Began today's lesson by discussing the requirements for A.P. U.S. History. Vlad seems to genuinely like history and to be up for the challenge. We discussed the importance of strong expository writing skills in history and especially A.P. histories. I explained to Vlad that he will likely be given a topic/question and then asked to compare different historical documents to support his thesis in a majority of A.P. essays. Vlad says he is up to the challenge of taking this on when his A.P. materials arrive. I told him it will involve a lot of practice. Since Vlad has not had U.S. History since 8th grade, we did review some very early concepts such as the influence of Judeo-Christian belief systems, Greek and Roman traditions of law and government on European society and even to our present day society. We discussed that our government is not a true democracy, but rather a democratic republic and how amazing it is that the Founding Fathers of the U.S. had the vision and the foresight to know the best structure to build our country's foundations of government and laws. We also began to review some of the aspects the Age of Exploration: Columbus, Balboa, Magellan, Arawaks, Genocide. Vlad is a very bright and has a strong memory. He has what all A.P. students need and that is he truly likes and appreciates the subject of history. I look forward to delving into the A.P. material with Vlad as soon as we receive it!