October is over!

It's November already! A lot has been happening in the last two weeks. I'll have to think hard to fill in any important blanks between the last post and this one.

Life Chain was scheduled for Oct 4th but it was raining (and had been raining) really hard. Some people in our area had no power. So, as a county, 5 towns, we rescheduled to the 25th. It was a big hit!

As we came to a stop in the driveway at the end of our big, monthly shopping trip I had an epic flat tire.
Thank you smallish persons who like to play with EVERYTHING, including but not limited to bricks and cement blocks, and who were told REPEATEDLY to not have such things in the driveway because your mother thinks she can straddle such. She can't.

At least we were home.
We only had one spare.
Its time for new tires anyway.

Papa was scheduled to have knee replacement at the beginning of the month but it got rescheduled several times and was on the 19th. Everything went GREAT! But the last two weeks I've had to be devoted to Papa nearly full time (and when I do get to be at home napping is the thing that happens).
He went to stay at a local Rehab place until his get'along gets along better.

Breakfast with Papa 10/22/2015

The week of surgery I was also teaching at Community Bible Study. I'm still in wonder at how God worked all that out. He really was in my comings and goings and interactions with others and my time. He brought the whole thing together - and once again - it was not me. Ain't it grand to be a vessel used for God's glory.
And I'm sure, I learned the most that week. (and I quoted Shakespeare to make a point).

from Community Bible Study, Romans Lesson 10

Papa gave us a scare the next Sunday evening. His leg was HUGE and swollen and tender. So, just in case it was a blood clot we had him carried to the ER.
By the way, when I grow up, I now want to drive ambulances, cause they GET to go fast - I had a great time following Papa to the hospital in the middle of the night - FAST! Woohoo!

I did NOT have a great time at the hospital. I was pretty sure by the next morning that they would soon have to treat at least two people for dehydration and starvation. It was a LONG sleepless night.
Thankfully, it was a bad case of cellulitis. That's a new word for me. It's an infection of the skin and tissue just under the skin. Which was really painful, but with some antibiotics not life threatening.

Last week, the children and I were going to learn (again) lots about the Protestant Reformation leading up to Reformation Day!
What's Reformation Day? Well, on October 31, 1517 . . . you can just read more about there here & here.
But between all of the doings with Papa - and subsequent naps, and praising God for a helpful, loving husband and BIG kids, we didn't.
BUT . . . a sweet friend told us about some other like minded theologians.
So we went and partied with the folks at Heritage Presbyterian in Royston.
It was GREAT, easy on Mama's, well done games and some humorous drama with "Tetzel and Martin."

Stained Glass - because "the church" was the Roman Catholic Church (Catholic = universal)
There were a few "heretics" (like Wycliff & Huss) but they didn't live long.

Luther was studying to be a lawyer but got stuck by lightening,
prayed to St. Anne (alleged mother of the virgin Mary)
and became an Augustinian Monk.

Luther, through study and teaching the scriptures, found fault with the teachings of "the church"
- especially when a dude named Tetzel came around selling indulgences.

Illuminating Scripture with a Monk
& the humorous exchange between the indulgences hawking Tetzel and smarty-pants Luther.

Knock down the False Teachings & the 5 Solas Toss

 There was also a throw the Papel Bull in the fire - but I didn't get a picture of that.

Hunting in the shooting gallery (Black Forest?) & Translating Scripture with Martin Luther

The Cat Game (see below) & our two biggest sticks in the mud.

The little kids were in the Wartburg Castle bouncing up and down while the big kids and I were playing Bingo in hopes of winning fresh baked goods (I'm still a little miffed we didn't win the Black Forest cake).
Suddenly, there was a pretty gray and white kitty cat under our table. (Looked a lot like Henrietta Mama Cat I had when I was little). Of course this pretty kitty caught the attention of several smallish persons.
Then, it caught the attention of Josiah who ran over to me, "I want to pay da tat dame!"
"What?"
"I want to pay da tat dame!"
A wave of understanding washed over me, "Son, the cat is not a game."
But he played it anyway, until the cat got away.
That's Jorja in the purple with her back to us in the picture above (Josiah is on her left in red).
You can see the cat's head and front paw reaching over Jorja's right arm.

