Read, read, read...

Quite a jumble of books, I know, and yet it remains in perpetual disorder despite our attempts at organization. This bookshelf beside the boys' room holds a collection of mostly "Cheez Puff" books, which is our family's way of describing a book that's fun and yet is not particularly nutritious for mental growth. The pictures below help explain how we approach reading in our home...These totes hold quite a few recommended readers from various collections, lists, classics, and assorted sources. The white label has a number (like 6, for example), which indicates the grade in which the student will read a particular group of books. We have a total of 12 totes, one for each grade, although the upper levels are still being added to according to availability of funds. Each tote contains roughly 75-100 books that are to be read in each grade. These choices include difficult classics, the sciences (different per grade), geography (a different nation per year), some living math, Christian missions, general readers, poetry, and Spanish novels.

Here is an over-shot of tote #6, which belongs to Josiah this year. The children really enjoy reading and can be trusted to complete their totes, although last year we had to carry a few over into this year, as well, in order for 2 of the children to finish their readings.

General Storage for Objets d'Junk

Well, here it is...a flagrant display of borderline disorderliness. The drawers contain art supplies for the kids' frequent art competitions. The books are The Great Books series, a recent gift from a very, very kind friend. The two white crates hold art supplies that are available for "after your school is done" fun projects. The filing cabinet is stuffed with art paper. There are two more areas of our schoolroom to display, and then we'll be discussing how we school and the thoughts behind our choices.

Entertainment Area

Need I say more? Here is our area for videos, explanations on the chalkboard, and "stuff". The Girl likes to climb on the chair and draw with chalk. Maybe she'll be a teacher?...

K-12 plans

This is one of our "main" shelves in the schoolroom. It is labeled for K - 12 grades with a space for English materials used in that grade and another space for Spanish books for the grade. I try to begin reading lessons when the child is 4 years old; we read exclusively in Spanish until he is a strong reader, and then a transition into English is made. The Girl and Branch are in this stage, although they are a little older than usual. The K-12 bookshelf helps me each year to know what to use per grade. There is also a corresponding Curriculum Scope folder that I use to add in titles of books that are consumable, projects, etc. for that grade. The spaces that look a little bare are in current use.

History in the Making?

These shelves look very jumbled, don't they? The top shelf on the right is in "current" use, so I'm not as careful when I return the books. The other shelves are labeled for chronological history. The kids read the history and science/health books for their grade level, but we also do about 1 hour of historical readings each day, together. These readings include notebook sheets, maps, coloring pages, and other materials related to our chronological study of history. This is one of our favorite times of day. Our "current" books are downstairs where they are more accessible for reading; books on the shelves are not in current use and will not be taken down until we cycle through history again, which should be around August. We are in our 4th cycle through history, beginning from the Ancients up through Modern America. Every year it becomes more interesting, as the books we use are more challenging and thought-provoking.

The World of Technology

Our computer gets a lot of use. It isn't the biggest and the best, but it works for us. All of the kids are working diligently on typing skills, hoping to win a prize by August. Poppins will pay $5.00 to each student who can type 55 words a minute, so they like to practice. The program we use also has fun typing games, so it's both beneficial and enjoyable. The blue CD holder on the desk contains educational ROMS that Branch and The Girl can use after their book work is finished. We use the computer to watch educational shows as well (offered by the Discovery Channel). Since we don't have TV, this is fun entertainment for us (and Mean Ol' Mama enjoys the educational aspect of the shows).

Language Center

This is my reference shelf for languages. The kids have their workbooks, translation notebooks, etc. in their own caddies. There is quite a compilation of different titles and books that I pick up in odd places. We work towards 5-level language development: Hearing, Speaking, Reading, Writing, & Thinking. We're hoping to produce a few translators out of the bunch, so we tend to be too-picky about grammar and translation exercises. I think that the exposure to different languages is good for us all, but sometimes the language line gets a little blurry and we mix words in sentences and/or word endings in another language. Oh, well...we're still a work in progress...

Starting the Schoolroom Tour

And so, we begin the tour with a view of the main section. These are the tables and desks for each student, although The Girl's desk is not seen here. They have quite a few books to keep organized, so their caddies work well. Each child uses a specific color for notebooks, pencils, and accessories. This helps quite a bit with organization, although the best laid plans of mice and men don't often transfer on a daily basis. Organization is a constant process and daily re-evaluation for us. This room is upstairs, directly over the living room. This is one of my favorite places, probably because I have a debilitating weakness for...books...ah, sweet, sweet books...

Three-Step Schooling

We try to maintain a balance of 3 in our schooling: Arts & Culture, Academia, & Practicum. The picture here shows a lamp that Anders finished this afternoon in his Shop with Pop time (Pop is his grandfather, who lives next door, and has an extremely messy shop filled with extremely powerful machines). We encourage the kids to learn all types of handiwork and practical skills, such as gardening, animal husbandry (they all take care of poultry & processing), and general abilities such as housework, mechanics, and physical education.
The next photo shows Stennes working on his guitar pieces for this week. Poppins really enjoys music and highly encourages any interest the kids may have in this area. They are required to learn classical (and traditional) guitar and piano. All other instruments depend on their faithfulness in practice.

Academia includes plain ol' book work. Sometimes there is a certain level of drudgery, but we try to keep plugging away at it the best we can. The photo below shows The Girl working on her daily assignment. It isn't quite the 3 R's, but so far it has worked for us and the goals we have as a family.

