No, not in the national election, but in our Civics 101 Class in our homeschool yesterday.
We took the opportunity that Election Day affords and taught our kids about voting.
First, we visited the polling place for our precinct and watched people register their votes.
Then, we came home and created a paper ballot of our own. There were 3 items up for vote:
1. Presidential Election: Barack Obama vs. John McCain.
2. What to have for breakfast on Wednesday: Cheerios vs. Yogurt Scones.
3. Which of us would serve as Trash Collector for Tuesday November 4th.
That last item was the most interesting. Each of the four kids decided that they wanted to run and each nominated themselves. The job involves bringing all of the trash cans in the house to me to dump into black bags to get ready for the Garbage Truck. The job this week also had a big paycheck--a double sized piece of Texas Sheet Cake! (Methinks that motivated all four to run!)
After preparing the 6 ballots (one family member, one vote!), we gave them time to make speeches about why we should all vote for them. There was also a town-hall style question and answer time, "What do you think makes a good trash-collector?"
Priceless answer: "God does!"
Then we went to the voting. I collected the secret ballots (the right to privacy was a point we stressed yesterday) and counted up the tallies:
John McCain 6, Barack Obama 0 (I guess we weren't representative of the national averages!)
Yogurt Scones 4, Cheerios 1 (And boy, did they taste good this morning--democracy in action!)
Robin 2, Peter 2, Drew 1, Isaac 1
Aha. A run-off election was necessary.
New ballots. New speeches. New votes.
Robin 3, Peter 3! Tragically, one family split down the middle (I have it on good authority that one of the candidates voted for the other!)!
Then a power-sharing idea was formed. The two leading candidates agreed to share the work and the extra chocolate cake.
Now, that's bi-partisan cooperation!
And then, lastly, this morning we talked about the results of the election and prayed for our new President Elect, Barack Obama--may God bless him with wisdom, courage, and honor (and a change of heart about vulnerable pre-born people).
[By the way, the best place for Christian reflection on yesterday's election is Justin Taylor's Between Two Worlds. I really appreciate the posts today.]
We took the opportunity that Election Day affords and taught our kids about voting.
First, we visited the polling place for our precinct and watched people register their votes.
Then, we came home and created a paper ballot of our own. There were 3 items up for vote:
1. Presidential Election: Barack Obama vs. John McCain.
2. What to have for breakfast on Wednesday: Cheerios vs. Yogurt Scones.
3. Which of us would serve as Trash Collector for Tuesday November 4th.
That last item was the most interesting. Each of the four kids decided that they wanted to run and each nominated themselves. The job involves bringing all of the trash cans in the house to me to dump into black bags to get ready for the Garbage Truck. The job this week also had a big paycheck--a double sized piece of Texas Sheet Cake! (Methinks that motivated all four to run!)
After preparing the 6 ballots (one family member, one vote!), we gave them time to make speeches about why we should all vote for them. There was also a town-hall style question and answer time, "What do you think makes a good trash-collector?"
Priceless answer: "God does!"
Then we went to the voting. I collected the secret ballots (the right to privacy was a point we stressed yesterday) and counted up the tallies:
John McCain 6, Barack Obama 0 (I guess we weren't representative of the national averages!)
Yogurt Scones 4, Cheerios 1 (And boy, did they taste good this morning--democracy in action!)
Robin 2, Peter 2, Drew 1, Isaac 1
Aha. A run-off election was necessary.
New ballots. New speeches. New votes.
Robin 3, Peter 3! Tragically, one family split down the middle (I have it on good authority that one of the candidates voted for the other!)!
Then a power-sharing idea was formed. The two leading candidates agreed to share the work and the extra chocolate cake.
Now, that's bi-partisan cooperation!
And then, lastly, this morning we talked about the results of the election and prayed for our new President Elect, Barack Obama--may God bless him with wisdom, courage, and honor (and a change of heart about vulnerable pre-born people).
[By the way, the best place for Christian reflection on yesterday's election is Justin Taylor's Between Two Worlds. I really appreciate the posts today.]
2 comments:
Robin and Peter for Congress!
Good post! I was able to watch Thomas's 1st grade class vote. McCain won 9 to Obama's 6.
Unfortunately, one little boy (not mine) started to cry because Obama didn't win.
Sad to see a nation so overwhelmed by money and the economy that they missed the issues that were truly important in picking a national leader.
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