Lesson Block for Advent

I am so excited to begin a special lesson block for the Advent Season! We are going to be following the The Jesse Tree plans created by Mary over at evlogia. There are plans for 7 weeks, five days a week, and the lessons include reading, handwriting (for the young ones), and composition for the older ones, as well as a picture study, and art lessons. There are also coloring pages for each day! What a wonderful way to integrate the church into our daily school lessons!

We will be suspending our regular writing program to follow these plans, and we will also substitute these plans for our regular art program.

St. Artemius, Intercede For Us!

Today is our school's first feast day! October 20th marks the commemoration of St. Artemius, our school's patron. Here's his story:

"St. Artemius is a child saint of the Orthodox Church, often referred to as "the Righteous Child Wonderworker." He was born in 1532 to Cosmas "the Lesser" and Apollinaria, peasants in the Russian village of Verkola. Cosmas and Apollinaria raised their son within a life of Christian piety, and at the early age of five his behavior was already based on Christian virtues. He was quiet, meek, God-fearing, and obedient to his parents.

At the age of twelve, while helping his father till the fields, a sudden thunder storm broke overhead. Before he could move, Artemius was struck dead by a bolt of lightening. The date was June 23, 1545.

Superstition about the bad omen of such an untimely death kept Artemius from being granted a proper funeral and burial. Many years later, however, his body was discovered lying in a clearing covered only by tree branches. It was found not to have grown corrupt. In the Orthodox church, the miracle of a person's body not returning to dust is viewed as one sign that the person lived a holy life in the sight of God.

In 1648, a monastery was built and placed under Artemius' protection. His relics, as the earthly remains of a saint are referred to in official Church language, were enshrined there for veneration by the people. Over the centuries many miracles were attributed to these relics by people who have approached them with true faith in Christ.

Sadly, in the summer of 1918, as the Bolsheviks began their savage persecution of the Orthodox Christian Church, St. Artemius' relics were among those destroyed. As Orthodox Christians we believe that God ultimately wins out over all evil. So though his earthly remains may have vanished, St. Artemius lives on eternally with God.

As a sign of this victory, Philip Zimmerman, an iconographer living in Johnstown, PA, was granted a vision of St Artemius. Phil was told to paint his icon "for all children". With the blessing of Fr. John Namie, the Director of the Antiochian Village at the time, a site was selected on which to build a rock shrine to house the finished icon. The shrine stands to the right of the entrance to the St. Ignatius Church." story taken from antiochianvillage.org

I spent many summers at Antiochian Village Camp as a child and young adult, and grew to love St. Artemius. When we started homeschooling, choosing a patron for our school was easy for me. What a wonderful example to my children! My children were blessed to be able to visit the shrine in Pennsylvania for the first time this past summer, and my father-in-law, a priest, blessed our school year at the shrine.

St. Artemius, intercede for us!

Tot School

Today I visited the Well-Trained Mind forums and asked for some ideas on ways to help my 2 year-old during school time. I got some great ideas, and also a fabulous link to a website! Tot School is a Mom's documentation of how she developed a great time of fun and learning with her then 2 year-old, based on PLAY. I was so inspired, and had to share! It gave me some great ideas of some things I already have around the house to help occupy her time without resorting to DVDs. Anne Marie over at St. Theophan Academy also gave me a great suggestion. She explained how getting a small inflatable pool and putting it in the school room can help her see her boundaries and where her "area" is. We are using the Workbox System, and this will be where she takes her boxes. I found a small pool at Targ*t on clearance today for $2.50. I love the fact that I can inflate it quickly, then deflate it to get it out of the way in the afternoon.

Almost a Year Later

I thought it was time for a new picture on the blog. The one in this post is from last October, almost a year ago. Even from the back you can see how much they've grown!

We Missed the Bus!

I woke up in a panic this morning. I wasn't sure why, but as my mind booted up, I realized it was the noise outside that had startled me. I knew it was an important noise, but I couldn't quite place it. Then it hit me! It was the school bus! Today was the first day of school in our county, and for the first time since my now 4th grade son started Kindergarten, I had completely forgotten. The panic was two-fold. Firstly, I think it was an instinctive panic of, "We've missed the bus!". Secondly, it was a more conscious panic, "Well, you're stuck now! They're home schooled, whether you're ready or not."

I have had lots of time on my hands for the past couple of weeks. My kids (including the 2 year-old) have been visiting their grandparents out of town. They've had a blast, and honestly, so have I and my husband! We've done all sorts of fun things, gone out to lots of nice dinners, and talked about "grown-up stuff". During the day, I've been trying to take the opportunity to clean out kids' rooms, and especially the school room. I plan on giving the kids one week of "de-briefing" time, and then it's back to work.

I have pretty high academic goals for my kids, but I also hope that this year we spend more time away from our desks. One of the hardest things for me as a former public schooler is letting go of the idea that they have to spend the whole day at a desk, working. I'm hoping that this year we'll do science in the park, read in the car on the way to Disney World, and do social studies with the residents of an assisted living facility. I hope that we hear about the saint commemorated on a particular date from the priest at a morning service, and then we share a picnic lunch with good friends who my children will be around their whole lives, instead of one or two school years.

I ask for your prayers as we start our first full year of homeschooling. I already have been blessed that my father-in-law was able to bless our school year at the shrine of St. Artemius, our school's patron. I wish I could have been with them for that! Through the prayers of St. Artemius, may our school year and yours be truly blessed!

