We summed up our review and comparison of ancient civilizations today by reading and looking at illustrations in Eyewitness Books' "Ancient Civilizations". We began our new unit in geography by introducing and understanding the six essential elements of geography. Charlie completed a chart explaining what each term means. We went through a PowerPoint presentation explaining the terms and looked at photos to determine which element each depicted.

This morning we practiced our note taking abilities by watching the Paleoworld installment on man's early attempts at finding fossils. Although this particular video is only thirty minutes long, it is filled with facts relating to man's early efforts and describes some of the types of mistakes or "blunders" that were committed. The movie contained a number of individuals and their biographies along with engaging visuals. Bobby is learning how to differentiate between pertinent information and "ground clutter" which has little or no relevance to the central theme. We will complete an assessment based on his notes to see how well he was able to capture important facts. Although the subject matter is more appropriate to a science class, Bobby can apply the same approach to other subject areas.

During our session this afternoon, Bobby continued work on his expository essay. Despite Bobby's best of intentions, this type of writing does not come easily for him and it was clear that he was getting frustrated at times. We took a break to review once again the best, and easiest way to organize his essay which hopefully would make it easier for Bobby to organize his thoughts and transfer them onto the paper. I put a link on my website under the study guide section that provides some useful guidelines that hopefully will be helpful.

Bobby and I continued to work on our expository writing essay. Bobby left his social studies text at home which prevented us from introducing new material for the time being. I used this opportunity to explain to Bobby that his essay should broken into three parts: the introduction, main body and conclusion and that it should be factual and concise. Once again, I wanted him to use this opportunity to express or convey two opposing points of view on this controversial subject. We discussed some additional information I shared with him that seemed to indicate that public opinion was shifting away from support of Colin's actions but NOT compromising the demands for racial equality.

This morning we reviewed the second chapter in our text outlining the rise of ancient Egypt. We discussed the role of the Nile in shaping Egypt's economy and how the gods Isis and Osris influenced agriculture. We also discussed Egyptian belief in the afterlife and how much of their efforts were spent preparing for ascension. Marcos did a very good job on his assessment questions and with the exception of a few missing details, exhibited a mastery of the material. Homework is to read the next section on Hindu, Buddhist beliefs as well as the caste system in India.

This afternoon we continued to work on our writing essay by establishing an outline in order to better organize our thoughts. Bobby has begun with a brief biography on Colin Kaepernick. By doing so, he uncovered some interesting facts that may have influenced Bobby's assessment of Colin's actions. Secondly, we started on describing exactly what took place during the NFL game in question. We will continue to develop these points and to organize our thoughts through the use of a simple outline.

Henry answered fill in the blank questions by looking at a map and using a map key.

Henry did a crossword puzzle based on the readings we have done in Studies Weekly.

During the course of our discussion about various social issues occurring around the globe we recognized that organizing information would be very helpful to say the least. We discussed how to prepare an outline and how to arrange key factoids in preparation for a writing or research ruled assignment. We began our discussion regarding the recent controversy started when a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers refused to stand for the national anthem. Bobby and I began a spirited discussion about the different arguments that support and undermine this individual's decision not to stand for the national anthem. We decided to use this topic as our focus for the next few classes until the Pine School textbook arrives. We will also practiced our writing skills in the process as well.

My primary objective during this first session with Bobby was to acquire more information as to what the course content consisted of at the Pine School. Bobby was fairly vague on the course curriculum but admitted that they had just completed memorizing the fifty states. It was not clear whether or not this was a US History class or a general social studies class but Bobby promised that more information in the form of a class syllabus or classroom text would be forthcoming soon. We took this opportunity to discuss some current event topics in an effort to pinpoint areas of interest and possible talking points in future classes.