And then there's today.
Jacob played a rousing game of hide-and-seek with his "stuffies" this morning.
Of course, stuffies can't hide themselves. He even counted and pretended to forget where they hid (even the ones in plain sight).
Then he had Josiah "take pictures" of himself with his lined up stuffies.
So, Josiah is standing there with hands boxed in front of his face, "click, click. Click, click."
And Jacob begins to jump and wiggle and move in front of the "camera."
"You know what these are called? Motion pictures."

And the crowd went wild. (The crowd being two biggest sisters and the Mama).

We finally hit the reset button on our school lessons and began again this morning.
So, we are back at it. A new normal.

It was all a bad dream

The Barefooted Browns First Day of School - Monday, August 3, 2015

Last night I had a bad dream.
I dreamt we had put all the children in public school.
They had been going four days, one child had been sick for 3 1/2  days, and I was in tears.
Everyone was miserable.
We were on the way to school to bring them back home when I woke up, all upset.

I may very well enjoy a day (or days) of solitude and quiet, but OH what'd I'd be missing if I sent them away to strangers every day.

Our school year has begun and lots of other things have happened. So here's the update.

Where to begin is the problem.
This post will just be that yearly, back to school, overload of information. And I'll link to another post with all the fun  other stuff.

We know that this fall is going to be busy. Being a leader in our Community Bible Study class took up a LOT of my time last year, plus Papa will have a knee surgery in October (with another next spring on the other knee) and we will be taking care of him for a little while afterwards. And we've got field trips, work on the house, and ministry with The Daddy so we started school a little early.

Crazy Lady

There was a point early in July that I panicked. My family was all well aware that it was July because the
crazy woman they live with kept saying, "It's JULY!" and running in circles.
The new school year was quickly approaching, along with all the living life that comes with our largeness, and the end of the last school year was in pieces all over the place. And outside commitments were casting big shadows on everything. (I just realized my last two post, and lack of post, may have come from my overwhelmedness).

Since we've been doing the homeschooling thing for a while now there are somethings we have begun to reuse - just tweaked from year to year. Like our schedule (which is VERY important for this Fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants crazy lady), the checklist (or weekly lesson plans, one for each student), attendance sheets (very colorful doesn't mean better, but this has worked for me for years), school calendar (helps me plan), "Mama's Home School Brain" (aka "my brain" - has also worked for YEARS - this is where all this other stuff is stashed), and dividers (one for each child for the Mama, and the kids have one for each subject in their own binders).

The children are not all officially started in school (state law: Compulsory Attendance Ages: "between 6th and 16th birthdays." Official Code of Georgia Annotated � 20-2-690.1. So we don't sign them up until the school year after they turn 6 years old) BUT all of them have stared school. 

On Monday, August 3rd, early in the morning (like 8:30) the Brown Home Academy began our 2015-16 school year.
We have a new habit of waking the kids at 7 a.m. to pray with The Daddy before he goes to work (unless he goes in early or stays home - then everybody gets to sleep a few more minutes). Then we send the big ones back to the rooms and encourage them to have a quiet devotional time (some go back to sleep) while Mama and the littles sit on the couch and read in The Child's Story Bible (they actually listen, mostly. Josiah often falls back asleep before he makes it to the couch. And I have had to correct this story Bible, but still find it helpful - Know the Word!)
Breakfast & Chores and the day has begun.


Here's this years line-up:

Ava - 11th grade and duel enrolled with Toccoa Falls College Online (begins the 24th)

Autumn - 10th grade

Elijah - 8th grade











Alex - 8th grade

Lora - 5th grade

Jorja - 4th grade












Jacob - 1st grade (finally)

Josiah - Kindergarten (it's taken TWO weeks to learn the sounds for A & B!)








We are trying a few new things this year. Like Writing Strands for the bigger kids and a Morning Board for the littles.

