Since I have had my 14 yr old son with me during most of my
"Interrupted Cruise" (whereby I cruise for a few days then go back to
work slowly getting my boat from NW FL to the Bahamas), I have been
trying to give him some educatin in that time. Of course he reads a
lot but its mostly thriller mystery novels of doubtful value so here
are a few things I have done.

I taught him about Lat. and Lon. and made him determine the positions
of various places on a globe, a flat map and local charts. Made him
plot our position based on GPS coords. Had him determine time to reach
a particular position, etc.

One question was:

A vessel is taking on water at a rate of 100 gal/hour faster than it
can be pumped out. The captain reports his position to the coast guard
as 28 deg. 32.5 min N. 83 deg. 47.6 min. W. The coast guard sends a
vessel with a pump capable of pumping at a rate of 500 gal/hour from
Tarpon Springs at a maximum speed of 20 kts. The sinking vesseels
capt. knows that he will sink after taking on 7000 lbs. of water.
Will the vessel sink before the coast guard arrives? SHOW YOUR WORK.

I also am having him read the first Hornblower novel as both
literature, geography and history. Of course, I re-read it myself and
then ask written questions.

I know these are trivial questions but although I think his public
school education has been fairly good, it never seems to directly
influence his daily life so I want some practical knowledge that will
also enable him to get good conceptual pictures of concepts.
I'd appreciate comments from educators.