World Goverments

What we did

Poem

The Pledge

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Livi taught the boys this and drew pictures to help them remember.

Monarchy Monday

For one hour I was the queen. I wanted to show them that having was often unjust. Listed are few things we did:

-We played Crazy Eights. I dealt the cards. I only gave myself two, Ezra two, Noah five, and Livi 12. We started playing and my card didn't match up, so I said, "I'm going to pretend it's green. I win!" The second round I told Ezra he couldn't play. When I didn't have the card I wanted I searched through the pile to find it, then played and told the kids that I won. They realized pretty quickly that it wasn't fun to not have rules when playing a game.

-I told them to clean up the playroom. I had Noah clean up one pillow. I had Livi and Ezra clean up the rest. I told them they would get paid in some form. Sam got to sit on the couch and read books with me. When they finished I gave Livi and Ezra four M&Ms. They then had to pay two back in taxes. I gave Noah 5 M&Ms tax-free. Sam got 6 M&Ms.

-While we were doing school if I made silly laws that the kids were breaking, like you can't sit on the teetor -totter, or you can't look at that book. Then I would put them in the dungeon (under the couch).

-They had to address me as, "Your Majesty." If they failed to do this they had to spend more time in the dungeon.

They thought the activity was pretty funny. It worked well to illustrate some negative parts of having a monarchy.

Communist Tuesday

-I wrote down three tasks on slips of paper and had the kids draw one. For forty minutes: Noah had to play soccer, Livi had to color on one piece of paper and Ezra had to sit on the couch and read two books. They got pretty bored.

-Every ten minutes or so I had them stand and say our communist pledge which was, "Our leaders are the best. They know everything."

-After the first forty minutes I had them all come to the rug and do a new task. For twenty minutes: Livi had to tie and untie a shoe, Ezra had to fold and unfold a towel and Noah had to dump the sock basket and clean it up.

-They didn't like communist day. They thought it would be better than king day because I told them that in communism things were laid out and "fair." They didn't like not being able to make choices and have to do things just because I said so.

Anarchy Wednesday

-I was nervous for this one, but it turned out great!

-I made pancake batter and turned the griddle on. At 7:00 it started. I told the kids there were no rules. They could eat what they wanted and do what they wanted. They had great plans to play the computer and eat ice cream. I told them that Mike and I also weren't bound to any rules and didn't have to help them.

-I told Livi if she wanted lunch for school, she would have to make it. She did and it took her 30 minutes. I stole her nuts at one point and she had to pack new ones. She had to keep track of the time and remind me if she wanted to get to school on time.

-It took Ezra and Noah almost an hour to make and top their pancakes. They had about 5 minutes to play on the computer. There were no clean forks, so Ezra ate with a butter knife. We all stole bites of each other's pancakes whenever we wanted to.

-The kids had fun with this, but realized it was nice to have help with things and rules.

Democracy Thursday

-After dinner we had democracy hour. I had them vote on honey or jam on the bread. Jam won.

-Livi created a "bill" for us to vote on. She proposed that they get to see the pictures during the bedtime story. I usually make them lay down while I read. Her bill passed and became a law.

-Ezra proposed that we read the story twice. He got the popular vote as well.

-Mike chose a few books for them to vote on for the bedtime story.

-The kids had fun voting and creating laws. At first they didn't like want to follow the new law if they didn't vote for it, but we told them that that is how our government works. Our vote may not always win, but have to follow the laws anyway.

Interviews on Friday

To review what we had learned I interviewed and recorded the kids. Livi and Ezra thought democracy was the best government. Noah loved anarchy.