"The man (Hammurabi) invented the year, months, and hours. When we look at a calender or a clock we are looking at those things. A lot of people were put to death when they did bad things." -Builder Boy's narration for SOTW Chapter Seven Hammurabi and the Babylonians.
This is why reading ahead of where we are in school is a good thing. I hadn't in a while, and I ended up reading a list of laws, half of which had the penalty of death at the end of each one. I understand that I can't shelter the boys forever. I understand that ancient history (actually all history in general) is bloody and sad a lot of the time. I don't know what I would have done if I'd read ahead and known that was coming up. But it was kind of sad to hear Builder Boy pick that out of what we read.
And it stuck with him. The next day we decided to come up with a new rule that everyone, kids and adults both, had to obey for a week. He chose "If you take away a toy from someone's hand you have to be in time out for 15 minutes." I wasn't planning on having a punishment for the rules, but that's what Builder Boy remembered: that the rules had punishments. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. To be silly, my rule was "You have to say 'I love you' 5 times a day or you will be tickled on your feet." (I added a punishment since Builder Boy thought it was necessary.)
We put the rules up on the wall for all to see since we didn't have a monument to put it on. Builder Boy, when he heard the word "monument" said "oh, like the hieroglyphics!" It's really cool to know that he is learning and retaining. I just hope "a lot of people were put to death" isn't one of those things.
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