New Resource! Nameday Poster for Classroom & Home

New Resource! Nameday Poster for Classroom & Home

We are adding a nameday poster to each of our classrooms this year. Our main theme is the Gospel of John and I had intended this activity to be for our Preschool – 2nd grade kids as a supplement to the main lesson throughout the year. However, after sharing the...
Gospel of Luke Curriculum

Gospel of Luke Curriculum

Below, I have shared the most comprehensive version of our curriculum thus far. It’s still difficult for me to share our weekly teacher Zoom meetings with you – for a myriad of reasons – but I was able to share more here this year than last year. Our...
Rooted in Christ

Rooted in Christ

Rooted in Christ Vacation Church School This coming school year, our church school will be studying the Gospel of John. This influenced our theme for Vacation Church School this year as we will be studying about the icon of Christ the True Vine. (John 15:1-8) Abide in...
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...