Welcome to the sixth week of the first session’s Launchpad newsletter!
This week in Genre, we put the finishing touches on our blog posts by giving each other a final critique. We have written four blog posts each, some of which will be published on an official Acton Academy blog that will be accessible to all parents and family members.
In Quest this week, we played our A Game again, except instead of playing as individuals, we split into groups to learn the crucial skill of teamwork. I have to admit it was challenging to communicate efficiently at first. But as the week progressed, we all learned how to be better teammates, and I definitely think that showed in our playing as well. Civilization (Civ) this week was centered around the Greek Poleis or the cities of Greece. On Tuesday, we researched the beginning of the Greek Polis system and its power in Ancient Greece. On Thursday, we learned about why democracy may not be such a great governing system after all. Here are two questions we answered in our discussions:
Spartans divided people into social classes. Is this the mark of an advanced civilization or a primitive civilization? Why?
Is it better for absolute power to be vested in the hands of a few so leaders can be decisive during crises, or should power be dispersed (like a pure democracy) to discourage tyranny? Provide examples from history.
In other exciting news, we had a field trip this week! On Thursday, we visited the Tenement Museum, which previously housed many immigrant families; Essex Market, a food market filled with various cuisines and food stands; and Seward Park, home to one of the first playgrounds built in the nation. We spent time learning about the different families who immigrated to the U.S. and explored the tenement buildings, gaining a new perspective on what life looked like in the mid-1900s. Then we stopped at Essex Market for lunch and visited Seward Park for a great end to a great day, which was a lot of fun for all of us.
Overall, this was a very exciting, fun-filled, and informative week, full of interesting discussions. Thanks for reading!
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