www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Home Schooling

Does anyone know of any Eastern Christian home schooling resources? Thanks, in advance.

LaFamilia -

Blessings from the snowy north!

I am so glad you asked this question. I personally believe that homeschooling is one of the critical means by which Byzantine Catholicism will be able to pass on the faith to future generations. The Latin parochial school system, as strong and wonderful as it is (and I know this as a former parochial school teacher), is one of the strongest transfer vehicles in existence and many Eastern Catholics have been lost to the Romans because of it. I am surpised that more Eastern bishops have not taken up the cause of homeschooling more vigorously!

But to your question...

As a Byzantine homeschooling father, I have run across a few Orthodox sites that may be of interest. I will try to relocate those and send them to you in another post. Seton Homeschooling in Front Royal, VA offers some homeschooling materials for Eastern Catholics, and they have a wonderful Melkite Catholic priest on staff who is also my spiritual father.

St. Isaac the Syrian Skete in Boscobel, Wisconsin (just 4 hours from me) is working on a curriculum for Orthodox homeschooling. Father Simeon is the abbot there and he may have more information on how it is progressing. www.skete.com [skete.com]

A few other ideas...

1. I would recommend looking at the curriculum that is available through God With Us publications. There are some great ECF materials that can easily be used in a homeschooling setting.

2. Icons are a tremendous source for the formation of children, who are often more intuitive than we give them credit for. I have used icons to help teach my children about the mysteries of the life of Christ, the Theotokos, and the Saints. (I do wish there were more icons of events in OT salvation history, though.) Anton Vrame wrote a wonderful text "The Educating Icon: teaching Wisdom and Holiness in the Orthdox Way" in which he lays out a theoretical framework for iconic catechesis, something that I think should be integrated into every Byzantine Christian family's life!

3. The Orthodox Christian Education Comission also has some wonderful resources. One of those resources is a box of pictures of Byzantine liturgical life called "Teaching Pics". On the back of each picture is a small lesson plan for catechists. I have used these both at home and in my Sunday school classes.

4. Finally, there is also the all-important emphasis on the liturgical year (something that developed out of our Jewish roots). Too often Byzantine Christian families miss out on the opportunity to incorporate sacred traditions of worship into the home by simply praying and catechizing through the liturgical seasons. our Church has a wonderful living catechism in this regard! A few resources that immediately come to mind are "The Treasured Traditions and Customs of the Orthodox Churches" by Mary Hallick (Light and Life) and "Orthodox Feasts of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary" by Hugh Wybrew. these are only just two resources. Archbishop Joseph Raya has written several wonderful meditations on the various seasons, and these are available through Madonna House publications. "The Incarnate God" which is published in two volumes by St. Valdimir Seminary Press also has some wonderful reflections on the seasons - not to mention incredible illustrations! Finally, the Orthodox christian Publications Center also has a text for pre-schoolers called "A Way of Life: Introducing Your Child to the Orthodox Faith".

Currently I am working on a resource for Byzantine Christian families to utilize over the course of the liturgical year. I've not found anything that exists that does this specifically (for families), so I thought I would try to put together my own resource. Please keep this little "mustard seed" of a project in your prayers!

With all that said, of course, it would be a wonderful project to see if an authentically Byzantine Christian homeschooling curriculum - including but not exclusively the religious elements - could be created. And it certainly begs the question - is there such a thing as a classical Byzantine intellectual tradition, and if so, what does it look like? (Can we speak of a authentic Byzantine Christian humanism as well?) Such an answer is beyond me, but perhaps some of our more scholarly types in the forum (and there are more than a few!) can share their perspective.

And I hope all is well down there in my former hometown of Va Beach!

Blessings and peace during the Nativity fast to you and your family!

Gordo

Thank you so much for all of the information! I am aware of Seton's programs, as I have purhased books from them in the past for my children. I was hoping to find an Eastern Christian curriculum particularly so that I can learn a little something myself.
I actually have some more practical questions, too. I am a public school teacher, and I work all day. My husband has a more flexible schedule. I don't think it would be impossible to home school in our case, but it would be difficult.
That said, I do think that the middle schools here just don't do anything to help kids. My fourth son is in 6th grade, and we are already having problems with teachers. Having been through this before and having taught a year of middle school (penance for my whole family!), I just think that something needs to change. And the change has to made before my son's curiosity and love of learning are completely wiped out, and it truly becomes all about the shoes.
I am concerned that some subjects will be very difficult to teach at home (science, for example).
I am concerned that when the time comes for him to go back into the system, that he will be so used to his own pace and the individualized approach, that he won't be able to make it in a classroom setting.
So, pending a conference with his school and the weighing of pros and cons, I have not made a decision.
Lastly, I do not want this thread to become an invitation to public school bashing. After all, some of my best friends are public school teachers!

