Do you want to not only be able to interpret Supreme Court cases but also build a foundation for evaluating future judicial decisions? Learn constitutional law with Michael Farris! You will study our nation's founding documents and precedent-setting Supreme Court cases. You'll be challenged to dig deeper and ask the tough questions, "What did the Founders really intend?" "How have we upheld their vision?" "Have we surpassed it in any way?" "In what ways have we betrayed it?" You'll learn to interpret legal terms and become familiar with complex judicial and legislative concepts. And throughout, you will broaden your understanding of and appreciation for the Constitution of the United States.

Now Dr. Farris is offering his high school-level Constitutional Law course with a brand new textbook. Last year's required text Constitutional Law for Christian Students has been updated to include material on some of the Supreme Court's most recent decisions and more material demonstrating the original intentions of the founders.  A copy of this new textbook Constitutional Law for Enlightened Citizens will be shipped to students upon registration, along with an audio CD-ROM containing recorded lectures given by Dr. Farris (supplemented by the discussions of a live class).  These lectures are provided in MP3 format for easy playback on multiple audio devices.

If on-line students have questions, they can pose them to Dr. Farris using our secure Internet forum. This approach allows all students to see and learn from the questions and Dr. Farris' answers. Also, ten times during the course (approximately every other week), Dr. Farris will hold a secure Internet chat session with students for "live," text-based discussion.

The secure forums and chat center are also available for student-to-student discussion throughout the entire duration of the course. All posted content is logged, and a strict code of conduct is enforced.

A former bar examiner, Dr. Farris will also pose both a mid-term and final bar-style exam question for the students to research and answer. The exams are intended to test the student's ability to apply the material taught to a fictitious legal scenario. Answers are written in essay format. Dr. Farris will review, critique, and grade each student's midterm and final exam answer, returning them to the student upon completion.

Students who successfully complete the course will receive a letter grade on each test and a certificate of completion.

Slated for 18 sessions, this high school-level course will be offered twice during the school year—a Fall class and a Spring class. Students can enroll to start in either September or January (see syllabus for details). Tuition is $250 for HSLDA members and $275 for non-HSLDA members, and is due in full upon registration. Late enrollments may be accepted on a case-by-case basis.