Just Representation

Unfortunately, many resources looking at Civics and Governance and the courts of law are very dry and boring. They seem tedious and somewhat abstract and disconnected from the everyday life experiences of your average teenager. While courtroom drama scenes in novels and movies can seem suspenseful and compelling, the details of this overall system may appear rather different.

Fortunately, the team at My Homeschool wishes for your teenager to receive a broad feast of an education and we are pleased to engage them in issues about representation in Parliamentary and court systems with a sense of expectation and anticipation.

One of my degrees is in Law and I continued to study aspects of Law as a part of my postgraduate studies. I worked in Public Service for many years, involved in legislative drafting and the development and implementation of government policy.  It was exciting and rewarding to see decisions and initiatives I was involved in make real and positive changes for our society.  While I’ve been privileged to be involved in these areas, as a homeschooling parent I am also aware of those areas where some teenagers might be tempted to ‘tune out’, consider it not applicable to them, or be uninspired by the way the materials are presented.

As part of the process to develop this resource I am pleased to share that the teenager cohort in our local Co-Op engaged in learning about the process of making laws and implementing them. This made me convinced that, with the right resources, even reluctant teenagers can be shown that there are intriguing aspects to this key part of our cohesive public life.  Before long your teenager will be able to vote and we want them to understand what that vote represents and how it relates to them and their responsibilities and duties of being a citizen. We want them to be informed and educated about this aspect of our society.

This unit is just one small snippet of what is involved in being a citizen and how governance works. I hope that you have been encouraged to see the benefits of studying Plutarch’s Lives within your Year Nine program.  Along with resources like this one, reading more about such lives gives your teenager a glimpse into what aspects they might like to see in their leaders and get them thinking about the range of issues and topics that our leaders need to be responsible for.