High School U.S. Government

Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids has a section for high school students with resources that can help you with your homework and that big project. 

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE) condenses the best resources available from U.S. federal agencies. The government resources are categorized by major topic, but you may find it more useful to navigate using the left sidebar.

GovSpot.com is a portal to your state government. Choose your state on the U.S. map to get important information about your state, including a link to the state’s official Web site.

Project Vote Smart links to resources about all the political parties in the United States. The parties are listed alphabetically with links to each party’s Web site.

Library of Congress can help you find the resources you need for that big project. Check out the “Main Reading Room” to search the many resources available. If you’re having trouble, “Ask a Librarian” allows you to e-mail a real person or chat online with a librarian from 2–4 p.m. Eastern Time.

Jiskha Homework Help is the place to go for fast answers and homework help from more than 200 experts that volunteer every day to assist students like you. Simply post your question and one or more Jiskha certified teachers will respond, sometimes in as little as an hour. There’s also an extensive directory of helpful articles and links.

Fact Monster's “Homework Center” is a great reference for help with U.S. government homework. You’ll get basic information on the three branches of government, elections and state government. There are also some challenge activities listed so you can test your knowledge.

Presidential Baseball is a Flash-based trivia game that asks you to match up U.S. presidents with baseball players based on similarities in their skills and careers. Each answer is explained, making this a fun way for sports fans to test their knowledge of the national pastime while learning about the personalities and accomplishments of each president.

PBS maintains a top-notch site for educators. Look for lesson plans, classroom resources and professional development materials.

EDSITEment is hosted by the National Endowment for the Humanities and offers interesting lessons to supplement your curriculum. It’s easy to use and searchable by grade level and subject if you’re looking for other resources.

Library of Congress covers a range of government topics. Make use of wonderful primary sources such as pictures, artwork and original documents that will get your students thinking like historians. First-time users might want to visit “The Learning Page” to learn how to use the vast resources.

SCORE provides both unit and lesson plans for social studies categorized by California Content Standard. Don’t worry if you don’t teach in California; the links are topical for anyone teaching government.

The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration provides an excellent unit on the U.S. Constitution that includes 18 original documents and audio recordings.

Justice Learning, a collaboration between National Public Radio’s “Justice Talking” and The New York Times Learning Network, is aimed at providing the best resources to government and civics teachers. There are several categories to choose from, all of which focus on creating important discussions and critical thinking in your classroom.

Constitutional Rights Foundation offers a wide array of resources, including lesson plans and enrichment texts, on constitutional issues designed to help your students discuss the importance of good citizenship. The “Bill of Rights in Action” archive provides free access to printable readings that you can implement directly into your curriculum.

Our Documents contains the top 100 milestone documents in U.S. History. The “Tools for Educators” section contains a printable guide to using the documents along with other valuable resources.

SCORE provides the best overview of the key concepts your teenager should be learning. This is a great place to start organizing your thoughts about how you want to supplement and enhance your child’s government education.

FunBrain's “Standards Finder” tells you what students in a particular subject and grade level should be learning. Although this might not line up exactly with what your child is learning in school, it can give you a good idea of what at-home material might be helpful to your child.

Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids has a section for parents and teachers with curriculum links and additional online resources that can be used to help students integrate social studies into their activities at home. 

Library of Congress offers a wealth of educational material and games that can challenge your historical knowledge. If your teen is doing research for a project, this site is a great place to start.