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...
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...
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...
The goal for this week is to explain the different sections of the New Testament. It’s important to place the Bible in context of its layout, content, and how we use it in our daily life – both in our worship and in our own personal, daily reading....
The goal for this week was to learn some basics about the Old Testament. Within the Old Testament, each book is grouped together by theme: The Law, Books of History, Books of Wisdom, and the Prophets. We used Fr. Jon Emanuelson’s Old Testament banner as a visual...
This week, we learned about Saint Romanos the Melodist since we commemorate him on October 1st and he is part of our 4th grade GOA curriculum. The main goals for this week were to learn about the life of Saint Romanos, find where he lived on the map, listen to the...
This week, I wanted to present a basic introduction to the Bible for my students. Some of my students knew a little bit about the Bible and some had zero experience with it, other than what they hear in church. One of my students told me, “I don’t think we...
This week, I put together an introductory lesson on patron saints and namedays in preparation for our year-long project on our class’ patron saints. The goal of this lesson was to review, or introduce (depending on the student), the celebration of namedays and...
After creating a rough outline of my lessons for the year, I was able to start planning how I wanted to set up my classroom. The classrooms at our parish were recently re-painted. The teachers were asked to only hang visuals on the bulletin board and not to use any...
I’m talking to my students about our upcoming year of Sunday School as the room morphs into a well-trodden path along side of a field. I’m sowing seeds within the hearts of these young children as we talk about their patron saints and the upcoming feast of...
This coming school year, I am thrilled to be returning to the church school classroom! I haven’t taught Sunday church school since having my youngest two children, so I’m pretty giddy about teaching again. I’ll be teaching 3rd and 4th grade at our...
I’ve spent almost all of my adult life researching an Orthodox approach to education. Twenty years later, it has become a deep passion of mine, which has led me on an unexpected and joyous journey. When I realized we would only be an hour away from St. Vladimir...
Several years ago, I set out on a quest to successfully dye a batch of eggs red using yellow onion skins. My first two attempts failed to even come close to that desired deep red I was told could be achieved using them. I searched and searched online and was basically...
Once upon a time, I thought my primary role as a mama was to nurture my children – physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Time – and many children later – have refined and broadened that perspective. I still think this is a primary role of mine,...
This past autumn, my kids and I embarked on a semester long study of North American saints, ignited by a love of Saint Herman of Alaska. My goals for this project were: to read about the lives of these saints, locate where each saint passed away (for consistency sake)...
A couple of years ago, I ran across a bracelet on Ancient Faith Publishing made of seeds called “Panagia’s Tears” or “Tears of the Mother of God”. I found the story of the bracelet fascinating and ended up buying it for my daughter for...
Saint John Chrysostom asks parents to tell their children stories relating to the Scriptures, “for thou art raising a philosopher and athlete and citizen of Heaven”. (On Vainglory & The Right Way for Parents to Bring Up Their Children,...
I recently read a talk given by Dr. Constance Tarasar in Cyprus in 1994 and was discussing it with some friends afterwards. She is regarded as one of the most extensive writers on the topic of Orthodox Christian education, although much of her works are unpublished....
I had several people ask me to show them how I made the Jordan almond favors for my daughter and son-in-law’s wedding this weekend. Honestly, they are much easier than they look and I’d be more than happy to share how I put them together over about four...
*This is a post I wrote three years ago as a guest author for another Orthodox website. I’m re-posting it on Illumination Learning for those of you who have children currently interested in The Hunger Games series or would like to use it as a framework for a...
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!
