERNMENT RESOURCE IDEAS

New: California Court System & Judicial Elections
Unit Study Ideas
Election-Related and Basic Government Sites
Presidential Prayer Team

TEENS – I Vote Values Site / National Archives-Documents
Teens & Adults - Generation Joshua – Program includes excellent mini-courses!!
Summer Camps – Worldview & Political
Wallbuilders Resources
More Ideas – Kids & Teens Page
Link Disclaimer– Parental Responsibility...

SUGGESTIONS for other election-related links & resources? IF you have favorite election and government links that you'd like to suggest for the future, please email them to me at elections@robynnordell.com THANKS! (I may not have time to respond to each email; thanks for understanding.)




UNIT STUDY IDEAS

OUTSTANDING Elections Unit Study Resources & Reference Information!

Excellent Presidents & Elections Unit - Cindy Downes

Excellent Government Unit Study Ideas - Cindy Downes

Book: Electing America's Leaders
By Jessica Hulcy, Konos Character Curriculum
"KONOS uses hands-on activities and real-life involvement in the teaching process. This is a manual the entire family will want to use to learn the internal workings of the political process and how, as free people, we can train the next generation to not only love freedom, but be equipped to exercise the awesome power we possess to effect change in the political arena. This is not book work. This is a "Go do it" instruction manual from Jessica Hulcy, a lady who has had an incredible impact for good in the political arena in her local area. This is fun stuff!! (Suggested for 3rd grade and above)."

ABC Teach
Doing a search for "elections" will bring up many election-related pages.
Be sure to click on "Activities: Election Ideas"

Teaching Home Website
Outstanding Resource for Homeschoolers! (Christian perspective)
Teaching Home Newsletter Archives
Check out their past newsletters (below) for some great "stuff" on government and elections.
Some of these sources go back to 2004, but many of the links, concepts, and activities are still valid.
Government - #66, 67, 68
Election #69, 70, 95
Constitution 131, 167, 191




ELECTION-RELATED & BASIC GOV'T SITES

About.com Presidential Info
Inspirational Presidential Quotes
Facts about the President
Fast Facts about the Presidents
Presidents & Vice Presidents of the U.S.

"Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids"
Excellent K – 12th Political & Election Site!
Grades K – 2nd
Grades 3rd - 5th
Grades 6th - 8th
Grades 9th - 12th
Parents & Teachers

"Kids In The House"



PRESIDENTIAL PRAYER TEAM
Want to Make a Positive Difference in our Country?
Consider joining the Presidential Prayer Team
"Mobilizing millions to pray daily for our president, our leaders, our nation, and our armed forces." Regardless of who is the president or who controls Congress, the Presidential Prayer Team is committed to praying for our leaders and our armed forces. Outstanding site to help our kids (and us) become familiar with the president, his cabinet, federal legislators, and other key leaders!

Presidential Prayer Team FOR KIDS! – No Longer Active, but has great archives!
Browsing through the archives, you'll find all kinds of wonderful things!




TEENS
Robyn's Election 101 Page
Robyn's Presidential Page
Robyn's Statewide Proposition Page
Churches Page – Lots of good info, including link to CA Marriage Protection Act!

Focus on the Family's I Vote Values Website
Wonderful non-partisan ELECTION site!

National Archives – The Charters of Freedom
Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights




COMING SOON... Gen J mini-course on ELECTIONS!!
Generation Joshua – An Outstanding Program from Home School Legal Defense Association
Gen J is "Designed for Christian youth between the ages of 11 and 19 who want to become a force in the civic and political arenas. Our goal is to ignite a vision in young people to help America return to her Judeo-Christian foundations. We provide students with hands-on opportunities to implement that vision." Teens and adults from all faiths are welcome to take their civics mini-courses.

Gen J's Outstanding ONLINE Civics Mini-Courses:
Generation Joshua's Civics Education offers online self-paced courses for students of all ages. The offered classes are Founding Fathers, Intro to Constitutional Law, Campaign School, Successful Campaigning, Revolutionary War Era Sermons, The Federalist Papers, Democracy in America, The Great Awakening, Constitutional Convention (group course), and America's Founding Documents. COST: The Generation Joshua civics courses are FREE with an individual or family annual membership to Generation Joshua.




