What's On Your Shelf?

As is customary this time of year, I like many other home educators are pondering our new school year ahead, or for us rather a new "round" of lessons and real learning and I am immediatley drawn to the insight and recommendations that Elizabeth brings up in Keep Your Eyes on Your Own Work and how each family home educates according to it's own rythyms, and that it's going to look different from each other's own families. Also Cay brings up several questions and concerns about how she would "like" to be more of a classical educator, but that's just not really her style. She does find comfort in some great 4Real advice!

Personally, we have come to a very comfortable way of learning that seems to suit our family's needs depending on the circumstances that are presented. I know that God has lead me down our home school path, much of it by trial and error and lots of prayer. We are first and foremost inclined towards the Charlotte Mason method, keeping short lessons in mind and a liberal dose of subjects to choose from. I have found that mixing in some Classical and Montessori and lots of Unschoolish rabbit trails is where we've found our Real Learning comfort zone.

So I'd like to fill you in on how our bookshelves shape our learning and how we use living literature and other medium to fill our minds and our days with real learning and adventures. For starters the shelves that are current and used most days are:

The Math Bookshelf
The History Bookshelf
The Nature & Science Bookshelf
The Catholic Mosaic Bookshelf
The Arts & Crafts Bookshelf
The Music Bookshelf
The Rabbit Trails Bookshelf
The Latin Bookshelf
The Poetry Bookshelf

I will add to them as we add to our learning, I'll probably need to revamp a few of my links as well, so bear with my new system. I hope you will find our new shelving system useful in your ponderings for the new year ahead, what's on your shelf?? I'd love to know!!

May God Bless you in your day!!

Comments

[CityMom]

I love this system of organization. The most important part of any school is the books, and having them sectioned like this probably makes it easier for you and for your children, especially when you are dealing with multiple ages and levels. I find with montessori works that dividing it by area of study helps them transition from an easier to a more difficult activity as appropriate, so I think that I will do this with our books, too -- for now I have books more by age/level, but the ages and interests keep changing!

[Meredith]

You are so right!! My year 4 old is begging to be read aloud all the chapter books that the older two are currently reading :|, not sure if I'll be able to keep up! Thanks for checking in!

[Cheryl]

I will look forward to checking out your shelves! When I unpacked my books I put them on our shelves haphazardly, just to get them out of the boxes. So currently my shelves are unorganized. We're busy with extended family now, but I'll be pondering next year and organizing shelves soon!

[Meredith]

Cheryl, I did the same thing and it was so helpful and freeing to have everyting placed in a categorized fashion. I don't know if this will be helpful long term as the needs of the dc arise, I may need to re-vamp again, but at least "I" know where everything is :)