My boys have been hard at work copying the schematics for the Battle of Balaclava as found in The Dangerous Book for Boys.

Why?

Well, Fritz is memorizing The Charge of the Light Brigade for school, and we just had to find out what the poem was about.

Every boy should know this poem. What fabulous lines:

…”Forward the Light Brigade
Charge for the guns,” he said…

…Cossack and Russian
Reel’d from the sabre stroke
Shatter’d and sunder’d…

…Storm’d at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro‘ the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell…

Every parent’s child should know this poem:

…Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die…

Until your kids get so smart that they point out that blind obedience led to a disaster…

For history this year, Fritz is studying Ancient Egypt.

And the Crimean War.

Updated: Did I mention I’m not a student of military affairs? My husband emailed me to point out that the Americans weren’t at the Battle of Balaclava. I don’t think the Germans were, either. Hey, one battle plan looks like any other to me. Apparently, the boys are not studying the Crimean War as much as Military Science, and they’re just making their own battle plans for some imaginary war. I have just ruled out “spy” as a career plan for me once I’m done raising babies.