Constitution Day homeschool ideas, primary sources, and simple ways to teach the U.S. Constitution
It’s Constitution Day.
And if you homeschool, you might be looking at your lesson plans wondering how you're supposed to squeeze one more thing into the week.
Or perhaps you’re thinking, “We already covered the Constitution.”
And that's precisely why I want to suggest something a little different.
Don't just teach your kids about the Constitution.
Let them read the Constitution.
I know. Revolutionary idea, right?
But hear me out.
As a former history professor, one of the things I have always wanted my students—and later, my own children—to understand is that history isn't simply a collection of facts somebody else has already figured out for us.
History is people.
People who made decisions.
People who disagreed.
People who had limited information.
People who thought they were right.
People who occasionally changed their minds.
People who disagreed.
People who had limited information.
People who thought they were right.
People who occasionally changed their minds.
And we have something pretty remarkable available to us:
Their words.
That's where primary sources come in.
What Is Constitution Day?
Constitution Day and Citizenship Day is observed each year on September 17, commemorating the signing of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787.
The Constitution itself is a four-page document.
Four pages.
Now, obviously, those four pages have generated a few conversations over the last couple of centuries.
And that's actually part of what makes the Constitution such an interesting document to study.
The delegates didn't walk into the Constitutional Convention, politely agree on everything, sign a piece of parchment, and head home for dinner.
They argued.
They compromised.
They disagreed about representation, the balance between state and national power, slavery, the structure of government, and a host of other questions.
And when they finally produced the Constitution, the argument wasn't over.
Not even close.
The Constitution Wasn't the End of the Conversation
Here's one of the things I think we sometimes miss when teaching American history.
We tend to make history look inevitable.
We know what happened.
So we tell the story as though the people living through it knew what was coming, too.
They didn't.
When the Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, it still had to be ratified by the states.
Article VII required nine states to ratify it before the new government could go into effect.
And people had opinions.
Lots of them.
The Federalists argued in favor of ratification and defended the proposed Constitution in newspapers. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote under the pseudonym Publius, producing the essays we now know as the Federalist Papers.
The Anti-Federalists raised their own objections.
They worried about centralized power.
They worried about the relationship between the states and the new national government.
And one of the most significant objections was that the Constitution did not include a bill of rights.
George Mason, Elbridge Gerry, and Edmund Randolph were among those who refused to sign the Constitution, with the absence of a bill of rights being one reason.
Do you see what just happened?
We went from “memorize the Constitution” to an actual historical conversation.
And that is where things get interesting.
Don't Just Teach the Constitution as Vocabulary Words
Checks and balances.
Separation of powers.
Federalism.
Three branches of government.
Those things are important.
But if that's where the lesson ends, we've missed something.
Instead of simply asking your child to memorize the definitions, try asking:
What problem were they trying to solve?
Why divide the government into branches?
Why give different powers to different parts of the government?
Why were some people worried about a stronger national government?
Why did some people want a bill of rights?
Why did other people initially think a bill of rights wasn't necessary?
Now you're not just teaching civics.
You're teaching historical thinking.
Try a Constitution Day Primary Source Lesson
And this doesn't have to become a three-hour lesson involving seventeen books, a timeline, and a craft involving popsicle sticks.
(Although if that's your thing, carry on.) Personally, I love using Schoolhouse Rock! to learn the Preamble.
You can start with the actual Constitution.
Pull up a transcription of the document or, better yet, show your kids an image of the original.
Start with the Preamble.
“We the People…”
Ask them:
- Who are “the People”?
- What does “a more perfect Union” mean?
- Why do you think they listed those particular goals?
- What problems were they trying to address?
- What does the Preamble tell us about what the writers believed government was supposed to do?
Then move into the actual articles.
You don't have to read every word in one sitting.
Choose something appropriate for your child's age and interests.
Let the document do some of the teaching.
The National Archives provides a complete transcription and high-resolution images of the Constitution, along with Constitution Day teaching resources.
Then Read the Other Side
This is where I think history gets especially fun.
If you're working with an older student, don't stop with the Constitution.
Give them an excerpt from The Federalist Papers.
Then give them an Anti-Federalist argument.
And ask:
What does each person think could go wrong?
Not:
“Which side is correct?”
Not:
“Which one are you supposed to agree with?”
Just:
What are they saying?
That's an important distinction.
One of the gifts we can give our children through history is the ability to encounter an argument before immediately being told what they're supposed to think about it.
The ratification debates left behind an enormous collection of documents, newspapers, correspondence, and commentary that show how Americans at the time understood and debated the proposed Constitution.
That's history you can actually hold onto.
Ask Your Kids These Constitution Questions
Here are a few questions you could use with almost any age group:
For younger students:
- What is a constitution?
- Why do you think a country needs rules for its government?
- What does “We the People” mean?
- What does the word liberty mean?
- Why do you think the Constitution has amendments?
For middle school students:
- What problems were the founders trying to solve?
- Why were some people afraid of a strong national government?
- Why was a Bill of Rights important to some Americans?
- Why do you think the Constitution was sent to the states for ratification?
- What would you have wanted included in the Constitution?
For high school students:
- What weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation contributed to the Constitutional Convention?
- What compromises were necessary to produce the Constitution?
- What were the strongest Federalist arguments?
- What were the strongest Anti-Federalist objections?
- Why did the Bill of Rights become politically important during ratification?
- If you had been a delegate in 1787, would you have signed the document? Why or why not?
And there's one question I especially like:
What does this document leave out?
Because sometimes what a historical document doesn't say can be just as interesting as what it does.
And Here's the Homeschooling Bonus…
You don't need to make this complicated.
You don't need a special Constitution Day curriculum.
You don't need a matching worksheet.
You don't even need to finish the whole thing today.
You can pull up a primary source at the kitchen table while somebody is eating leftover pizza.
You can read the Preamble in the car.
You can listen to a podcast about the Constitutional Convention while you're driving to soccer.
You can find an old newspaper and ask your teenager what they think the writer was trying to accomplish.
You can let one question lead to another.
And before you know it, you've fallen down a perfectly respectable historical rabbit hole.
This is one of the things I love about homeschooling.
Learning doesn't always need to fit neatly into a 45-minute box.
Sometimes the best history lessons begin with:
“Wait. Why did they do that?”
And then you go find out.
Stop Telling Them History. Hand Them the History.
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