Teaching Central - during the day there's a chair in there, but we have to use it for supper

Top Left: Morning Board; Top Right: Judy Clock I found for $1.50 at the thrift store
Bottom Left: The book cases, the right book case is where the kids stash their stuff
(the big boys shelf looks rather bare, maybe they need more work?)
Middle: I put all the pieces to the morning board on card stock and keep it in a folder.
Middle right: We are also doing (or trying to remember to do) timed math quizzes once or twice a week
- my little weirdos think these are fun (they get two minutes to do as much as they can)
And the bottom (to fill space) is our school verse, 1 Peter 2:9

Josiah is his father's child

For those of you with to much time on your hands (and for posterity) here's our curriculum list for this year with links (cause that's cool). And I'll through in some pictures from our first day so you can skip this boring part and keep smiling.

Language Arts - everybody (but Ava) is using QueensHomeschool Language Lessons,
Middle and High School are using Writing Strands, Memoria Press Literature Guides 
Jorja also uses the Literature Guides
Lora is using the Rod and Staff Reading Text

Highschool girls

Jacob, Lora and Jorja are also doing QueensHomeschool Handwriting Printing and Cursive

(Ava is taking Composition this Fall through TFC - we ran out of things to teach her for Language Arts - "Alas, the student has surpassed the teacher")

Math - Middle and High - Life of Fred
Elementary - Math for a Living Education

Science - still loving Apologia
Ava - Chemistry
Autumn - Physical Science
Elijah & Alex - General Science

Middle School boys

All the little - Zoology 1: Flying Creatures (we started this last year but life happened and we never got close to finishing - try, try again).

History - Autumn is continuing History for Little Pilgrims (again with life happening - though so far she has been more responsible for it and the boys are enjoying it just a little more - maturity does happen, in fits and starts).
Autumn is also doing American History
Ava is taking several short courses Economics (this with this), World Geography (1/2 semester w/TFC), and American Government (this and this)
Elijah, Alex, Lora and Jorja are finally on Book 3 of The Story of the World

5th & 4th grades

Electives -  Spanish - middle and high school
Drama - everyone (except the principal) will be in His Last Days Passion Drama Labor day weekend.
and we are debating doing the Easter Play and Egg Hunt this year
PE - we might do PE with the homeschool group or Emmanuel College.
Art - Ava and Autumn have been given the task of teaching the other children from an art book, they must plan ahead and be ready to teach every Thursday.

Bible - I've saved the best for last
We are currently working through Vol 3 of the What We Believe Series.
This will be our 10th study with Community Bible Study (I think we started in the middle of the year so technically we're in our 9 1/2 year - I started in January after Jorja was born - NINE years ago this month!!! Good grief!) This year, beginning Aug. 26, we will be studying Romans. I'm still the Associate Teaching Director and I'm so excited to start another year.

1st grade and Kindergarten

Our class cannot currently support a Teen class (ages 14+ or 9th-12th grade), which means I'm looking for some other study for the big girls. Please pray as we seek God's guidance.
There are other Community Bible Study classes all over the place, day/evening, men/women/co-ed.
Check this link for a class, prayer group, or how to start a class near you.

Is that it?

For now . . .


Here's some more cuteness for your enjoyment.

First Day of School 2015-16
Top: Jorja checking out her new box'o'stuff; Alex and Ava cracking books
Middle: Josiah got to hold the Bible for pledge time on the first day; Lora's box'o'stuff; Lora doing reading
Bottom: Little doing something else under bossy's Jorja's direction so Mama could help others; Autumn doing Spanish

The clan - Josiah was back there but decided to
try to climb the basketball goal in his suit instead

Josiah doing math

Ava ordering college books!

Last Friday's TCCHE Back to School Party at the lake

We've also had a birthday, did a consignment sale, and went to a concert. That will just have to be another post.
Good night!

January 2015

January was a busy month.
But not very busy for my camera.

We celebrated the anniversary of my mother's 27th birthday.
We invited all who could come to show up and surprise her. I was sure me or Rick would let the cat out of the bag - and we both got real close - but she was surprised.
Some friends from work, her brother, two sisters, two brother-in-loves, two daughters, a son-in-love, a nephew, and 8 grandyoung'uns all showed up to show her love.

Mama & Melba, the table, Uncle Larry conversing with Jacob (who made time to converse with everyone), Mama and Aunt Melba again, the kid's end of the table.

