January 22, 2008
Free Election Notebooking Pages
I’ve just begun creating a series of notebooking pages to help us in our observations of the U.S. presidential elections in 2008. In the spirit of “we’re all in this together”, I’ll be posting them here a few at a time as they’re finished, about once a week, give or take, depending on what’s going on in our lives. I offer them at no charge for anyone who’d find them useful. Please note, however that they are copyrighted. You have my permission to make as many copies for your own use as you’d like, including for co-op groups and schools, but I reserve all other rights. This means you may not redistribute the file by uploading it on another site. If you’d like to share with a friend, and I hope you will, please link to this page.
This installment focuses on learning about each of the current candidates for president. Most of the pages are in color, including a page for each of the current Republican and Democratic candidates. There is also a blank candidate page to use if you wish to research additional candidates from the minor political parties. (Depending on the age, interest level, and attention span of your student, you may want to choose only a few of the leaders in each party rather than researching all the candidates.) Also included are five election-themed notebook pages to use for any purpose you like, such as adding news clippings about your favorite candidate, collecting memorable quotes from the debates, listing constitutional requirements for the office of president, the duties of the president, and so forth.
***Click here to download pdf file***
(You will need the Adobe Reader)
Contents of this installment:
- Cover page
- “Meet the Candidates” section page
- Blank candidate page
- John McCain
- Mitt Romney
- Mike Huckabee
- Rudy Giuliani
- Fred Thompson
- Ron Paul
- Hillary Clinton
- Barack Obama
- John Edwards
- Dennis Kucinich
- Mike Gravel
- Blank page with header
- Lined page with header
- One box with lines
- Three boxes with lines
- Six boxes
- Blank page with footer
- B&W Cover page
- B&W “Meet the Candidates” section page
- B&W Blank candidate page
- B&W Blank page with header
- B&W Lined page with header
- B&W One box with lines
- B&W Three boxes with lines
- B&W Six boxes
- B&W Blank page with footer
Helpful links for research:
- CNN’s Election Center 2008 - click “Candidates” to get information about each candidate
- Project Vote Smart has a listing of 2008 Presidential Candidates In All Parties (There are more of them than you think.)
- ProCon.org has an election page with information about each candidate, especially focusing on issues
- Nickelodeon has a kid-themed election page with information about candidates
- Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids - Good general information about how the government works
Candidate Websites
John McCain
Mitt Romney
Mike Huckabee
Rudy Giuliani
Fred Thompson
Ron Paul
Hillary Clinton
Barack Obama
John Edwards
Dennis Kucinich
Mike Gravel
If you have additional links that would be helpful, please share them in a comment!
***Next week’s theme: “Primary Elections”
224a
Diane Hopkins said,
January 22, 2008 @ 9:13 am
Wow! Nice job! What a great plan to teach your children this process thoroughly.
Thanks!
Diane
Mom said,
January 22, 2008 @ 12:53 pm
Hey, thanks Daine. And how nice of you to drop by!
It does seem like a good year to teach this stuff, when we can watch it happen in real life. Our son has been very interested and asked lots of good questions, so I figured why not turn it into school? I suppose that’s an indication that I’ve really “arrived” as a homeschooler…lol.
Susy said,
January 23, 2008 @ 7:35 am
I love the graphics! You should market a book with those sheets and some examples like you have and it would be a great political science book, Politics for Kids (And Grown-Ups Who Want To Do It Right) or something like that! Very nice, thanks for sharing!
Mom said,
January 23, 2008 @ 9:59 am
Well…ahem…I was an illustration major after all…lol. In another life about a zillion years ago. Sigh. Maybe I’ll revise and publish it for the next presidential election, after all the pages are done. We’ll have to wait and see what the landscape of my life looks like then. I’ve decided you just never can tell with me. If you’d told me ten years ago what I’d be up to now, I’d never have believed you.
I am working on some science stuff, though, that I hope to actually sell to people next year. Progress is slower than I’d like, but progressing. Sample unit here: www.decheck.com/unit1.pdf
Susy said,
January 24, 2008 @ 7:47 am
Got a 404 on www.decheck.com/unit1.pdf, sorry. And I have a BFA in blacksmithing, but it’s not like I use it. One lifetime just isn’t enough to do all the things I want to do… *sigh*
Mom said,
January 24, 2008 @ 1:40 pm
Sorry, link coding error. I think it’s right now. Did I mention that I’m not the computer genius in the family?
Blacksmithing! No kidding? I did not know that about you. That’s very cool! You’re absolutely right that one lifetime is just not enough. I worked with a woman once who later moved to another city because her husband got a great new job that paid enough that she could stay home. She just “had” to go get a job anyway, though, because she found that she was just rattling around alone at home with nothing to do. I thought, NOTHING TO DO?! Are you insane? I always have way too many things I’d like to do if only time, money, and circumstances would allow. But I set my priorities and make my choices and I have no regrets.
urbanbutterfly said,
January 26, 2008 @ 8:52 pm
Wow!!! This is exactly what I have been searching for!!! Thank you so much!!!
Elisheva Levin said,
January 27, 2008 @ 10:18 pm
Thanks! I was thinking about something like this, but I am no illustrator! Yours is beautiful and it’s great for what we want to do.
As for what you said about how life goes, I am with you all the way. I would never have believed where I live and what I am doing now if someone had told me about it 25 years ago!
Chandra said,
February 3, 2008 @ 9:43 pm
Thank you so much. I know what we will be tomorrow!
Chandra
Laura said,
February 5, 2008 @ 7:31 am
This is exactly what I have been looking for … Thanks and many thanks!
Laura