Not just Washington, D.C.
Nine chapters walk the student through every layer of American law and governance — universal, national, state, county-equivalent, special district, and city — and how each is accountable to the one above it.
The American
Civics Curriculum
A complete training in civics for the American citizen
The American Civics Curriculum is a comprehensive guide to the civil realm, designed for every American citizen and tailored to the high school student. Students who complete it will have done more than learn about government: they will have taken part in it.
The Forgotten Realm, The Civil Realm Student Text, Teacher’s Edition, Exam Pack and Foundations in Liberty
“A republic . . . if you can keep it.”
Two and a half centuries later, many Americans cannot say what kind of government we have, let alone how to keep it.
We are taught the three branches and told to vote. But the government that paves our roads, polices our streets, zones our land, and taxes our homes — city, county, special district, and state — goes unstudied and ungoverned by the very people it belongs to. This is the forgotten realm. This curriculum is how we take it back: not with outrage, but with knowledge and wisdom in action.
Recovering American civics education
A practical guide
A course in practical civics and government for students in grades 9–12, as well as the college student, parent, grandparent, pastor, or citizen who seeks to understand the civil realm. Starting local and moving outwards, it moves the student from reading about government to observing it, and from observing to engaging.
The method
How the course works
Every lesson follows the same simple rhythm:
I · Read
The SourcebookThe student reads the assigned chapter of The Forgotten Realm as homework.II · Work
The Student TextIn class or at home, student and teacher complete the lesson in The Civil Realm together. No separate lesson prep required.III · Verify
The Exam PackA five-question quiz opens each session covering the assigned reading. Review sheets, a midterm, and a final anchor the grade. Answer keys included for teachers.IV · Go to the sources
The DocumentsThe optional Foundations in Liberty places the founding documents — from Alfred the Great’s Domboc to the Bill of Rights — in the student’s hands.
The SourcebookThe student reads the assigned chapter of The Forgotten Realm as homework.II · WorkThe Student TextIn class or at home, student and teacher complete the lesson in The Civil Realm together. No separate lesson prep required.III · VerifyThe Exam PackA five-question quiz opens each session covering the assigned reading. Review sheets, a midterm, and a final anchor the grade. Answer keys included for teachers.IV · Go to the sourcesThe DocumentsThe optional Foundations in Liberty places the founding documents — from Alfred the Great’s Domboc to the Bill of Rights — in the student’s hands.16 lessons, four sessions eachOne semester, or a year with the optional readingGrades 9–12 and adultsHomeschool, co-op or classroom
Inside the books
What sets this curriculum apart
The three realms, rightly ordered
Government begins with God’s design: family, church, and civil realm, each with its own ministry — resting on the fourth realm of self-government.
My U.S. Civic Address & Civic Roster
Every student maps his own precinct, districts, and courts — then names every official who represents him, from school board to Supreme Court. Most adults cannot do this. Your student will.
The founding documents, read and marked
Students read the Declaration of Independence and Constitution in their entirety, color-coding and labeling them paragraph by paragraph, with a comprehensive Teacher’s Edition, so the teacher is never left guessing.
The syllabus
Every session’s reading is laid out in advance. Open the book, follow the plan, and the semester unfolds — for a homeschool of one or a classroom of thirty.
From Alfred to the Constitution
Foundations in Liberty traces the thousand-year chain of documents behind American liberty — Domboc, Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Declaration, Constitution, Bill of Rights — each introduced and set in its historical place.
Also in the books
Preparation for the CLT American Civics Exam, and the Naturalization Civics Test Q&A as an appendix
Appendices: Landmark Supreme Court Cases, Landmark Federal Legislation, Famous Firsts, and 101 Things You Can Do
A glossary of civic terms, plus Article and Amendment checklists with mnemonic “short forms”
What’s included
The five parts of the curriculum
The sourcebook
The Forgotten Realm
The heart of the curriculum: a readable, story-rich survey of American civil government from your city hall to the U.S. Capitol, written for American Christians. Includes the Declaration, the Constitution, and a full glossary.
