Our lives…
We continue to be very busy checking blocks for the move. I really had no idea it would cost this much to prepare to move overseas. Call me naive, but I have been shocked by it all. I am composing a post dedicated to an overseas PCS. The most stressful part is just getting the first domino to fall so that the others can follow suit. This first domino is medical evaluations and let me tell you that it isn’t easy to get 7 people to the doctor in a timely manner. Not with the government medical system known as Army Medicine.
One very cool thing from this past week: my birthday. Or really, my birthday present. It was not a memorable number, but hubby gave me a memorable gift 🙂 He purchased it before the craziness happened with trying to get overseas. If he would have waited, we would have held on the expenditure. I was gifted an SLR camera!! I am blown away by the difference in picture quality!!
That is my 6yr old making a homemade bday card (those are the best!!), the squirrel pirate eating the birdseed, my very first dandelion of the season, and the Eastern Song Sparrow. I am working on a few posts of Bird Feeder Sightings of the various places we have lived. Such interesting creatures in this world!!
Homeschool…
So many things happened during the later 1800’s. Europe experienced another major war that would eventually unify Germany under Prussian rule. The city of Chicago was almost completely destroyed by a fire. Many new inventions graced our world. Thankfully, folks began to wake up and take notice of details of our Industrial Revolution. The output was amazing, but what went into the product was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears…not all in a good way.
History:
~ This time period saw the industrial revolution come to the battlefield as weapons were created for precision and destructive power. This was first done by Prussia with a large-scale rotator gun that decimated the opposition with their single shot, barrel loaders.
~The first portable, ‘affordable’, hand-held camera was created by George Eastman. His first Kodak camera was $25, which was 3 months wages for middle class folks.
~ George Eastman committed suicide after discovering he had a degenerative spinal disease.
~ Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, but his heart and soul belonged to teaching deaf children.
~ Hellen Keller was a student of Alexander Graham Bell. His teaching and mentoring touched her deeply. She dedicated her autobiography to him.
To ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL
Who has taught the deaf to speak and enabled the listening ear to hear speech from the Atlantic to the Rockies, I dedicate the Story Of My Life.
~ Hellen Keller The Story Of My Life
Books:
Videos:
- Alexander Graham Bell. From Biography.com, this 43m video gave an excellent overview of Bell’s life.
- Franco Prussian War. Great history in this 44min video. Does show battle scenes and people portraying death in battle, but does not show gruesome bloody scenes.
- George Eastman. Inventor of the Kodak camera and Kodak company. PBS documentary split into 3 parts, each is about 14min long.
- The Suez Canal. This 44m documentary is done by Modern Marvels and has excellent pictures along with history of the construction.
- Thomas Alva Edison.
Links to share…
If you are having trouble with writing prompts, I highly recommend the Tuesday Grace Letters from MundainFaithfulness. This coming week is a more free prompt. Whoever you would wish to write a letter of grace to, write it!
Also, I wrote this week about True Beauty. It was inspired by a video that went around FaceBook this past week.
Frozen Party…
We had a ‘frozen’ party this week. We were waiting for the movie Frozen to come out on video to rent. When I heard that our friends had never seen it, we chose to turn it into a party! We had a great variety of food, watched the movie, then ended up outside for some ball. It was a GREAT day! Especially the part where the moms got to rock on the front porch sipping coffee and talking. Those are the precious moments I hang on to when the Army moves us far away…
Linked in with:
Kay's Little Korner 
Good luck on the move.
I know the military is very different than it was for me back in 70’s and early 80’s. I was very satisfied with the Air Force hospitals and doctors.
Did you see those youtube clips showing the changes of Europe over 1000’s of years. Interesting.
I haven’t seen the video yet. Is it under that title? I would love to check that out! I believe the Air Force just has better everything. The best doctor I have seen in the military PERIOD was my AF doc in Alaska. She was thorough and personal. None of the ones here on Jackson have my respect. I think maybe they are a bit jaded, and I can understand that. The military has changed in several unpleasant way since your day. Even hubby and others have noted it.
Congratulations on the new camera..
Thank you, Claudya! I do love it, but have had to adjust my photo taking style since it’s not longer just a point and click. My kids are teasing me about my bird fetish right now. They are a good learning object 🙂
I liked the coffee in the pretzel picture, AND I liked that I knew exactly which mug it was. Time to go to South Dakota again.
I would love to hit SD again!! So much to see and do! We have done it twice now, and I see why you chose that for our vacation location 3 summers. They haven’t gone down into Jewel Cave yet nor have we done a real hike through the badlands yet.
The picture of Josiah on the floor is a PERFECT “halo” picture.
Haha, you are right, mom! Too bad he pretty much knocked it off shortly after 😉
Lovely week of learning. I’m so looking forward to learning more modern history!
I hope all your trip preparations are going smoothly.
I can fully understand that! While we enjoyed our ancient studies, it was quite a bit of repetition in days with most of those cultures. I feel like we can’t quite get all the info in to our weeks at this point. So much to learn about and just so little time!! Thanks, Claire! I too hope the trip prep smooths out soon 🙂