For part of our session, Bobby and the other children were celebrating Stephen's belated birthday. During the academic portion of our session, we reviewed and went in depth into several topics related to national and state government including: rights, responsibilities, governance, citizenship, courts, checks and balances, documents, political offices, and persons governing.

In looking at standing committees, we spent most of the time discussing Veteran's Affairs and the local veteran's hospital, and problems that occur with soldiers when they are exposed to repeated violence. We also studied the majority and minority leadership roles in Congress.

Today Stephen began his Lansford flip book. We began by reading a story about a man who sees all different landlords as he travels across the country with his dog. Then we read section 1 about different types of land. Stephen added mountains, valleys and hills to his flip book!

Maps and globe: Marina did an excellent job today testing maps, getting an "A". We reviewed scales, compass rose, and map key. Great going Marina.

Bobby studied world geography today. Through games, notes, discussion, and using the wall-sized global map, he learned/reviewed: continents, countries, capitals, landforms, islands, isthmuses, peninsulas, map reading, time zones, latitude, longitude, types and bodies of water. This session also served as an informal assessment and interest survey.

Will and I discussed the merits and weaknesses of the seniority system in determining the leaders of various committees. We also observed which government activities are deemed to be more important than others based upon a table.

Bobby and I read about, discussed, watched short videos, and took notes on the following subjects: the Constitution, States rights, the Bill of Rights, and branches of government.

Today Stephen and I began our session by doing a quick review of lessons 1-3. Stephen then spent the rest of class taking his quiz. These sessions covered the 7 continents and 5 oceans. It also covered 10 different landforms and the cardinal and intermediate directions. This quiz featured matching and fill in the blank questions. Stephen earned a 96% on his quiz!

Reading Maps: Ethan did well using coordinates, reading symbols, and finding states on a map. He got an "A" on his quiz. We will practice using the scale for distance. Super Job Ethan.

Will reviewed the different leadership roles in both houses of the U.S. Congress, and we discussed their places in succession to the presidency. We also began to look at the different types of committees involved in both houses of Congress.