Lesson Plans In a Nutshell and Catch-up

So, I have done 4 weeks worth of lesson plans so far this school year. I will be tackling the general structure of my daily and weekly lesson plans, as well as what activities I have done for these past 4 weeks in this post.

I use a 4-Day schedule with Theia, Monday – Thursday, and I save Friday for trips to the Library, Field-Trips, etc. This, going to the Library weekly, is recommended in Diakonessa Mariam’s curriculum. I think I will refer to her curriculum in future posts as: DM’s Curriculum. 🙂 Basically the weekly structure is:

•             Monday:               Tuesday:                           Wednesday:                     Thursday:
• 9:00   Opening Prayers     Opening Prayers           Opening Prayers         Opening Prayers
• 9:30   Circle Time              Circle Time                    Circle Time                 Circle Time
• 10:00 Saint’s Life               Saint’s Life                    Saint’s Life                 Old Testament Story
• 10:30 Pre-Writing Activity   Pre-Writing Activity      Pre-Writing Activity    Pre-Writing Activity
•           Prayers                      Prayers                        Prayers                       Prayers
• 11:00 Lunch                         Lunch                          Lunch                         Lunch
• 11:30 Outside Time/Activity Outside Time/Activity Outside Time/Activity Outside Time/Activity
• 12:00 Main Lesson               Main Lesson      Main Lesson               Main Lesson
• 12:30 Numbers & Counting  Kitchen            Extra Art!                     Music – referred to as “real-life”
• 1:00   Reading                       Reading              Reading                       Reading
•           Prayers                          Prayers                Prayers                        Prayers
•            Nap                                Nap                     Nap                              Nap
• 3:30 Snack                              Snack                  Snack                          Snack
•          Outside Time                Outside Time      Outside Time           Outside Time
• When Baba gets home we share everything we did that day and he does an exercise with both girls out of the Slow and Steady book.

Now, the times are never exact, they are more of guidelines for how to structure the day. Sometimes we start school earlier, or later. Sometimes the activities are shorter, or longer. Sometimes we do it all, sometimes not.

Some other “real-life” activities that I do with Theia at 12:30 are exploring the Natural World and Gardening. I do exchange the days these different activities are done on. For instance, Tuesdays don’t always have to be “Kitchen”.

Okay, so the daily and weekly lesson plans are covered…lets move into what exactly we have done for the past 4 weeks! I am going to be very brief and will most likely get into more detail for future days since I have 16 days to cover. Here we go!

Week 1

September 1:

Yay! Its the first day of school! We had our priest, Father Symeon, come over and say prayers over the start of our school year. He also explained the concept of “time” to Theia in hopes that she could better understand the “New Year.”

We did our opening prayers with Father Symeon as well, followed by “Circle Time”. Our songs/finger play activities for circle time:

• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
• 6 Little Ducks
• My Cross
• Eency Weency Spider

I repeat the same songs each day at “Circle Time” for the whole week.

For our “Outside Time” we did sidewalk chalk. This was a big hit! I am making a point to ensure that Theia and Apfeya always have some time outside. This is something that is highly recommended in DM’s curriculum.

For our “Saint of the Day”, Great Martyr Andrew, we used a felt board to tell the story. Take Note: I always bring the Saint’s story down to an “age appropriate” level.

For our “Pre-Writing Activity” we made a clam out of 2 paper plates. I had Theia make “pearls” using white play dough and glitter, then place them inside the clam. This was recommended by DM’s curriculum (to use glitter in play dough).

Our “Main Lesson” for today was the first lesson out of a Unit Study. We started studying what the days of the week symbolize. Today we began with “Sunday”. This lesson I got from the Children’s Garden of the Theotokos curriculum. All of my future “Main Lesson” lessons will also be from this curriculum unless otherwise noted.

After we completed all of this – which was around 10am – we went to the Colorado State Fair for Theia and Apfeya to meet some animals! First day and they already got a field trip!

September 2nd:

Our songs/finger play activities for “Circle Time”:

• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
• 6 Little Ducks
• My Cross
• Eency Weency Spider

For our “Outside Time” we did sidewalk chalk, again, because it was such fun!

For our “Saint of the Day”, Prophet Samuel, we used a felt board to tell the story.

For our “Pre-Writing Activity” we traced some dotted lines to practice our straight lines. I used an activity page out of the “Almost Ready to Write” book. Tracing is something that was recommended by DM’s curriculum.

Our “Main Lesson” for today was the second lesson out of the days of the week Unit Study. Today we studied “Monday”.

Our “Kitchen” real-life study for today was to bake bread! Theia helped mix and kneed!

We did some study in our “BOB books” today. We focused on the letters “A” and “B”.

September 3rd:

Our songs/finger play activities for “Circle Time”:

• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
• 6 Little Ducks
• My Cross
• Eency Weency Spider

For our “Outside Time” we did bubble play!