After lunch Mama, Aunt Melba and I went shopping. What fun we had!
There's no question who I'm related to.
Then we took Aunt Melba back to Uncle Larry's where her and Uncle Mike stayed that weekend, and ate ice cream and visited. I also know where I get my story telling ability from.
Then I got to bring my Mama home with me.
Blessed. Blessed.

One day the littles and I went to play at the park in Commerce with our Chance. (I don't recall what Ann and I were supposed to be doing or exchanging but we had fun with our little friend).

Babies at the Civil War memorial

You may think that this is a picture of children sitting awkwardly on a bench, but you'd be wrong.
This is a picture of children sailors in a small boat.
That is not my shadow. That is the shadow of an invisible woman.
You stand corrected.

We've done school - unwillingly.

Boys doing their science lesson. We LOVE Apologia - in Lesson 7: Life in the Blood of Anatomy and Physiology they heard/read the gospel, the need for salvation, and a call to believe in Jesus.
Lora used the computer "for real" working on a project.
The littles making bird nest. They are inventive!

I taught at CBS twice. Ladies Toccoa/Lavonia Community Bible Study

My "spare child" is staying home.
This year I began to "tutor" Brent. He was a quiet addition to our little homeschool.
I've been praying for him and his mother all year. That they would draw closer to the Lord. That Brent would be saved. That Melanie would take more interest in his education.
Over Christmas break she got a new job working weekend shift. She was free-er to do stuff with us.
She came over last Thursday evening apologizing for bringing "bad news". But I was delighted.
She has decided to teach him at home! Praise be!
AND she plans to join CBS with him!
I'm still a phone call away and intend to "help" and encourage and drag them along to events with us. But what an answer to prayer! And quick!
Sometimes we want quick answers and have to wait. Sometimes we think the answers will take years and happen in just a few short months.
His timing is amazing!

And our "school" as returned almost to normal - for us. Brent is missed. The quiet is a little quieter.
For the right family/child I'd "tutor" again. If only to see prayers answered.

Happy Groundhog Day! 

General Beauregard Lee, 

confidently standing in the early morning sun, 

declared we only have 6 weeks till Spring! 

School Plans this time

Jules-Alexis Muenier - La Leçon de catéchisme

What's happening at the Brown Home Academy in the 2014-2015 school year?

So, this post will only interest a few. Perhaps, in a few years it will just be a nice way to remember "How in the world did I ever do that?!?!" Because it won't be long and we'll begin to graduate'em and my class size will begin to decrease rather than all the increasing it's done every year. And this year we've had a big increase. But we've also had a tad more self-discipline and are trying to learn to be better stewards of time (works in progress).

This year Jacob is finally serious about learning, so long as it doesn't take up to much time and part of it seems fun. And Josiah will sit still for just a few minutes. Not sure with him how much is actually being retained but at least he's being "exposed" to learning (rather than just walking around exposing himself).
And we've added Brent who is 29 days younger than Alex but 3 times his size. It's like a chihuahua next to a doberman, although while the latter boy very much resembles a chihuahua the former is much more docile. He's cute and sweet and is finally adjusting to life with the Brown clan (we may be a little "different" than he's accustomed). His Papa brings him punctually each morning and that helps us remember to get up.

This year, in order to attempt to get it all mostly done I made a big Daily Schedule. Dividing the day  into 30 minute increments and began plugging in things to do - beginning with me getting up early and doing my very own prayer and devotions (fall off the horse, get back on) and including eating and chores and an extra section for Wednesdays when we go to Community Bible Study (CBS).

In the middle of doing that I was planning lessons - or lesson flow for all the subjects being taught this year - including time on the computer for various things like foreign language.

Top left: Checklist on clipboard on top of "Mama's Brian's"
innards; Top right: close up of Jacob's Weekly Checklist;
Bottom Right: Mama's Home School Brain - aka: Mama's Brain
Bottom left: Josiah's practice from a few weeks ago (just cause) 

To aid in planning for each child I used  Weekly Checklist (taken directly from the schedule) kept in Mama's Homeschool Brain (the same one I've used for many years). Each person (students and the teacher) has a clipboard with their own Weekly Checklist. They check off as they complete each assignment and any thing on loose papers (or not in a workbook) is kept in the clipboard behind the checklist until the end of the week. Over the weekend the teacher (that's me) checks each students work. Continuing assignments (like Science) are placed back under the new weeks checklist as well as worksheets for the next week and completed work is placed sideways on top to be put neatly away in their own binder (everybody's got a binder with dividers).

