How does one become a citizen of the United States? What is naturalization?
With all the talk in the news about immigration issues, now would be an excellent time to teach your kids about what it means to be a citizen of the United States and how an immigrant can become a naturalized citizen.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website has a concise guide explaining what it takes to become a citizen. You can read each section of the guide one at a time, or you can download the Guide to Naturalization in its entirety here.
Your child can even take a Naturalization Self-Test here to learn the type of information new citizens are expected to learn. It might even be a good gauge for how much we know already as citizens.
Study materials for the civics portion of the naturalization test are available here. These materials include a study guide and flashcards for each of the 100 civics (history and government) questions on the naturalization test and a video highlighting U.S. history, civics, and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. These materials would be a great supplement to your homeschool curriculum to help you teach basic civics and history lessons.
It will amaze you what you should know about America to become a citizen even it you are born here.
It is amazing what is required! My husband and I passed this test this summer. In addition to the questions you are also required to demonstrate you can read and write English.