Hillsdale College is a private, liberal arts college founded in 1844. The college offers its free online courses as part of a deliberate educational mission, not as a marketing or recruitment tool. The mission comes directly from the educational philosophy of Hillsdale College. In simple terms, Hillsdale believes:

An informed and educated citizenry is necessary for a free society.

Their free courses are meant to expand civic and liberal arts education beyond traditional class offerings. The free courses are funded largely through donor support, rather than tuition.

The mission includes:

• • parent-directed education
  • classical learning
  • primary source study
  • civic literacy

Many homeschool communities have adopted them as high-quality, free resources. They offer over 50 free online video courses in history, philosophy, politics, economics, literature, and the fine arts. Their goal is compatible with Simply Smart’s mission to provide educational resources to as many people as possible. Here are some of the government materials you may find particularly useful:

Constitution 101: The Meaning and History of the Constitution

This free, online video course is their most popular and is used by many homeschoolers. More than one million learners have taken it. It is definitely serious material geared for older students and makes no attempt at being fun and entertaining.

Course Overview

• • A 12-lecture course (approx. 10–11 hours total)
  • College-level instruction
  • Includes recommended readings & discussion questions
  • Taught by Hillsdale politics professors
  • Free enrollment
  • Self-paced

Students study:

• • Political Philosophy of the American Founding
  • Declaration of Independence Principles
  • Structure of the Constitution
  • Separation of Powers
  • Civil War Constitutional Issues
  • Modern Challenges to Constitutional Government

Introduction to the Constitution

This is another free, online course consisting of 12 video lessons, each with recommended readings and discussion questions.

Both are suitable for high school students, individually or combined together. Parents can easily add essays, exams, and a research project to make it a college prep class.

Other Government/Civics Courses available include:

• • The Federalist Papers
  • The Presidency and the Constitution
  • Congress: How It Worked and Why It Doesn’t
  • Public Policy from a Constitutional Viewpoint

The Hillsdale 1776 Curriculum—High School American Government and Politics

This free, high school government course from Hillsdale College has 1065 pages of material. It is probably the most comprehensive curriculum material available for studying government. The flip side of the coin is that not only is it comprehensive, but it can also easily be overwhelming. In a perfect world, every student would study this course. In real life, it would take a very motivated and academically advanced student to be able to take this curriculum. Here is a description:

There are 8 Units, totaling 36 lessons. Each of the 8 Units has:

• • A Unit Overview including
    • “Why Teach This Unit?”
    • “What Teachers Should Consider”
    • “How Teachers Can Learn More” (texts & videos)
    • A list of all the primary sources studied in that unit.
  • Lesson Plans, Assignments, and Quizzes for each lesson in the unit.
    • Lesson objective
    • Related video lecture available for free from Hillsdale College
    • Primary sources used in that lesson
    • A list of terms and topics
    • Questions related to the lesson
    • Keys to the lesson (discussion points & learning activities)
    • A post lesson assignment
    • A quiz
  • Appendix A
    • A study guide
    • Test
    • Writing assignments
  • Appendix B
    • All the primary source readings for the unit
    • Questions to go along with each reading.

The tremendous value of this curriculum is its amazing collection of Primary Source Reading Selections. Those readings alone could easily be turned into a semester social studies elective, “Political Thought and the American Nation.” Whether or not you use this material as an actual class, every student should spend time studying at least some of the reading. Going along with that idea, Hillsdale offers another free PDF resource:

“The U.S. Constitution—A Reader”

This is a PDF book containing 789 pages of primary-source material essential to understanding government. It belongs in every family’s library.

While not flashy, not cutesy, not colorful, Hillsdale College has a lot to offer. Check it out.