Thoughts on Orthodox Christian Homeschooling and the Orthodox Christian Morning Time Curriculum

The Orthodox Christian Morning Time Curriculum by St. Irene Press

Just this week, one of my friend's sent me a few links to some new homeschool curriculum on the market. There were a lot of curriculum choice available nine years ago when I started homeschooling, and there are even more now! There is Charlotte Mason, Classical, traditional and various hybrids of both methods combined into one curriculum.

When I was a new homeschooler, I remember being pulled this way and that by each new shiny curriculum and method. Years ago, a veteran homeschool mother mentioned a curriculum to me, and I naively responded: "Is that a living books curriculum? I am planning to only use those." Well, two neurodivergent kiddos later (currently a 2nd and 8th grader), I have put aside my idealism and now strongly believe that the best homeschooling method is the method that works best for the homeschooling parents and their kids! I have always been an "eclectic homeschooler" pulling ideas and curriculums from each of the major homeschooling approaches.

One of the reasons I created the Orthodox Christian Morning Time Curriculum the way that I did was so that it could easily be added on to any curriculum, whether a traditional all-in-one curriculum, Charlotte Mason style or even online coursework. Right now, there is not much in the way of academic Orthodox Christian homeschool curriculum available, so my hope is that the Orthodox Christian Morning Time Curriculum can help families to add an Orthodox Christian element to their schooling more easily, whichever curriculum they use.

The Orthodox Christian Morning Time Curriculum revolves around reading the Lives of the Saints, has Orthodox Christian copy work, and was inspired by some of the general concepts found in the Charlotte Mason method and classical education, while allowing families to use this as an add-on to the homeschooling method of their choice. When I started the curriculum, I was participating in a classical memory work program called Catholic Schoolhouse (which is similar to Classical Conversations.). Mostly there for socialization, I realized that I could make an Orthodox Christian version of this sort of curriculum for use at home that could be more geared to the formation of an "Orthodox phronema."

The Orthodox Christian Morning Time Curriculum contains:

• A Saint per week to focus on (The Great Collection of Lives of the Saints by Chrysostomos Press is encouraged, but any source will do.)

• A short paragraph of memory sentences about the saint

• Catechism excerpts for memorization by St. Philaret of Moscow

• The Troparion and Kontakion of the Saint of the Week (links to sheets music, and audio files are available for most of these.)

• A Bible Memory Verse

• Daily copy work that corresponds to the poem, saint's live, and Bible verse

• Journal prompts for each week

• Thoughtful poetry, with a spiritual emphasis, for memory work

• A recommendation/checklist at the beginning of the curriculum to rotate between Arts/Crafts, Foreign Language, Art Study, and Journaling (assuming most families school for 4 days per week.)

There are 32 weeks available (which could take many families two years to finish) and I made sure to include a variety of Saints in the curriculum, from ascetics, those known for charity, to Fathers of the Church like St. Athanasius, with a mix of both male and female saints. I also chose the copy work from the Lives of the Saints very carefully so that if someone was not able to attain the full volumes, their child could still be exposed to key moments of the lives written by St. Dimitry of Rostov. In fact, if someone didn't want to use the full curriculum, the copy work portions alone would be beneficial!

The Orthodox Christian Morning Time Curriculum, is most suitable for ages 7 to 16, especially since it's encouraged to read the longer lives from a Synaxarion over the course of a week (editing as appropriate for the age of children listening.). If you have older children, and the youngest is 6, I would definitely use it for everyone for the sake of convenience, but the copy work and most of the curriculum is ideal for ages 7 and above.

Whichever homeschooling method you choose, I hope that the Orthodox Christian Morning Tme Curriculum will help your family to learn more about the Saints, the Church, and form an Orthodox Christian rhythm to start your day!

There is a sample available at https://www.stirenepress.com/curriculum-samples for this curriculum, as well as samples to two other elementary/middle school history curriculums available from St. Irene Press.

(As an afterthought, I'd actually love to see an Orthodox Christian version of Seton Hall, BJU Press, or Memoria Press someday. I know so many families love the Charlotte Mason method in the early years, but a more "traditional, boxed" curriculum could reduce some of the initial hurdles for families that are hesitant about homeschooling, or perhaps prefer such a method.)