Homeschooling can be challenging, especially when topics deviate from the assigned curriculum. With 2008 being a very special political year, it has escaped me how to convey all the inner workings of our often confusing political system to our kids. My nine-year-old continues to “bring it” with her regular and candid Q & A sessions.

“Mom,” she asks, “who do we want to win the Presidency?” Hmmm.. this is going to be a long year.

“Well, Honey”… I go on to explain that our candidate of choice, let’s call them candidate A, is running for the such-and-such political party. If candidate A gets the primary bid, they will go on to run against another candidate for the presidency.

“Why not just let them all run, and we’ll pick the one we like the most?”

Good one. I explained that similarly to American Idol, sometimes not everyone gets a chance to run. Just as we don’t get to vote on all 120-something initial contestants on Idol, Americans don’t get to vote on all potential candidates. Sometimes our committees and delegates (think Simon, Randy, and Paula) get to do a lot of the work for us.

“Why don’t those delegate people just vote how we want them to?”

Another good one. I went on about how they usually do, but that they were, well, a safeguard in case someone Sanjaya-ish were to sneak through and get close to taking the bid for President. I went to explain primaries vs. caucuses, an even more bewildering concept to my daughter. In Nebraska, we held a Democratic caucus, but will go on to have a traditional Republican primary. Try getting that one across.

“So which candidate is good and which one is bad?” Oh. Brother.

“Sweetie, just as we all have our favorite Idol contestants, there is one candidate that Mommy and Daddy really want to see win. We think that candidate A will be the best choice for our country.” I went to tell of the various positions that our candidate held and why this best represented our passions and beliefs as Americans.

“But Mommy, why then doesn’t everyone vote for candidate A. Don’t most people think all those things are important?”

I sighed. “Time to wrap it up for today.” Heading to the computer for an updated view of the delegate count, I ask myself the same question. I say a little prayer for my daughter and hope that she doesn’t forget these questions when she finally gets old enough to cast her ballot, or stand on one side of the caucus room, or whatever crazy method they have for picking them 11 years from now.