Memory Method

Poppins and I believe that a good memory system both encourages and supports the education and discipline of a student. Accordingly, two years ago we began a more structured memory program in the home. Above is our memory box. FOM POW has a personal meaning for our family that is a little long-winded to explain on the web. If you see me and you're interested, I'll be glad to explain the meaning.
Below is the inside of the box with dividers that consist of the following sections : Daily, Monday through Friday tabs, Even and Odd tabs, and numbers 1-31.

The system is easy to follow. For example, today we did the Daily, Monday, 19 (for the date), and Odd (because 19 is an odd number). The picture below shows the cards we did, minus the Daily. On the cards are songs we review, poetry, scientific data, Latin declensions, etc. The booklet is the Catechism. Each day also has a packet of 24 Scripture cards for review (12 English/ 12 Spanish). Whatever we want to add is just written on a card or placed behind the appropriate tab. Obviously, 1-31 gets less review, just once a month. Daily is what we're really working on, Odd and Even are every other day, and Monday-Friday, once a week. This system keeps the memory work fresh and reviewed in a nicely methodological fashion. We first saw this on a site for homeschoolers who follow a specific curriculum. The FOM POW box has really blessed our family. We spend about

1 - 1 1/2 hours every morning with FOM POW. We think it's worth the effort...

Summer Sabbatical Thoughts

We are giving serious consideration to a change for the summer months. The boys will be participating on Mondays in a group class with their 2 cousins. They will receive 1 1/2 hour instruction on perfecting their performance skills as a band/singing/performing group. We're really excited about this. We're hoping to add Josiah on sax and Levi on trumpet to create a nouveau-mariachi style band. Right now we have Caleb on mandolin, Josiah on bass, Levi on banjo, Stennes on 12-string lead, Anders on 6-string, and the little ones helping with the vocals. Branch is slated to begin violin as soon as it arrives (backorder, wouldn't ya know?), but he will be playing baritone uke in the band until his violin skills reach performance level. We generally encourage them to play as soon as they can, because the other boys play well enough to cover a beginner's mistakes.
So, how does all of this affect our summer? Well, we're looking at a mentorship-type schedule, leaving the texts behind for 3 months in lieu of personal pursuits as directed by Mommy & Daddy. They still have KP duty, Latin, Greek, guitar, piano, (and their personal "specialty" instruments), chronological readings through history (we're working through the upper-level classics), memory work for performances, and whatever they choose to study . So far, Josiah has been the first to hand in his list: he wants to work with Daddy in planting fruit trees, Boy Band time & just time to "jam", and he wants to really strengthen his French. We're planning to take their areas of expressed interest, add in a basic schedule of study (books, reports, etc.), a mentor meeting weekly, and then turn them loose to discover what interests them in those areas. We'll see. This is a change for us and the first attempt at a sabbatical from their regular studies. I'm excited, though, and the children are enjoying the thought of independence in their education, at least for 3 months.
Branch and The Girl will still have regular classes (about 2/3 hours daily) because they read only in Spanish, so we really need to work on their English reading and basic math skills. We'll let you know when the boys have their Personal Pursuit lists compiled, and we'll also let you know how this Sabbatical is working for us.

Making it Work

Here is the Command Center of the home. The chart has chores for each child for 5 days/week. These chores are to be done for one month and then they are switched to the next child. This way each gets a chance to practice different jobs in the home. There are 3 chores listed on each small paper: after breakfast, after lunch, and before sleep. The two small chalkboards have each child's name listed. One is "Caught Ya" ( a check mark for doing something extraordinarily good and worth noting) ; the other chalkboard is BTHW (Big Trouble, Hot Water), which will be discussed with Daddy later in the evening.
The poster below has a list of the goals we're working on as a family. "Austinson Kingdom Relationships" is the title, and we add to the different areas of skill development goals and interpersonal relationship goals as the need arises or as we strengthen a specific area within our family. We review these goals on Monday mornings to make sure we all understand that there is a purpose for our lives and that Mommy and Daddy are bringing the family in a certain direction. The little sticky pads are for quotes and other interesting tidbits that go well with the goals for our family. The picture on the left is of an impoverished area in India. We posted it to remind ourselves that God is good to us. We also use that picture to understand why we choose to eat third world foods (as training for the boys' future) and why we work on self-denial.

Tomatoes and Latin???

Stennes is filling out his Latin conjugation sheet, and I thought that it was quite a contrast: Latin and tomatoes. I hope that his schoolwork brings forth good fruit as the tomato plant did. Latin is quite a challenge, especially since there are limited offerings for children. Right now the older three are working through a high school book together. We should be done with the basics in November and move into the second book, which will be translating some of Cicero's writings. We have learned so much together through this course. Not only is our own language becoming more concise and meaningful to us, but we are learning how to eat the Latin elephant: one bite at a time. Sometimes that elephant sure is tough to chew, but I believe the final results of mental discipline and language development will be worth it all.

A little organization

I purchased these Student Apprentice modules from Staples a few years ago. They swivel and hold an enormous amount of books. These are Branch's (forefront) and Josiah's, placed on their work table. At least they keep the books fairly organized each day, although we have been known to lose one or two, only to be found in an odd corner. Such is life with six kids. We're in a bit of transition in our homeschool journey; sometimes it seems as if we're not accomplishing our plans and goals, but we're "...easing along, easing along..." (as was told to us by an older gentleman).

An account of our schooling

Well, the picture doesn't show up very clearly , but the message of the paddle is imminently understandable:

Austinson Board of Education.

We try to apply the rod of correction and discipline to the mind and spirit. Our school is unique. We work at dying to self and embracing the struggle of learning. Sometimes it goes well; other days, it's more of "living life as it comes". Either way, we give it our best and try to please God with our earnest attempts at being ready for what He sends our way. We hope you'll join us as we chronicle our days here at Sassafras Hill Academy.