WALLBUILDER'S /David Barton - Election Resources & Information
A number of great resources, including bulletin inserts, quotes from the Founding Fathers on the Importance of Voting and Christian Involvement in the Political Arena, advice from credible Christian legal organizations for churches, and much more.

Congress, the Culture, and Christian Voting, by David Barton (1992 – 2006) "Contains information often given by David Barton during presentations which address today's culture. It includes recent Christian voting statistics as well as breakdowns on votes in Congress on issues such as: traditional marriage, display of the Ten Commandments, protection of "Under God" in the pledge, death tax, etc."

Wallbuilder's Election Page says, "Sites like Project Vote Smart, On The Issues, and iVoteValues provide a wealth of non-partisan information on voting and candidates (including biographies, issue positions, voting records, campaign finances and interest group ratings). Another way to access voter information for your state is to use a search engine (i.e., google or yahoo) and type in ‘voter guide' or ‘voter information' along with key words like ‘pro-family' or ‘Christian' and the name of your state."




TEENS - SUMMER CAMPS - All from a Christian Worldview
These camps deal with one of more of the following areas: Developing a Christian Worldview, Positively Influencing Our Culture, Leadership Skills, Debate or Communication Skills, and Politics.

City on a Hill Summer Youth Leadership Conference
Capitol Resource Institute
City on the Hill is a nonprofit organization composed of Christian men and women involved in the fields of Christian ministry, education, business, law, medicine, media and public service - organized for the purpose of sponsoring this fantastic educational opportunity. Highlights of the program include workshops on our Christian heritage, the government of California, grassroots community organizing, the influence of the news media, and career guidance.

Patrick Henry College's Teen Leadership Summer Camps (associated with HSLDA)
Examples of past camps: Constitutional Law, Journalism, Political Activism, Cultural Engagement, Debate, U.S. History, Intelligence & Foreign Policy. Teen Leadership Camps provide an exciting context for students to explore an academic discipline and learn to apply a biblical worldview to the issues of today. Classroom sessions are taught by Patrick Henry faculty and other field experts, and field trips to nearby historical sites and centers of American government enhance the camps' unique experience.

Worldview Academy's Week-long Camp
WVA Leadership Camps train students, ages 13 and up, in worldviews, servant leadership, apologetics and evangelism.
Worldview Academy is a non-denominational organization dedicated to helping Christians to think and live in accord with a biblical worldview so that they will serve Christ and lead the culture.

Summit Ministries 2-Week Conferences
Intensive two-week educational conferences (for high school and college students) that analyze the major worldviews of our day, contrasting them with the Christian Worldview. Manitou Springs, Colorado.

Generation Joshua Family & Teen Camp
Christian Worldview. The purpose of the camp is to educate teens and parents on what it means to be civically involved. Camp attendees listen to lectures by prominent conservative leaders. Past speakers have included individuals such as David Barton (Wallbuilders), Bill Jack (Worldview Academy), Rep. and Olympic Silver Medalist Jim Ryun, and other inspiring individuals. Interspersed throughout the lectures is a mock Presidential campaign. In this simulation, participants learn the nuts and bolts of campaigning and what it takes to be elected. In addition to the educational and political aspects of the camp, there are a wide range of activities for participants. Past activities have included horse back riding, hiking, miniature golf, basketball, ultimate Frisbee, GenJ Olympics, and the GenJ Virtual Congress, to name a few.




LINK DISCLAIMER – Parental Responsibility...
It is generally wise to either preview election-related sites before your child or teen looks at them, or to look at them together. Some sites are clearly from a conservative or conservative Christian worldview (i.e. Generation Joshua, Wallbuilders), some are pretty neutral (i.e. Ben's Guide), and others can be more liberal in obvious or subtle ways (i.e. PBS Democracy Project). Especially be vigilant when looking at a secular site which is "helping" the students to "understand issues."






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