How To Raise An Orthodox Christian Or Possibly A Saint

Last night my husband and I were discussing how to help our children to be less self-centered. I stumbled across the following today. It is written by an anonymous author, and I came across it here. It was just what I needed!

1) When the child is yet young, begin to train him/her in sympathy and consideration for others and in unselfishness. By these means he/she will grow up to understand that the materialthings of this world are not the most important things for Orthodox Christians. Your life-style and example will be the greatest influence on your child in this matter.

2) Teach your child how to chant the psalms and the hymns of the Church. This will encourage him or her to learn to love the holy services, and to reject the foul language and immodest songs that are so widespread today in our society. Your example in this will have the greatest influence on your child.

3) Never cease from finding occasions to train your child in spiritual matters and in the love of God and others, and always bring them to the Church. When we were small, we were never asked "if" we were coming to church - or anywhere else, for that matter. The fact that we were going to church was a foregone conclusion. Your child must learn this from the very earliest years. If you wait until yourchild reaches adolescence, it will already be far too late.

4) Teach your child the meaning of the words "right" and "wrong," "sin" and "virtue," "truth" and "falsehood" ; also teach your child to know the Church's Faith, and to recognize erroneous belief. In this manner, your child's understanding and spiritual discretion will grow as the years go by, and he/she will be prepared for the future, even if he/she has to endure hate and persecution for his/her convictions.

5) Give your child spiritual duties appropriate to his/her age and understanding. These could include such activities as reading the Lives of the Saints written for your child's level, or reciting some of the evening prayers together with the rest of the family, or fasting and making prostrations, or helping out in church if he or she is old enough.

6) Aside from providing your child with plenty of Orthodox spiritual literature appropriate for his/her age, make sure that material of an impure or inappropriate nature is not in your home. Unfortunately, today this includes most of television programming. Remember: whatever goes in, comes out. Your example in this matter will have the greatest influence on your child.

7) Your own life-style, your personal tastes, your words, the books you read, the music you listen to, and the things that draw your interest and attention will all speak louder to your child than anything else. Hallow your child's eyes with the holy icons. Sanctify his hearing with the holy hymns, his sense of smell with sacred incense, and his entire body and soul with the holy Mysteries. If your home is a haven of spiritual sanity, love, and peace, your child will know where to turn when he or she inevitably encounters the blasphemous, shocking, and sordid things that fill our society. Teach your child the Jesus Prayer.

8) Instruct your child in almsgiving and compassion towards those who are in need. And teach them also that they should help in house duties and, if they are old enough, that they should labor at various odd jobs, so that they may learn from an early age that, as the Holy Apostle Paul tells us, one who does not labor should not eat. Idleness and affluence together have, in our society, destroyed countless young people and led them into sin and even an early death. Never be ashamed to say to your child: "We can't afford it."

9) Teach your child by your own example - and by the examples found in the Holy Scriptures and the Lives of the Saints - that abstinence from food and drink and personal comforts is a noble and beautiful thing, taught to us by our Savior Himself and by the Saints.

10) Be fair if it should ever happen that your child gets into a dispute with another child, or with teachers, or with other authorities. If your child is wrong, he/she is wrong, andshow him/her, together with your love and support, why he/she is wrong. Your child will learn something of God's justice from your example.

11) As the years pass, if you persist faithfully in these matters, as you must, you will discover, much to your surprise, that you have grown spiritually also. Saint Paul was quite serious when he said that "a woman shall be saved by childbearing"- and we know and understand that, especially in a society such as ours, both parents are essential for the proper kind of Orthodox Christian spiritual nurturing that is needed.

12) Prepare yourself for a life of spiritual struggles and prayers. You and your children will need them and the grace of God, for we are not living in the world as God originally created it. We are living in occupied territory - a land occupied by the enemy. But, by our holy Faith and God's grace, we are nonetheless a free people, living in hope and expectation of our deliverance in our true and everlasting country. And if we are heedful in these matters, we will have the boldness to say to our Savior in that last day, "Behold me, your servant, and the children which Thou hast given me."

By the intercessions of Saints Joachim and Anna, O Christ God, may we, together with all our little ones, be deemed worthy of the Heavenly Kingdom. Amen.

Summer Studies

We have been continuing our studies into the summer a bit. This is for two reasons. We started homeschooling mid-year, so I felt that there were some things we needed to "catch up" with, and also I have never been a big fan of putting down the books for two-and-a-half months. We finished up our main lessons the first two weeks of June, and finished up Latin a week ago. I will continue to have my oldest review his Latin flashcards weekly.

I also use a workbook for both of my school-aged children during the summer. We use the Summer Bridge to Learning books. They were recommended by my son's teachers in public school, and I really like them. They have two sections of review pages, and a section of preview. They include motivational pages to keep track of progress. I will say that now that we homeschool I use them a little differently. I have found that the preview pages are not really a preview for us anymore! We have covered the material, for the most part. They both are getting a lot of handwriting practice (cursive for the older one), which they need. We use the books to keep our skills sharp, and each day we do a page that takes less than 15 minutes.

What I really love about these books is that they help me gauge my kids. I know some homeschoolers do not want anything to do with "state standards", but I feel that we need to be aware of what they are. Our schooling plans are not sealed in stone, and if my children do have to enter public school again one day, I'd like to know what's expected of them. As a new homeschooler, I still feel the need for outside validation! Maybe my confidence will grow as we are more experienced!