Kerry Beck

Yesterday we visited Colonial Williamsburg. I thought it would be croweded on Memorial Day, but surprisingly, it wasn’t! Since it wasn’t crowded, we were able to interact with all the trades people and guides. Every Memorial Day, they honor soldiers who have given their lives for freedom in American. Watching revolutionary soldiers march from the Governor’s Palace to Prentis Hall, we were able to watch gun salutes to those soldiers.

One of our first stops was George Wythe’s home. The Wythes never had children, but Mr. Wythe poured his life into men who changed the world through America. Men like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were mentored by George Wythe, one of the greatest minds in law at that time. Thomas Jefferson spent 5 winters studying under George Wythe and living in the Raleigh Tavern at the other end of town.

We learned a lot about the trades of that time. Did you know there weren’t many tradesmen in Williamsburg until the War for Independence because Williamsburg colonists bought most of their goods directly from England.? When Virginia broke away from England, they had to learn how to survive on their own, which is the time more trades people came to town. Did you know that Colonial Williamsburg has its own apprentice program with master tradesmen.

One of my favorite tours was the Capitol building…not so much about the building, but our tour guide gave a great overview of the time period. I was reminded that the Revolutionary War was not jsut about the stamp act and tea act. We discussed the huge debt from the French & Indian War was one of the reasons for the taxes. But remember, the colonists were not against taxes. They were against taxes from Parliament. They paid taxes to Virginia and they had an arrangement with the king. But Parliament had no authority over the colonists and had no right to tax them or issue laws for them.

Interestingly, Williamsburg was a divided city when it came to independence from England. They saw themselves as British first and then colonists. But when their rights and freedoms were taken away, they fought for life & liberty. We don’t really understand what possesses a people to fight for liberty, but I got a glimpse of it yesterday.

Everyone enjoyed the last house we toured, James Geddy House & Foundry. I think Hunter enjoyed the hoop games outside most of all. But then he joined us in the foundry to watch a silver spoon being poured and melted again. Geddy was a businessman of the 18th century. Maybe that’s why we related to his home and business. Plus, we had a great tour guide of Geddy’s home.

The young man in the foundry is not in the apprentice program, but volunteers while he attends school. He made an interesting remark before we left. He said,”It’s pretty cool to be doing the same work (silversmith) at the same bench with some of the same tools as a silversmith over 200 years ago.”

It was so much fun meeting some you last weekend at the North Carolina homeschool convention. We were all encouraged by those we met. Thanks for stopping by our booth. We will be in Virginia at HEAV on June 7-9. If you’re there, please stop by our booth.

Instead of writing an article, I wanted to let you know I’ll be posting pictures and lessons we are learning on our vacation. We were first reminded at Duke University of the different worldview we have compared to those who founded and built Duke. Read my post to see how architecture tells the worldview of the day.

Yesterday we toured Colonial Williamsburg. I still need to download the pics to get them on my blog, but I’m sure you’ll learn some history lessons from my post. You can even share these with your kids.

Keep coming back to my blog this week and next. When we have internet service, I’ll write a post or upload some pics.

Have a wonderful week,
Kerry

ps. My kids (14 & 19yo) learned alot from listening to Jim Weiss’ workshop last weekend. He is one of the best storytellers. You can use his cds to teach history and character quite easily. When you buy a cd, PLEASE tell them that Kerry Beck sent you. I don’t make any sales commission, but I’d love for them to know we told you about their excellent recordings.
http://www.greathall.com/

Last night I was awakened to a popping sound and asked Steve if it was gunfire. He said it was muffled, so he didn’t think so, but we took precautions just the same. I wondered if it was firecrackers since it sounded like last July 4.

Before church this morning, we discovered a sniper opened fire on our county sheriff office and took refuge in a beautiful, old church across the street. It was less than 5 blocks from our home. No wonder we could hear the constant popping so well.

All I could think of this morning was we were suppose to be at a wedding in that stately church yesterday afternoon, but our daughter’s softball game kept us out of town.

We are okay, but as CNN reports, there are 3 dead and several injured. Please pray for the families of the victims, as well as the opportunity to share real answers from God’s Word. When these events happen, many ask why God allows evil in this world. It is a good opportunity to share the truth.

Blessings,
Kerry Beck

Gentry’s team won third place in the state tournament. Pretty good, considering they weren’t expected to win district at the beginning of the season.

Yesterday, we began softball around noon and ended about 7:30pm. Whew…it was a very long day, with very short breaks between games. It seemed like our team was always the last one to finish their game.

We lost the first game.

The second game we won in overtime. At the end of the day, our scorekeeper came up to Gentry and told her she batted 1000 in this game. For those of you not into softball, that’s a perfect round of hitting and getting on base!!! (another proud mama moment).

They had a 15 minute break before their third and final game. Gentry got on base again, giving her 5 for 5 at the plate. Her team won, so we are getting ready for another day of softball.

My middle daughter, Gentry, left this morning for the state softball tournament with the local high school. The first game was 1 1/2 hours away this afternoon…and it was a nail-biter. We were down 3-2 in the fifth when Gentry hit the ball and made it to first on an overthrow. The next girl bunted and Gentry slid into third. They overthrew third so Gentry got up and slid into home. She tied the game.

In the bottom of the seventh and last inning, we were tied. The first batter got on base. The next two were out. Our starting batter was up and they tried to walk her. But, she hit in the winning run.

The tournament continues tomorrow.

BTW…Gentry won player of the game

From a proud mama