Types of Governments Worksheets – World Leaders (Currently Free)
We have a new packet to share with you that touches on some of the different forms of government, societies, and some of our current world leaders. These notebook pages are my kids’ first introduction to some of the terms and complicated concepts about world governments, government systems, and politics.
I wanted to explore some of the different forms of government… those that are ruled just by one person, a few people, or many.
- rule by one: monarch, dictatorship
- rule by a few: oligarchy, junta, single-party state
- rule by many: democracy, republic, parliamentary system, presidential system, constitutional government
We talked about these different political terms (and many others!). And we also explored how these relate to different economic systems (and their societies) such as capitalism, communism, and socialism.
Some of the terms and concepts we talked about included:
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Before we dove into this material, though, we spent time reviewing how the U.S. government works. As many of you know, we did a unit on Civics and Government a couple of years ago. I brought out some of these materials again.
We talked about the three branches of government and reviewed some of the key points under each branch…
- President has to be at least 35 years old.
- Judicial branch has 9 Justices who serve for life.
- The House of Representatives has 435 members.
- etc. etc.
In fact, I had my youngest do the activity about the three branches of government. In all we spent about 10 days reviewing this material again. (You know, a bit each day.)
Once we reviewed that, we talked about different forms of government throughout history.
We talked about how a government can be ruled by just one person (like emperors, monarchs, or dictators), by a group (a military group or political party), or by many people (democracy, republic, etc.) We filled out this page (little by little):
We talked about how a parliamentary system differs from the US system. And, we talked about how governments are often a mix of many of these terms. We talked about the debates over the word “democratic” countries and what the really means and so forth.
I also picked out about 10 different world leaders and we talked about the type of government they are a part of and how different world leaders have different types of powers depending on their country’s form of government. (We included al-Assad of Syria, but of course his power as President is tenuous.)
NOTE: I updated these in Sept. 2019!
Newly Updated: Feb. 2021
NEW UPDATE – Sept 2023
Remember this was what I wrote in March 2017! What was really interesting for the kids was that several of the leaders on our notebook pages were in the news as we covered this material! For example, Robert Mugabe turned 93 (on Feb. 21, 2017). And of course, the older brother of the North Korean Leader was mysteriously killed in an airport in Malaysia on Feb. 13. Two women wiped something on his face and he died within twenty minutes. Later, it was determined to be a deadly toxin – VX nerve agent, classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations.
We talked about current government and societies in anarchy or being run by a dictatorship, single-party rule, theocracy, parliamentary system and so forth.
This is some pretty challenging material (even for adults)! I suggest using this with middle school and high school (although I have three kids and I talked about this material with all of them (currently grades 3,6,8). You know, that’s how homeschooling is!) Update: This is the third time we’ve gone over this material…now the kids are in middle school and high school.
I’ve showed the Types of Government worksheets with the teacher notes, but there are also blank pages where students can take their own notes.
I’d like to share this packet with you today. It is 60 pages and includes fairly extensive teacher notes (though of course, you might want to do some research to add your own spin on current events! It is currently free to download!
I have uploaded this to SendOwl (the delivery service I use) so that I can make changes/edit the file as needed. The email you receive might say “Thank you for your order or Thank you for your purchase” but remember this is currently FREE!
By the way, I know that world events change all the time. If you notice that these are no longer up-to-date or if you need a slight change feel free to email me and I will see what I can do to edit the file. 🙂 ~Liesl
Click here to download these worksheets (currently free).
Updated Sept 2023!
World Leaders – Types of Government Packet
$0.00
I’ve just changed out the World Leaders portion (Sept 2023)
The World Leaders sections has been updated. The Types of Government & Societies Worksheets are still basically the same, though I added some current events about Myanmar and the recent coup (in Feb. 2021).
Here are a few of our other packets:
$5.99 Civics and Government Packet Quick Preview Learn about the 3 branches of government, the Cabinet, the Federal vs. State governments, basic US facts and more.
$2.50 U.S. Presidents – Quick Study (A small booklet activity that highlights 14 well-known Presidents) (See more details here)
$7.99 U.S. States and Capitals Packet This 100+ page packet helps students learn the U.S. states and capitals. It includes US geography worksheets, a states & capitals booklet, 13 colonies maps and more! Visit Post or View image
$6.99 Age of Exploration Packet
$6.99 13 Colonies Unit – a 70-page unit that covers Roanoke, Jamestown, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Pennsylvania, Georgia and the others. Plus, it explores the Puritans, Salem Witch Trials & Bacon’s Rebellion. Visit Post
$7.99 Causes of the American Revolution Packet (and American Revolution play) (See more details here)
$7.99 Slavery and the Civil War (100 pages – slavery, U.S. territorial expansion, the Civil War) (See more details here) or view image 1, image 2, image 3, image 4, image 5, image 6, image 7, image 8
$4.99 Oregon Trail Packet Quick Preview or visit the post or view image
$9.99 World War I Packet 100+ pages World War I – Quick Preview or visit the post or view image 1, image 2, image 3, image 4, image 5, image 6, image 7
$9.99 World War II Unit (150 pages) from the post WWI period through Aug. 1945. Visit the post for more details. View image 1, image 2, image 3, image 4, image 5, image 6, image 7
See you again soon here or over at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page! Don’t forget to Subscribe to our Homeschool Den Newsletter. You might also want to check out some of our resources pages above (such as our Science, Language Arts, or History Units Resource Pages) which have links to dozens of posts. You might want to join our free Homeschool Den Chat Facebook group. Don’t forget to check out Our Store as well. 
~Liesl
Again, if you are interested in joining our Homeschool Den Newsletter, feel free to subscribe here. It’s a great way to hear about our latest packets and to learn about many of the hundreds of printables & other materials we have tucked away on the blog!
Have a wonderful school year!!
Happy Homeschooling! ~Liesl
Here are some direct links to some of the packets I mentioned above:
If you haven’t talked about the US form of government, 3 branches of government, separation of powers, checks and balances, the cabinet and their functions (Secretary of State, Secretary of the Interior, etc.), the federal vs. state government, etc. you might want to check out our Civics and Government PacketWorld Facts Packet:
These are some basic facts I wanted the kids to know – what are the largest countries (by size? by population?), what are the major world religions? What are some of the famous landmarks? What are some basic facts about the US (What is the longest river or tallest mountain? which state has the most people? What is the largest state?). You can find out more about this here:
American Revolution Packet: Causes and Events Leading to the American Revolution
Slavery and the Civil War Packet
Happy Homeschooling! ~Liesl
