So today I thought I'd post what my son learned this weekend as this is a homeschool blog, lol.  

Triangulation:  

1. 1. A surveying technique in which a region is divided into a series of triangular elements based on a line of known length so that accurate measurements of distances and directions may be made by the application of trigonometry.
   2. The network of triangles so laid out.
2. The location of an unknown point, as in navigation, by the formation of a triangle having the unknown point and two known points as the vertices.

The reason this 'lesson' came about, was my ds (9) and my dh were out walking around our property and playing with the pets.  They came across a killdeer nest out in the open field.  Now if you've ever tried to locate a killdeer's nest, you'll know they can be very hard to find.  So my son wanted to mark the nest so we can protect it but also, so we can return to it to watch the eggs hatch!

My spouse took this time to explain triangulation and how to apply it.  So this afternoon, my son took me on a walk and using his new skill, located the nest quickly.  He was also able to point out the mother killdeer, who had wandered away to feed.