For a couple of weeks we were "following a thread" of construction in the ancient world (in our reading, picture books, TV programs, Lego ziggurats). We also kind of skipped around in early writing and such, never getting around to trying out cuneiform as I'd wanted. That's okay, and we're moving on.

This week's threads to follow are: ships, maps, and navigation. That'll contribute to math, geography, history, science, and their Cub Scout raingutter regatta boat planning!

This is all because of the upcoming Cub Scout raingutter regatta AND my dear husband's info that Son1 loved the navigation and wayfinding station at the weekend Cub Scout campout. Aha! Strike while the iron is hot, and what's not to love about maps, navigation, wayfinding, and all that crazy stuff?

I requested and picked up a bunch of fresh new books on these topics from the library on Monday and Tuesday. Today they were available for reading-from-the-hearth-books, and I grabbed the ship books for the ride to chess club this afternoon. At both times, the boys did look through the books and do a bit of reading. Son1 thinks maybe a Viking style of hull would make his raingutter regatta boat fast. After chess club we came home, took a "burn off the energy" fast break, and then watched some Mom's Choice TV from our DVR'd shows. History International's "Secrets of Archaeology" was about the Phoenicians and their ships; not immediately interesting to the kids, but it turned out to be a pretty good 30-minute peek into the ancient world for all of us. Leaving ships and the ancients behind, our second show was the first half of ESPN's "SportsFigures" for Cable in the Classroom; we learned about mass, energy, velocity (oh my!), ... kinetic and potential energy, inertia, and rotational velocity. Wow! A bit of physics alongside some fancy yo-yoing, actually. The rotational stuff was pretty interesting, and Son1 drew the correct conclusion about how to change a yo-yo to make it "sleep" as long as possible for great tricks. It was great!

By the way, I have a new library resolution regarding books to complement our lessons: one week, and return them promptly. If they haven't looked at the book in the first week, they're not going to! Maybe a steady stream of fresh books will help pique their interest in the less flashy topics.