This year, Family Academy has chosen Sandra Barton as Family Academy Teacher of the Year 2004. Each year Family Academy recognizes a teacher based on that teacher's fulfilling the Family Academy vision:

"...to equip parents in training the next generation by collaboration, cooperation, and mutual support throughout the entire organization. This vision can only be accomplished by the adult community of parents, teachers, and administration within Family Academy agreeing to strive for:

• commitment to the Lord
• academic and professional excellence
• open communication
• recognition of excellence
• modeling personal and spiritual maturity
• stewardship of resources
• impact within our communities

She was selected for a variety of reasons, but mostly because of her heart to serve. Using her training and skills in library science, Sandra has put in numerous hours cataloging and organizing our Resource Center Curriculum Library at the Family Academy/Academy Northwest office. She rarely toots her own horn, just quietly offering helpful hands and hard work to her students and their families as well as fellow teachers and staff. So that all might benefit from her model, below is an e-mail interview Sandra gave recently.

Family Academy [FA]: How did you first meet the Lord? And how has this made a difference in your life?

Sandra: I grew up in the United Congregational Church of Christ, which was actually a very dead church, but at least I knew God was real. I actually met the Lord in my second year of college. Once I left home for college, I didn't have my very controlling mom to keep me in check and spent the first year partying and almost failing. By the second year, I was miserable and did want to do well. I remember hating myself so much that I almost smashed a mirror one morning because of my self-hatred. I was also suicidal and had already tried once (somewhat half-heartedly) to kill myself with pills.

About November I met some students who were active in Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. They witnessed to me and told me just going to church was not enough. They went through the four spiritual laws. I didn't give my heart to Jesus that night, but by December I was so lonely and miserable I finally did surrender - by myself in my dorm room. I remember telling Jesus I had made a mess of my life and I couldn't fix it, so I would let him in. I never had any trouble believing God was real, or even the Creator; but no one had ever told me I had to make a personal commitment to Jesus.

How did it change my life? It was almost immediate. I lost the urge to kill myself, and although it took time to learn not to hate myself, that also began. After I came back from Christmas Break (it was still called that in the 70's) I joined Inter-Varsity and a Bible Study they sponsored at the house of one of my English teachers. (I didn't know he was one of the advisors until I went there). I started making new friends whose ideas of partying were toboggan sledding and movie nights.

Within a year I was well established in Intervarsity and even recruited by them to work on other campuses after graduation. Several of my new friends were heading to Moody Bible Institute. I was considering Melodyland in California before I came to Community Chapel Bible College. I met my husband, Bruce, at Community Chapel, so a direct result of my being saved was finding the man I married.

Family Academy: What specific things (events, people -- past and present) in your life really helped you grow personally and spiritually?

Sandra: One of the most important people in my life was my dad. (And I never told him enough once I realized that.) He was a farmer in Wisconsin and a vet of World War II. He grew up during the Depression on a farm not far from where I grew up. Dad always had time to talk to us kids, and although he never told us a lot, he did love us and we knew it. I remember getting up with him early in the morning to milk the cows (not one of my favorite jobs) and in the summer we would stand by the barn and watch the wind gently blow the oats and hay standing in the fields. It looked just like waves on water. He loved farming and gave me a love for animals and growing things.

He never talked much about religion, but I knew he believed in God and gave that basic belief to me. He also gave me the knowledge that God had made it all...although I can't tell you how. He taught all of us kids to work hard and stressed the importance of a good education. His dream was that we would all go to college someday...something he never could do. All of us did.

An important event was my decision to attend a Bible College. It grounded my faith and gave me a good solid teaching of what the Bible said, plus I made many of the friends I still have today. When the church that sponsored the Bible College split, the training I had received in my early years of attending allowed me to move on without throwing God out of my life. I saw many people get so mad at God for allowing the church to split they also walked away from Him. I remembered one of my Bible College teachers explaining that man has a free will, and if bad things happen it isn't because God caused it - it is because all of us have a fallen nature, and the decisions we and others make affect lots of people.