For our “Saint of the Day”, Martyr Vassa and Sons, we used a felt board to tell the story.

For our “Pre-Writing Activity” we rolled up some play dough into long “snakes” and cut it with scissors. Again, this is recommended by DM’s curriculum.

Our “Main Lesson” for today was the third lesson out of the days of the week Unit Study. Today we studied “Tuesday”.

We did some free art.

We read our library books.

September 4th:

Our songs/finger play activities for “Circle Time”:

• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
• 6 Little Ducks
• My Cross
• Eency Weency Spider

For our “Outside Time” we did free play with balls!

For our “Old Testament Story” we did the story of Adam and Eve using the felt board.

For our “Pre-Writing Activity” we did sponge painting – something that was recommended by DM’s curriculum.

Our “Main Lesson” for today was the fourth lesson out of the days of the week Unit Study. Today we studied “Wednesday”.

Our “Numbers” real-life study for today was to count bugs outside!

We did some study in our “BOB books” today. We focused on the letters “A” and “B”.

September 5th:

Library Day!

Week 2

September 8th:

Our songs/finger play activities for “Circle Time”:

• Wheels on the Bus
• Mulberry Bush
• Old MacDonald
• My Cross
• Ba Ba Black Sheep

For our “Outside Time” we did free play!

For our “Saint’s Life” we did the story of the Martyrs Adrian and Natalia using some of Theia’s toys.

For our “Pre-Writing Activity” we a line-walking activity. We set up a straight line, a curved line, and a zig-zag line using duct tape and walked on them all.

Our “Main Lesson” for today was the fifth lesson out of the days of the week Unit Study. Today we studied “Friday”.

Our “Numbers”real-life study for today was to count flowers outside!

We read our library books.

September 9th:

Our songs/finger play activities for “Circle Time”:

• Wheels on the Bus
• Mulberry Bush
• Old MacDonald
• My Cross
• Ba Ba Black Sheep

For our “Outside Time” we played in our play house!

For our “Saint’s Life” we did Holy Martyr Phanurious using Theia’s toys to act out the story. We also baked some St. Phanurious cake. This was recommended by DM’s Curriculum.

For our “Pre-Writing Activity” we practiced making white lighting bolts on black paper.

Our “Main Lesson” for today was the sixth lesson out of the days of the week Unit Study. Today we studied “Thursday”.

Our “Kitchen” real-life study for today was to bake St. Phanurious cake!

We did some study in our “BOB books” today. We focused on the letters “A” and “B”.

September 10th:

Our songs/finger play activities for “Circle Time”:

• Wheels on the Bus
• Mulberry Bush
• Old MacDonald
• My Cross
• Ba Ba Black Sheep

For our “Outside Time” we did free play with balls!

For our “Saint’s Life” we did St. Moses the Black using the felt board to act out the story.

For our “Pre-Writing Activity” we traced some dotted lines to practice our straight lines. I used an activity page out of the “Almost Ready to Write” book. Tracing is something that was recommended by DM’s curriculum.

Our “Main Lesson” for today was the seventh lesson out of the days of the week Unit Study. Today we studied “Saturday”.

Our “Art” real-life study for today was to make a craft with paint, glue, and pom poms!

We read our library books.

September 11th:

Our songs/finger play activities for “Circle Time”:

• Wheels on the Bus
• Mulberry Bush
• Old MacDonald
• My Cross
• Ba Ba Black Sheep

For our “Outside Time” we did sidewalk chalk!

We did a “Saint’s Life” today instead of an Old Testament story because it was a special day. We did the story of the Beheading of St. John using the felt board.

For our “Pre-Writing Activity” I had Theia color some coloring pages that I had taped up on the wall.

Our “Main Lesson” for today was the eighth and final lesson out of the days of the week Unit Study. Today we did our final page.

Our “Natural World” real-life study for today was to go for a nature walk!

We read our library books.

September 12th:

We went to the Library!

Week 3:

September 15th:

Our songs/finger play activities for “Circle Time”:

• My Cross
• Where is Thumbkin
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
• Ring Around the Rosie
• Its Raining, Its Pouring

For our “Outside Time” we played in our playhouse!

For our “Saint’s Life” we did Holy Martyr Mamas using the felt board to act out the story.

For our “Pre-Writing Activity” we traced some dotted lines to practice our straight lines. I used an activity page out of the “Almost Ready to Write” book. Tracing is something that was recommended by DM’s curriculum.

Our “Main Lesson” for today was our first lesson out of the creation Unit Study. This was something recommended by DM’s Curriculum and the Children’s Garden of the Theotokos curriculum had the Unit Study all laid out. Today we studied how God created the Angels.

We did some study in our “BOB books” today. We focused on the letters “C” and “D”.