J,

I can't really offer any advice on this issue, having thought about but never pursued the issue with my now-adult children and the babies being still just that. However, it seems to me that Randy/Diak is or was an active home-schooler. Hopefully, he'll spot this thread and be able to offer some ideas.

Many years,

Neil

I'm a grown home schooler, and I am so grateful to my parents for making what was still a very unpopular choice in the 1980's.

We weren't Catholic in those days...so our curriculum choices don't weigh in here....but I just want you to know that home schooling really is a remarkable approach...it really is a way to pass your faith on to your children....or like our family, to make a major faith step as a family.

I am happy to be an adult with a home school education behind me. We planned the GED as the final touch...just to make things "official," and I came out with top scores (just to let you know it works!)

I don't bash schools (public or private)...just do what is best for your family!

Blessings,
Unity In Christ (Sarah)

Where to start...that is always the problem.

As a parent doing Eastern Christian education, whether it is homeschooling or even teaching for a church school, I strongly recommend "Our Church and Our Children" by Sofie Koulomzin. It is a MUST for an Eastern Christian homeschooler or youth educator. She was an instructor at St. Vlad's in Christian Education and was a close friend of Fr. Alexander Schmemann of blessed memory.

It is available from St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, and is an excellent place to start in general about the whole idea of Eastern Christian education, what has worked, not worked, general ideas, etc.

There are many fine little catechetical books for small children. For small children Fr. Myroslav Tataryn wrote a great book a few years ago called "How to Pray with Icons" put out by Novalis in Canada.

It has really neat stickers that the kids take out of the icon packet, stick on the correct feast day or saint, and you read them a troparion and little reflection on that saint or feast days. My kids loved it, and even my high-school aged son still gets it out every once in a while.

"He Dwells in our Midst" and "Guide to the Domestic Church" are two other good resources for parents, and have good pictures (which kids love). Both of these are available from Icon and Book Service in Washington D.C., an outreach of Holy Cross Monastery, www.iconbook.org [iconbook.org]

Anton Vrame's book "The Educating Icon" already been mentioned provides a sound Eastern Christian educational background using the incarnational aspects of iconography, image and likeness, etc. as a general educational guide. It is another must read for the homeschooling Eastern Christian parent.

Lev Gillet's book "Year of Grace of our Lord" is a wonderful starting text for the teacher in going through the liturgical year. I go back to this time and time again.

If you like a regimented program, established lesson plans, etc. Seton is fine. We looked at it, and have friends who use it but eventually we chose not to use it.

I found Seton (this is my experience and opinion only) to not be flexible enough in allowing other material we wanted to add, not so friendly to using a more liturgical and less academic approach as we do, more flexibility with substituting the good/great books we wanted to use, etc. I am quite adamant when it comes to economia in curricula. Being a former high school teacher, it comes from my being forced to use texts that were unsuitable and finally ditching those for some that worked.

God with Us is not bad, but I have found it campy and a bit deficient in some aspects and generally didn't use it as a primary text but did use it for additional supplemental material. I basically put together my own combination of primarily Orthodox material. I will say the Light for Life series is much better for the high-school aged catechetics.

The OCA and Antiochians have some neat stuff which I have used over the years. The Greek Archdiocese also has some wonderful stuff we have used.

A really neat poster showing the good man and the "brutal man" was recently translated from a pre-revolutionary Russian catechism and Holy Cross Hermitage, www.holycross-hermitage.com [holycross-hermitage.com] On a tangent, they also have great incense if you are so inclined (the best in North America in my opinion).

It is great you have this forum for getting ideas. Many years ago when I started with my kids (we homeschooled from the beginning) I had to piece everything together and get things from here and there and really didn't have a support network as you have here. The only ones homeschooling then were RCs and some fundamentalist Protestants.

