Gospel of Luke Curriculum

Gospel of Luke Curriculum

Our parish is about to start our new church school year. This will be the 4th year for our entire church school to be following the same overall topic – and we absolutely love it! I am providing our lessons for the Gospel of Luke as I write them this year on...
Journeys of St. Paul

Journeys of St. Paul

This past week, we had our vacation church school at our parish. I have posted about everything that went into planning our week as our children learned all about St. Paul’s Journeys. Click HERE to learn...
Gospel of Matthew Church School Curriculum

Gospel of Matthew Church School Curriculum

  For our 2022-2023 church school year, all of our classes studied the Gospel of Matthew as part of our ongoing “One Curriculum” program at our parish. This is the third year all of our classes have studied the same topic on their own developmental...
Online Classes from Illumination Learning

Online Classes from Illumination Learning

I’ve been diligently working behind the scenes lately and sharing on Illumination Learning when the opportunity presents itself. Two years ago, my parish priest asked me if I would work with him on developing a Sunday School curriculum for our parish on the...
Lessons & Activities for “Pascha at the Duckpond”

Lessons & Activities for “Pascha at the Duckpond”

Pascha at the Duckpond is written by Mother Melania from Holy Assumption Monastery in Calistoga, CA. The book is self published through Amazon and is available via some Orthodox booksellers. The story is written in the form of a fable and intended for children, but I...
Online Classes from Illumination Learning

Sunday School: Curriculum Ideas

I recently had a priest from a neighboring parish email me. He asked for some help with their Sunday School curriculum and I put together some ideas for him. I wanted to share these ideas on here as well – for anyone else that would find them beneficial. I know...
Ancestry Project for Our Children

Ancestry Project for Our Children

A few years ago, one of my adopted sons was captivated with the Ancestry commercials about DNA testing. There were so many unknowns for them about their birth family and now there was a way to find out about his ethnic backgrounds. He yearned to do one of the DNA...
Virtual Summer Church School Lesson Plans

Virtual Summer Church School Lesson Plans

I’m sharing the lesson plans I created for our parish’s virtual summer church school program for anyone who would like to use them for their own church school or as an idea catalyst for your own parish’s needs. Our parish’s children will be...
“How to” Guide to Creating a Virtual Church School

“How to” Guide to Creating a Virtual Church School

I know others are also working on virtual church school resources and I will add links to them on Illumination Learning as they become available. I wanted to get this guide out today for anyone who would like to start this tomorrow and I will be adding more resources...
Global Lent 2020

Global Lent 2020

Many of our churches have been closed due to the coronavirus and the extent of which this is occuring seems to be changing daily, if not hourly, from different localities and jurisdictions. The overall effect remains the same though – many of us are now no...
Conference Handouts

Conference Handouts

This past weekend, I was a vendor at the St. Emmelia’s Conference in Houston. For those of you who were unable to attend the conference and would like to download the handouts I had available at my tables, they are available below. A Brief Overview of Worship,...
Living Our Faith: The Nativity Fast

Living Our Faith: The Nativity Fast

Below, you will find several ways you can incorporate your family into the Nativity Fast this year. The calendar print-outs are provided as a count down to Christmas and as a way for your family to follow along with the lives of the saints during this time, as well...
Week 9: Icons in Our Narthex – Abraham and Isaac

Week 9: Icons in Our Narthex – Abraham and Isaac

This week’s goal was to learn about our icon of Abraham and Isaac in our church’s narthex. (Genesis 22: 1-19) In November, our parish has a “Youth Sunday” where our Sunday School students have an opportunity to do tasks around the church just like everyone...
Week 8: Icons in Our Narthex – Prophet Elijah

Week 8: Icons in Our Narthex – Prophet Elijah

This week’s goal was to learn about our icon of the Prophet Elijah in our church’s narthex. This is part 2 of 4 for our Youth Sunday project coming up in November. Week 8: In addition to the the teacher’s outline, you will need the following for this...
Week 7: Icons in Our Narthex – King David

Week 7: Icons in Our Narthex – King David

In November, our parish has a “Youth Sunday” where our Sunday School students have an opportunity to do tasks around the church just like everyone else. Each class is assigned something to do for that Sunday. This year, the 3rd/4th grade class was asked to...