This afternoon, Bobby and I took a detour from our regularly scheduled topic and focused on a journey through the Dark Web via YouTube. We explored several important concepts such as the constitutional right to free speech, and whether or not US citizens are entitled to anonymity on the WWW. We discussed anarchy and how it may threaten personal freedoms.

Josh and I worked on studying for his upcoming History test next Tuesday. I test him on certain concepts. He seems to have a good understanding but should study in more depth closer to the test. (Sunday and Monday). We then worked on English. Josh is learning allusions in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein. We discussed three allusions and their connections: Prometheus, Greek myth; Milton's Paradise Lost; and Dante's Inferno.

This morning Bobby and I reviewed the outline of positive and negative points that will be included in his expository writing assignment on social media. We reviewed the three main components of our essay and began discussing possible points to be included in our introduction.

This afternoon Bobby and I killed two birds with one stone by discussing arguments for his next expository writing assignment focusing on social media, and taking a quick trip to the new school to feed the mantids. We noticed that although we lost a number of the mantids during the first two weeks since their emergence, several have gotten noticeably larger.

This morning we began working on the expository writing assignment involving social media and teenagers. Bobby has selected his topic which is to discuss both the positives and negatives of social media on teenagers. Bobby successfully created an outline which highlights some of the more important points of this issue but will also provide him with guidance on what to research and how to construct his arguments. A good beginning.

This afternoon Bobby and I discussed the three different topics that he will be selecting in order to complete his expository writing project. This also gave us the opportunity to discuss some of the points that were expressed during the CNN special "Inside the mind of a 13 year old" and the issues surrounding social media and teens. We also constructed an outline which will help Bobby organize his thoughts.

We finished watching the video outlining the study by Anderson Cooper on the effects of social media on teens. Bobby and I discussed the content of his notes and I shared with him several key topics that we will be exploring in greater detail. Bobby will be writing an expository essay using one of these topics as his theme or subject. He will be given several topic choices from which to select.

We worked on Josh's homework labeling the veins and arteries of the body. Josh left his textbook that he was assigned to look the answers up in at home, so we used the computer. He did well when we looked them up, but we created study techniques to remember parts of the circulatory system.

This afternoon we picked up where we left off by looking at the documentary featuring Anderson Cooper and the effects of social media on middle school students. Bobby showed a particular interest in the topic which led to some good discussions on the different ways that social media can harm young people. Bobby practiced his note taking skills during the presentation and will use these notes to complete a series of questions on the topic.

Bobby and I took this opportunity to work on our Anubis Death mask.