$34.95One per student
View and buy
The Student Text
The Civil Realm
A consumable text that turns the sourcebook into a curriculum: sixteen lessons of guided questions, document work, and real-world civic assignments.
$32.00One per student · consumable
View and buy
Teacher’s Edition
The Civil Realm: Teacher’s Edition
The complete student text with answers to every exercise, activity, and question — designed so the teacher can learn alongside the student with minimal lesson prep.
$34.00One per teacher
View and buy
Assessments · PDF
The Exam Pack
Session quizzes, review sheets, a midterm, and a final exam, with a complete answer key. Licensed for your household or school — buy once, print for all your students.
$8.00One per family or school
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Optional · highly recommended
Foundations in Liberty
The founding documents that shaped American freedom, from Alfred the Great’s Domboc (c. 892) to the Bill of Rights — each with an introduction by Elizabeth Landis. A Roman Roads Classics volume.
$17.95Recommended one per student
View and buyThe complete curriculum
All five, in one order
Everything one teacher and one student need for the full course: the sourcebook, the Student Text, the Teacher’s Edition, the Exam Pack, and Foundations in Liberty.
Teaching several students? Each needs The Forgotten Realm and a consumable Student Text; each teacher a Teacher’s Edition. One Exam Pack covers your whole family or school. Contact us for classroom sets.
$126.90 all five
Commendations
“In writing this book, Landis did the hard but imperative work of making clear what is utterly opaque for most of us. As American Christians, we desperately need this book on civic engagement.”
“Her step-by-step, bottom-up breakdown of the American system reveals that there are ample opportunities for Christians to engage responsibly and effectively in politics — not with rage but with mercy.”
“A great primer on government in America — explaining not just the federal government but also state, county, and city government and special districts . . . a good basic education in what you need to know.”
The author
Elizabeth Landis
Elizabeth Landis graduated from The Ohio State University with a master’s degree in French. She and her husband Greg have five children whom they have homeschooled K-12. In 2016, a local issue pulled her into the civil realm, and she has been uncovering the forgotten realm ever since. She currently works as assistant to the president at New Saint Andrews College, where she founded the college’s civics club in 2020.
Questions
Common questions
What grade levels is this for?
Grades 9–12, and equally suited to college students, adults, elected officials, parents and grandparents, and pastors. The sourcebook is written to interest readers from junior high to adult who seek a basic guide for self study.
How long does the course take?
One semester: sixteen lessons, each divided into four sessions (with an optional fifth) — a natural fit for a four- or five-day week. With optional reading, this curriculum can easily be stretched over a year.
How much preparation does the teacher need?
Minimal. The curriculum assumes teacher and student are learning together; the Teacher’s Edition contains every answer, and the syllabus lays out every session in advance. The reality we face is that few teachers are trained in civics at this level before taking this course, so they will learn alongside their students. The Student Text + Teacher’s Edition makes this task a delight.
Is this only about local government?
No. The course covers every layer — city, county, special district, state, and national — plus voting, elections, parties, and a concluding study in Christian diplomacy.
Does it prepare students for a standardized civics exam?
Yes. The course contains preparation for the CLT American Civics Exam, and the full Naturalization Civics Test Q&A is included as an appendix.
What do I need for multiple students?
A sourcebook (The Forgotten Realm) and a consumable student text (The Civil Realm) per student; one Teacher’s Edition per teacher; one Exam Pack per family or school — its license covers printing for all your students.
Is this a Christian curriculum?
Unapologetically. It teaches the civil realm as one of three God-ordained realms of governance, our inheritance as a Christian nation, and it aims to raise up citizens who engage their communities out of love of God and neighbor. Yet it is also intended for every American citizen, regardless of their beliefs.
America 250Keep the republic.
Start where you live.
Two hundred fifty years into the American experiment, the republic will be kept — or lost — by people who know how it works. Give your student the education few Americans possess.
PlayThree Announcements and a brief contemplation on America 250