Attendance, and High School Planning

Also found in Mama's Brain is Attendance charts (one per child - we no longer have to turn them in BUT we are responsible legally for doing 180 days of "school" and so I do keep attendance. Plus, if any "official" ever wants to question us I've got plenty of documentation - and HSLDA - to back us up) and High School planning/records (so we can formulate a transcript sooner than we'd like to think). We do give credit for each class completed and they must have a certain number to graduate (sounds a lot like real school when they get to High School - bleck!)

Pray Pledge Praise Ponder signs;
Pledges, the Christian Flag, school rules
and school verse
Stuff on the walls: math, history, French

We start each day (just like last year) with Pray, Pledge, Praise & Ponder. We don't always do both of the last two but we try.
I normally pray but often ask one of the bigger children to ask blessings on our day. Then we Pledge the American flag, the Christian flag and the Bible and sometimes we remember to recite our school verse, 1 Peter 2:9.
We sometimes sing our Praises and we learned the song "Dare to be a Daniel" (verse by verse) which we counted for praise and ponder.
We started a Bible Study book over the summer and so we did that for Bible time until CBS started then we finished it up for our Ponderations.  And now we've re-begun the Catechism for Young Children. We started this a few years ago but never made it through. Gene and I felt that we needed to try again. This will also keep me free from looking for new things to ponder for a little while.
(those colored links will take you to a YouTube video and a Catechism website so you'll know what I'm talking about - not too very many years ago I'd never heard of such things).

And here's the lowdown on curriculum this year from the School Curriculum Coordinator (that's me too).

Bible & Math

Bible: We finished Volume 2 of the What We Believe Series: Who Am I? And What Am I Doing Here? ; in CBS we are studying Servants of God: Joshua through 2 Samuel.

Math: The bigger children (Ava, Autumn, Elijah, Alex & Brent) are doing Life of Fred. Each one is just where ever they need to be. I had them begin at the beginning (Apples) last year (except Brent who began this year) and work at their own pace. So some have made it to Algebra and other are in Intermediate Arithmetic books.
The littler children (Lora, Jorja & Jacob) are doing Math Lessons for a Living Education. And Josiah is just learning his numbers with Picture my Numbers!
I just realized that I got all my math books from Queens Homeschooling.

Language Lessons, Literature, Handwriting

Language Arts: Come to think of it, I got a lot of our language arts books from Queens too!
Everyone but Ava is doing their Language Lessons.
Jacob's is modified because he is also doing Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons as well as Donna Young's 133 Manuscript Handwriting Lessons for Beginners which follow that learning to reading book. So, in his Language Lessons I leave out the lessons about letters and we practice singing the alphabet or writing his name on those days.
Ava is on the final book in the Learning Language Arts Through Literature: The Gold Book - British Literature. We are considering letting her take some college courses online next year since she'll have completed what we have planned for her. Otherwise she'll read/study classics not covered already.
Brent is just beginning Cursive handwriting and using the same thing I started everyone else on New American Cursive. The other big kids are supposed to do some of their assignments in cursive. (They need reminding often).
Lora and Jorja are using Pictures in Cursive: Book A. I love the beautiful art and thoughtfulness that Queen's puts into their books. I have the girls read the sentences to me when we begin a new picture (week - but our weeks are wonky), then they copy one sentence a day. When they finish Book A we'll go to Book B.
We are working hard on reading comprehension this year! Everyone (except Ava and Jacob and Josiah) are doing book/literature studies by Memoria Press. Love these books! I have the children
read on day one then do the questions and activities on day two (looks like: Day 1 = Monday/Thursday & Day 2 = Tuesday/Friday).
I bought through the 5th grade level last year and plan to buy the rest this year. It seems to be a good investment.

