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...
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 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...
What is the goal? What do I want the student to learn? Regardless of what resource you’re creating: a book, a learning visual, or a lesson – it is vitally important to have a goal as you plan out how you are going to create your resource. The...
Four years ago, my parish priest approached me with an idea for our church school. He wanted to have one overall topic each year for our entire church school and develop the lessons to fit the different age groups. I so dearly wish I could share with you all the...
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...
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...
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...
This coming homeschool year, I am using the theme of the Sanctification of Time with my 1st and 3rd grade sons. My hope was to provide a curriculum guide to all of you over this theme, but between having a new baby and two of my children are having surgery within a...
For the 2020-2021 church school year, St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Euless, TX implemented a “One Curriculum” model. The idea was to have everyone in the parish learn about the same topic in order to nurture understanding of the Divine Liturgy, to...
I’ve been working for months on writing lesson plans for our parish church school on the Divine Liturgy. This week, I was working on writing a lesson on church music and part of the lesson for the little ones is on St. Romanos. I took a little break from...
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...
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...
This coming autumn begins my 18th year of homeschooling. As I began writing my plans this summer for the upcoming year, I was contacted by a handful of people asking me if an Orthodox homeschool curriculum existed for Kindergarten. To each, I responded that there is...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
The lessons and resources found on Illumination Learning are offered as a gift to the Church. You are more than welcome to print and use them for your home or class, as well as, share them with others, but please provide a line of credit or link back here so others can find them as well. Please do not use the photos on IL anywhere online or in your own printed materials without receiving written permission first. May your efforts be blessed!
