I've been teaching The Seven Year Old about the Nervous System and I knew he'd enjoy the old Schoolhouse Rock song on the subject. Our Schoolhouse Rock Video is all packed up, but YouTube provides.

Naturally, I had to explain what a Telegraph line was. Not that I'm actually old enough to remember people sending telegrams as a rapid form of communication, but it was pretty funny to hear myself explaining that what they were saying was that the brain is sending a really fast message -- like an e-mail (they don't know about Instant Messaging) from one part of the body to the brain. I'm surprised the kids didn't ask why the nerves didn't just pick up the phone and call.

Schoolhouse Rock may not be up-to-date or even very accurate, but it does help me relive my childhood and realize how the world has changed in the meantime. And since my kidlets rarely get video time, they thought watching anything was pretty nifty.