Feel free to email me (I know you have it ) if you want some more ideas. I unfortunately am in a bit of a hurry tonight home from Vespers and getting ready for tommorrow. Sorry for the hurried rambling.

As a former homeshool mom, we strugled through all the organizing too. It can truly be a challange. But that is the great thing about homeschooling you make it fit them and your schedule.

We started homeshooling because the youngest two were having problems and we weren't getting any help. In the course of the next year we found out they are both dyslexic. Our daughter homeschooled from sixth through eighth grade and successfuly returned to high school. Our youngest is finishing up now. But we had some excellent teachers along the way who guided us and played a big role in their learning.

There many ways to add to your curiculum. For instance we have a huge science learning center with and imax theater. That became part of their schooling, they volunteered. So they had to understand what they were doing to be able to explain and demonstrate the project for others, and assist them in doing the experiment. So this helped their communication skills along with hands on science lessons. When they brought the space center into it given by NASA, our daughter represented one of the astronauts. Our youngest also became an animal care specialist, which allowed him to have hands on experience with many different critters. So check around for nature and science centers. Once they took a canoe trip down the river with several Russian Biologists that were studying our eco sytems in the river. So they spent the day gathering flora from the river (they were the ones that got out of the canoes and got wet), but they had a really good time.

Also, many of the YMCAs have PE programs for homeschoolers. Which was a big help to bring them together with others, plus regular structered physical activity.

There is an art center downtown that does classes once a week for homeshool kids. They do a lot of exploration into the different mediums. This was good exposure all the way around.

One of the tech shools here is offering classes for homeshool kids in science and math. They seem to be doing really well with it.

There are a lot of sports activities now for homeschool groups, basketball and track teams. Some have even started playing in the regular sports programs as we have one school that has it's own football team so they are playing the public schools.

Check out the homeschool group you want to be a part of. That is a big support for your endeavor. You will find many teachers who are homeschoolers.
Academic achievement is one of your concerns, the fact is homeschoolers are winning the competions as in spelling bees and such. Also, they are being souhgt by colleges simply because they tend to be independant thinkers. They really aren't botherd by peer pressure. It will be hard for him not being with the other kids all the time, but he will transition.

Homeshooling has it down falls. I think I was not the best homeshool mom as we were trying to figure out why they had problems and then I was fighting with my own health. However, I have been told by some excellent teachers that we would have lost our youngest one if he was in school, private or public and he was in both, he would have fallen between the cracks. He is an Eagle Scout, an awesome leader of young people, and recognized for his dependency. Our daughter just turned 22, she is a massage therapist and has her own business, quite the entrepeneur she is. Plans on returning to college to study voice. So I don't know how they would have turned out if they had stayed in public shool during the really hard years, but I do know, they are doing just fine. The most important part is their faith is strong and intact.

Pani Rose

I meant my son was recognized for his dependability not dependancy.

Anyway, Seton has an awesome special needs department. If you need a curiclum designed for a learning problem, they work well with you. They test to find the problem then work to bring the child up to the level he should be at. It is a little extra, but well worth the money. Also, the materials are different depending on the need. They are able to get materials that most people are not aware of.

You are from VA and in your state all the grades are registered just as with the public schools. Your state is very strict, so make sure you have a good group. Check with your diocese and find out where the Catholic Homescool groups are, talk to the parents and see which one fits your needs. Groups, though they function in a similar maner, are very different.

One other thought. The Boy Scouts have an award called Light is Life (or something close to that) for the Eastern Churches. My son accopmplished it, it was very thorough and he gained quite a bit from it. So that could be something you could check with your local scout office about. I don't know why one couldn't use it outside of scouting for independent study as a project.

Pani Rose

As a public school teacher and librarian myself, I think you are wanting to home school for a number of "right" reasons. I have seen some of the "wrong" reasons - keeping their "good" kids away from those "other" sinful kids, all that worldly wickedness in the public schools, etc. That rarely works. I have known some home schooled kids who got into some serious trouble because their parents hadn't prepared them for the real world outside of home and church. It sounds like you want to home school to keep your childen's curiousity and love of learning alive. That's great! Some friends have used the Seton materials with really good results. BTW, I have taught middle school and middle-schoolers are great kids. They are walking bundles of hormones in bluejeans. True, their minds seem a little absent at times, but you got to love them

Thank you all for so much food for thought! Every post on this thread has been really informative and beneficial. I have a lot of praying to do, as well as a lot of research, so say a little prayer for us.