Science and History

Science: We are still doing Apologia Science.
Ava is in Biology. Autumn is in General Science.
Those 3 boys are doing Human Anatomy and Physiology. And the 4 littlers are in Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day.
Thankfully, I can hand Ava and Autumn their Lesson Plans and theirs is self guided. The boys need prodding but also receive a Lesson plan to complete and work together. They listen to the books author, Jeannie Fulbright, read to them on MP3 (at the computer).
I'm reading Zoology 1 to the littles. We are enjoying learning about birds together. Even the little boys enjoy most of it.

History: The little girls and the 3 boys are continuing The Story of the World. We are still working our way through Volume 2: The Middle Ages. But since we are sticking to our schedule we are making better progress this year. This is still the first subject that seems to get pushed to the side while life happens but this year is going much better.
For Ava and Autumn we concocted our own syllabus for United States Studies in which the girls are to research a time period and turn in a report every two to three weeks. We, the school administration, just had a very lengthy conversation about this today. And are rethinking it. They are doing the work but we just don't think it is cohesive or that they are actually learning much, plus they are not taking advantage of all their resources (like the library), and their work is never complete. So while it looks like a great plan on paper, we may have over thunk it and are researching other options.
Autumn is teaching the little boys their history (go back and read that again! - she's doing a pretty good job). They are doing History for Little Pilgrims. This is one of my favorite books. Cute & easy! You can do as little or as much for each chapter/lesson as you'd like. So, I put everything needed for several weeks, including my lesson plans, into a manila folder and Autumn does the work.
Really takes a small load off of the mother and gives her good reading and teaching experience!

Electives: Rosetta Stone Spanish for Ava, Autumn, Elijah & Alex - each works at their own pace and
completes the supplemental, printable workbooks. (I called with several questions last year and wound up getting a GREAT deal and had another homeschool mother answering my questions. BIG recommendation!)
Hooked on French for Lora and Jorja. We are having a great time learning French together (finally something I know a little about!). (Nana picked up a "3-level program" at a yard sale and brought it to us. So, the price on this was better than great.)
For an easy foreign language program for younger children this is pretty good - not to hard. It says ages 4-6 but I think it may be helpful to either not read at all or be a reader already (know English) before trying to learn this way (unless suddenly your moving to France - in which case this would teach you the basics). It's got the same logo and look as Hooked on Phonics and published by Educated Products, LLC 2006 but I can't find it new online - I'm wondering if they still make it. It is on Amazon.
Ava worked through Health last year and this year Autumn is doing likewise. When Autumn finishes Health I'll have them begin Music together so they can listen to the accompanying CD's together.
Ava also completed Learning How to Learn - just as a guinea pig course. I haven't had time to put to much though into how to use it so I gave it to her. It's all about how to research to find things and use things like dictionaries, encyclopedias, phone books and such. I may use it in parts if I find someone is struggling to remember how to do what they should already know to do and it may come in handy with the little boys as they get older.

The big girls an I also had hoped to do Logic - but that's gotten pushed to the side. It will turn back up somewhere. 

Note that I wrote lunch and breaks into my schedule. I TRY to limit phone-calls to these times as well as my own study time and preparation for our little homeschool as well as CBS and Franklin County Right to Life and an occasional nap. I've tried to train myself to do certain chores (like mop and clean the bathroom) on certain days. But I am a work in progress. This homemaker thing does not come easy to me (cause cleaning is NO fun! - unless you dance or hire a maid - guess I'm gonna be dancing). 

Gene, our principle and eldest student, is half way through his fall semester with Liberty University Online and plans to have his Associates Degree in Religion in his hand next May. Hooray! 

We are ready for him to be done!

So that's what's happening with the students and faculty at BHA!

Love ya'll!

Up till now

I'll try not to overwhelm you with pictures from our recent adventures but I'm really thankful for this phone I didn't want and it's ability to take pretty decent pictures even after being run over by several cars.
I've realized I haven't blogged much this year when Ava decided that she wanted to blog. She has written a "guest post" and may have others as "Miss Modesty." We published her first post this morning. You can read it here. (or just scroll down).
We, as her parents, are VERY encouraged by her heart, her morals, her desire to help and encourage others, her willingness to be prompted by God's Word, and to fulfill those promptings in her own life (and on this blog). And that she worked on her post for several weeks and brought it to us. She might just turn out okay. (sigh of momentary relief)

Since I've started with last things first we'll just keep to it and run history backwards.
Thursday, we traveled a LONG way with the Petitt boys and their fabulous mother to Springer Mountain, where the Appalachian Trail begins and made the 0.9 mile hike up and back. It was a beautiful day for it.

