Last fall, I took three of our homeschooled children to Washington, D.C. It was a calm time of year, when Congress wasn’t in session, and outside of busy tourism season, so we enjoyed the empty hallways and quiet buildings of D.C. Though we only had two days to enjoy D.C., each of us got to visit our “must see” area.
Home is over 800 miles from Washington, D.C., so here, we have to learn about the United States government from what we can find in books or online. To help us, I found free civics lesson plans at Ben’s Guide to the U.S. Government.
Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government was created especially for kids. Divided by age group, the site offers documents and information for teaching United States history.
Here is the description of the free civics lesson plans:
Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids is brought to the World Wide Web as a service of the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office. This site provides learning tools for K-12 students, parents, and teachers. These resources will teach how our government works.
A more interactive option for teaching with free civics lessons:
To Learn About Local and State Government, or for more interactive fun, check out the other free civics lessons I’ve previously shared, where your child can become a virtual mayor!
p.s. I’d love to find civics lessons for other countries! If you know of an informative site, please share with us in the comments below. – Lori

Thank you so much for this. I was looking for some information on inauguration online so we can cover it in our homeschool but did not find anything. I was very happy to find it here!
Ruth – Thank you for the feedback! Let me know if you find other sites that feature the Inauguration Day as well.
~ Lori
Hi Ruth, I am a newbie to homeschooling. I saw Richard Dreyfuss on a youtube video explaining why Civics is so important for the student to learn. I couldn;t agree more. Thank you for taking the time to put this info together. I will be using it for a course on civics. If you have any extra info you might share, please send it our way, thank you , John O
Thank you. In Kentucky we have to teach history and civics and I’ve been wracking my brain on how to include civics. I really appreciate you putting this on here!
So glad it helped! Thank you for commenting!