I think this is far too overblown, and is an often-cited reason by the NEA and other like organizations for trying to downplay the successes of home schooling. These organizations trying to salvage the turf of the public schools (fewer kids in the school system, less funding) always try to play the "social adjustment' trump. I just don't buy it and no objective statistics or studies have ever proven anything but to the contrary.

After having taught high school, and having been involved in several homeschool coops, I realized it was the "brick and mortar" school kids who had much greater problems with social maladjustment.

I didn't mean to downplay Seton at all in my previous post, it has worked wonderfully for some, and we have many friends who have used it with great results. For those who want completely set-up lesson plans, lots of recordkeeping, etc. it is great. At the same time, not every curriculum works for every family.

But that is another great thing about homeschooling. You have many more choices than what the local school district dictates.

And in disagreement with ByzanTN's post above, with the same-sex parental stuff, etc. and other moral aberrations existing in public school curricula there are DEFINITELY moral compelling reasons to teach at home. The responsibility for their souls and purity in the formative years rests on me as a parent and noone else.

Actually, I have seen it go both ways. I have seen home schooled kids who were mature, responsible, organized, and a delight to be around. I have also seen some who have few social skills, are unable to complete assignments on time, and who are so naive they routinely make the mistakes their peers made a year or two earlier. Not all home school parents do a great job with it. Some do, some don't. Having a desire to home school kids for the best of reasons doesn't guarantee having the skill to do it successfully. Not that public school kids don't have problems - they often do. Every kid is unique, and some home schooled kids are success stories, while some others are home school disasters.

I'm not convinced that very many of those disasters are out there. If there were, the NEA and others like-minded would be jumping on them like flies on... What we do see are home-schooling kids excelling in national spelling bees, National Merit scholars, etc.

Disasters? Columbine, Paducah. That's some social adjustment. If some home-schooled kid got anywhere remotely near that level of bezerk, the media and NEA vigils and campaigns to shut it down would be non-stop.

What we have seen is discussing same-sex parenting mandatory in some school districts and other moral attacks on anyone who believes objectively in Christian family principles. Those are the real disasters. Let's face it, more money is being poured into public education with diminishing returns.

Many teachers now find themselves powerless to teach what they know to be good, true and beautiful. The homeschooled students I have in my college class right now are generally setting the curve, and are among the most engaging in discussion.

I am not convinced that NEA is all that worried about home schooling. Most parents are not going to do it. In fact, many parents are so busy working two jobs so they can buy more stuff, they wouldn't even consider putting in the time and work it takes to home school. In the hands of committed, disciplined, and organized parents, home schooling can be a resounding success. In the hands of disorganized, undisciplined parents, it doesn't work. I personally know two familes who have home schooled. In one family, the kids are well-educated, well-rounded, graduated early from high school, and are doing great in college. However, in the other family, it is a different story. These parents are quirky people who could have been hippies, but were born too late for that. I love them, but they are completely disorganized. One of the kids has nearly flunked out of college. To his great shock, when professors give deadlines, it means the assignments are actually due! In other words, these disorganized, undisciplined parents have produced disorganized, undisciplined kids. These folks never should have home schooled because their kids needed someone else who could teach them organization and discipline. Home schooling requires dedicated, hardworking, disciplined parents to be successful.

Hello,

We just started home-schooling our kids and it has been wonderful so far. We use the k12 [k12.com] program, which we really like (but I know that some homeschooling folks don't really share our enthusiasm for it).

Regarding religious education, we are Roman Catholics and we use the Ignatius Press "Image of God" series. It is Western-leaning, but I think it is wonderful! I also think it can be adapted to Eastern use, as it teaches based on JPII's teachings, and is therefore not completely "old-school" Latin in it's methodology and terminology. I teach in a somewhat "Eastern" fashion myself, and use this cirriculum.

Also, I met a woman at a Melkite Catholic parish recently, who is the wife of the subdeacon there, and she is trying to work on homeschooling resources from an Eastern perspective. She has a web site at:

http://nicholasofmyra.org/

(thought it would be appropriate to mention this site on Nicholas' feast day ).

Hope that helps!