My husband, Bruce, has also had a profound influence on my life. He is the one who actually suggested home-schooling. Once I made the decision to do so, he supported my staying home, starting my business and raising our two boys in a less-than-traditional manner. He has always encouraged me to go after what I want, and has put up with my raising puppies, having people in our home all the time, and just my many projects and ideas.

Family Academy: How do you help inspire your students to academic excellence?

Sandra: That is hard.... I don't consider myself inspiring. I try to listen to the students as well as the parents. When we have conferences, I try to remember what students like outside of my learning center... golf, dancing, horses, etc. When allowing projects as part of my class (which I do in all classes), I try to include choices that are not the traditional research paper and I always ask students for their ideas of what they would like to do if nothing appeals to them. Sometimes I just have to tell them that if they want to achieve their goals they must do well in subjects they would rather not take...often English or math. I often share stories of other students I have had or know of who faced similar situations and challenges, and who succeeded.

Family Academy: What inspires you to professional excellence?

Sandra: I am basically a self-motivated person. Very seldom does someone else make me want to do better. I see what others do and if it works for me, I try it. I love learning and I love challenges, so I often strive for excellence just because I want to. I hate being bored and staying in a routine. Titles and degrees do not inspire me, which is most likely why I still don't have a Maste'rs degree. I don't want to jump through the hoops necessary to get it. I just want to learn what I want and what I need as I want it and need it. (Do I sound like a home-schooler here?)

Family Academy: What are some of the things you and your students have done that have made a difference in your community?

Sandra: I have not actually done much with my LC to "help" the community. I suppose the best I can say here is I have helped some students get their high school diplomas who would never had done it within traditional settings, and they are now earning a living and happy instead of on welfare.

I have encouraged all students to volunteer somewhere in their church and/or community doing something they like and believe in. With me raising guide dog puppies all the time, they can see me volunteer in a very close-up and personal way.

Every four years, the year our president is elected, I insist all students research our electoral system and learn what each main candidate stands for to help prepare them for when they can vote. I also insist that they keep up on current events and if something comes up that is really important (like the marriage issue right now) I work it into my history class somehow. I feel it is important they are at least aware of what is going on in the world around them. Someday they will make the decisions.

[Editorial note: She also has raised two sons who were willing to spend the last year serving in Iraq.]

Family Academy: How has Family Academy influenced you personally and professionally?

Sandra: I have found a teaching community and family within Family Academy that reflects both my style and why I got into teaching in the first place.

One thing I am really thankful for is that I was allowed to "quit" and later come back to Family Academy. I became a teacher with FA when my sons were in lower elementary school and worked with another teacher. As time went on, it became apparent FA was not a good fit at that time...my younger son Chris needed my attention almost full time. I was forced to face that fact (with help from Candice and Diana) and did step down from all involvement in FA. However, it was handled with such love that when Chris became an eighth grader and I knew I wanted a diploma for him, I was able to look at FA as a way to meet that requirement. I was welcomed back as a teacher and encouraged to start my own learning center. The FA leadership truly does practice what they preach.

As a result, I have not been afraid to try new things and teach classes outside my field. If it doesn't work, then I've learned something about myself and can keep going. I am not risking losing my job, the respect of my fellow teachers, or the leadership of FA. It is wonderful to be free to try new things.

Personally I have watched many teachers and learned from them new ways of doing things. The times we can get together as teachers and share what works for us is wonderful, since I always walk away with some new way to approach a student or topic or maybe a book or curriculum I hadn't heard of before.

I really appreciate that we are a "team." We can share good ideas with each other; we are not in competition. If my LC is not right for a student, I am glad I can recommend other teachers on the FA team. My philosophy is that I am here to help the home-schooling family...and if what I do doesn't help, then I want to be able to give them other sources to check out, including other teachers.