Social Studies Update

This week we wrapped up Ancient Rome and are currently starting the transition from the ancient world to the Middle Ages.  Ask your son or daughter about Roman engineering innovations, government structure, and why Julius Caesar is still a relevant figure to study.

We took a break in the curriculum last week to wrap up our Geography Bee on team.  I'm happy to say I've never had so many students make it so far in the preliminary rounds!  We also took some time to talk about what was happening in the news regarding Iran.  We focused on the importance of understanding the historical background behind many current world issues to help us form our own opinions and thoughts about things in the news.  I was very proud of the students' excellent questions and their respect of each other's differing opinions on some aspects of the situation.

In the curriculum, one of the skills we are focusing on this year is synthesis of new information and analysis of both familiar and unfamiliar sources.  This week we have been dissecting the thought process that leads to forming conclusions about the various types of information we see on a daily basis and how to analyze the validity and meaning of that information.  Students are practicing this by forming conclusions using various sources on the Byzantine Empire to answer the question: Are the Byzantines their own unique civilization or just an extension of the Romans?  
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