As the election results in Virginia and elsewhere demonstrate, many parents are upset with how American history and civics are being taught in schools. And it’s hard to blame them.

Some feel we are tearing down our nation’s past. Others believe we are not doing enough to tell the history of all Americans..

While those debates are working themselves out, parents can take an active role in ensuring their children receive the education they want them to have.

Of course homeschooling is always an option, but short of that commitment to fully take on a child’s education, there are three great tools for parents who care about raising well-educated children:

1) Monuments and national historic sites. Nothing brings home the beauty and force of the idea of “a nation conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” than seeing it inscribed in giant letters inside the Lincoln Memorial. While the nation’s capital has the lion’s share of museums, monuments and memorials, every state in the country has its own sites, where children can experience history firsthand. Visit www.levelupcivics.org/living-civics to check out some.

2) Family history. Every American is a part of the American story. Helping children discover their own family history can be a great way both to make up for what the history books don’t contain, as well as to bring our country’s broader history alive. Paula Spencer Scott’s “An Oral History” provides kid-friendly prompts for questions that children can ask of parents and grandparents.

3) Online resources. A growing number of websites are providing free, high-quality resources on American history: the Bill of Rights Institute, (billofrightsinstitute.org), the Ashbrook Center (ashbrook.org), 1776 Unites (1776unites.com/our-work/curriculum), which focuses on elevating the stories of African-Americans, and the James Madison Institute’s Celebrate Freedom civics curriculum (jamesmadison.org).

As Mark Twain wrote, “Citizenship is what makes a republic; monarchies can get along without it. What keeps a republic on its legs is good citizenship.”

If we want to keep our republic on its legs, we would do well for parents to bring civics and history into the home, and it’s never been easier.

Katharine C. Gorka is the Director for Civil Society and the American Dialogue at The Heritage Foundation.