Getting there and back

Ode to Springer Mountain
to the tune of "On Top of Spaghetti "

On top of Springer Mountain

All covered with trees,

Mother lost 15 pounds

when she fell on her knees.

We got to the top

There was a swell view,

Then we went back down.

And all said "phew!"

Group at the top, Trail sign from 1934, The children with Joe the hiker (got to the top with us after walking 5 days from somewhere in North Carolina), and the view from my resting place at the top (rocks make great chairs)

"Wildlife" seen along the hike: Josiah and Jacob; Jorja; Brent (resting with this old lady); Anne examining leaves with the littles (in true homeschooler fashion), the littles: Lora, Chance, Josiah, Jacob, Jorja (who was crying); and Josiah when he got to the top and did what I felt like doing.

Recently Gene had fall break from school, so we all took a break from school. We tried hard not to learn anything but that's just sorta what we do. Like on the Magic School Bus:

Miss Frizzle: Seatbelts, everyone!

Arnold: *Please* let this be a normal field trip.

All: With the Frizz? No way!

And: Miss Frizzle: Take chances, make mistakes, get messy.

So, we went camping (aka: a vacation that is really an extended field trip).

Our Camp Site 

Students finding a crawl-dad, Students at the water-wheel house,
Students with The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Statue, The Parents,
Students discovering a window in the water-wheel house.

Doing Stuff: Top: Hiking
Bottom: Square Dancing and Clogging
(the girls - most of us - joined in before we left)

Cool stuff we saw

The week before that we had school pictures taken - and then we went to Lake Hartwell and took our own.

BHA Students 2014

Those Brown girls

Those Brown boys

My "spare kid" Brent - cutie pie!

Those Brown Darlings

"What a nice little monkey," he thought.
"I would like to take him home with me."

And the week before that we stood on the side of the road for Life Chain 2014 (which we do every year).

The Daddy and some littles and Aunt Courtney

Life Chain 2014 - Lavonia, GA

We've gone on other "field trips" this year (aka: lets get out of the house and go walk around and find stuff = science/history/PE/math).

We've gone to Tugaloo

At Tugaloo 

And we've walked up a billion stairs at Tallulah Gorge.

The gang, the film, Grandfather snail, the view, the suspension bridge, the buzzard 

The gaggle, the turkeys, some plant, nearing the end (after the billion stairs)

And every Wednesday since the end of August (or since Jorja was baby) we've gone to Community Bible Study where we have and are learning LOTS!
Last Spring the Lord called this Mama to be Associate Teaching Director (ATD). The ATD (still has to look at her name tag to remember her title) supports the Teaching Director (which isn't hard since it's dear, precious Cindy), shepherd the Core Leaders (which is only hard because they are her mentors - mothers and grandmothers - but a great delight), welcome visitors (which is fun because she gets to talk about CBS and if she messes up the "first day sphill" they are new and don't know the difference), play nicely with the other leaders (Children's Director Michelle, Coordinator June, and Prayer Chairman Elinor - all sweet, smart and patient - so more delightfulness), and sometimes teach or give the weekly lecture in place of Cindy (which is overwhelming, and lots of work - time and effort and prayer - but has been a great time of being with God and having Him teach me through His Word - and the delivery has been FUN!)
I'm really enjoying this "job" God has called me to this year! I've still got a whole lot to learn but with much prayer and trust God's using "even me." He provides the words and I provide my time and stand there with my mouth open. It's amazing.

"He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it."

I Thessalonians 5:24

If you'd like to learn what we are learning so far in Joshua and Judges or just learn more about our class you can go to the class website toccoalavonia.cbsclass.org and listen to the lectures. (I've taught Lessons 5, 8 and 9 so far).

And there's this truth:

So, I think your caught up. 

I've not posted about what we are doing in school this year or how I'm managing all nine students plus the other stuff I do. Some of it is still experimental. (And we've just finished week 11) I'll work on that post next. 

Love ya'll!