September 16th:

Our songs/finger play activities for “Circle Time”:

• My Cross
• Where is Thumbkin
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
• Ring Around the Rosie
• Its Raining, Its Pouring

For our “Outside Time” we had free time!

For our “Saint’s Life” we did Holy Child Martyr Basilissa using Theia’s toys to act out the story. I love her life because of how young and wise she was. What a great example for our children!

For our “Pre-Writing Activity” we practiced drawing lines in a bucket of water using a washcloth, then moving bath toys in the bucket of water using the washcloth.

Our “Main Lesson” for today was our second lesson out of the creation Unit Study. Today we studied how God created the Light.

Our “Kitchen” real-life study was to bake cookies!

We did some study in our “BOB books” today. We focused on the letters “C” and “D”.

September 17th:

Our songs/finger play activities for “Circle Time”:

• My Cross
• Where is Thumbkin
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
• Ring Around the Rosie
• Its Raining, Its Pouring

For our “Outside Time” we played “kick the ball”!

For our “Saint’s Life” we did a special activity. Today we commemorated Prophet Aaron and Prophet Moses. We did some “sacred play” and pretended to be the people in the desert that Prophet Moses was leading. So much fun!

For our “Pre-Writing Activity” we practiced drawing lines in a pan of rice.

Our “Main Lesson” for today was to create an “Ark of the Covenant” and place inside of it: Prophet Aaron’s rod, a piece of the manna, and the Ten Commandments. This “Ark” is now at our prayer corner.

Our “Numbers and Counting”, real-life study, was to count the pieces of manna!

September 18th:

Our songs/finger play activities for “Circle Time”:

• My Cross
• Where is Thumbkin
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
• Ring Around the Rosie
• Its Raining, Its Pouring

For our “Outside Time” we had free time!

For our “Old Testament Story” we did the story of Cain and Able using the felt board to act out the story.

For our “Pre-Writing Activity” we made play dough and squished two different colors of play dough together in a ziplock bag to make one color.

Our “Main Lesson” for today was our third lesson out of the creation Unit Study. Today we studied how God created the Firmament.

Our “Kitchen”, real-life study, was to make play dough!

We read our library books.

September 19th:

We went to the library!

Week 4

September 22nd:

Our songs/finger play activities for “Circle Time”:

• My Cross
• Choo-Choo Train
• Here’s a Ball
• Wheels on the Bus

For our “Outside Time” we had free time!

For our “Saint’s Life” we did Saints Joachim and Anna using the felt board to act out their story

For our “Pre-Writing Activity” we glued pom poms onto a paper that had straight lines, curvy lines, and zig-zag lines.

Our “Main Lesson” for today was our fourth lesson out of the creation Unit Study. Today we studied how God created the Dry Land.

We read our library books.

September 23rd:

Our songs/finger play activities for “Circle Time”:

• My Cross
• Choo-Choo Train
• Here’s a Ball
• Wheels on the Bus

For our “Outside Time” we had free time!

For our “Saint’s Life” we did Holy Martyr’s Menodora, Metrodora, and Nymphadora using Theia’s toys to act out their story

For our “Pre-Writing Activity” we pinched and glued pieces of foil onto construction paper.

Our “Main Lesson” for today was our fifth lesson out of the creation Unit Study. Today we studied how God created the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars.

We read our library books.

September 24th:

Our songs/finger play activities for “Circle Time”:

• My Cross
• Choo-Choo Train
• Here’s a Ball
• Wheels on the Bus

For our “Outside Time” we had free time!

For our “Saint’s Life” we did Saint Euphrosynos using the felt board to act out the story. We listened to the story “The Boy, A Kitchen, And His Cave: The Tale of St. Euphrosynos the Cook”, by Catherine Contopoulos on http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/grapevine. This was recommended my DM’s curriculum.

For our “Pre-Writing Activity” we made patterns in play dough using straws.

Our “Main Lesson” for today was our sixth lesson out of the creation Unit Study. Today we studied how God created the Fish and Birds. We also made bird feeders using pine cones, peanut butter, string, and bird seed.

September 25th:

Our songs/finger play activities for “Circle Time”:

• My Cross
• Choo-Choo Train
• Here’s a Ball
• Wheels on the Bus

For our “Outside Time” we had free time!

For our “Old Testament Story” we did Noah’s Ark using the felt board to act out the story. This was recommended in DM’s curriculum. We used this opportunity to practice counting the numbers

For our “Pre-Writing Activity” we traced some dotted lines to practice our straight lines. I used an activity page out of the “Almost Ready to Write” book. Tracing is something that was recommended by DM’s curriculum.

Our “Main Lesson” for today was our seventh lesson out of the creation Unit Study. Today we studied how God created the Animals.

We read our library books.

The End!

Did you make it through? Good! As you can see, I slacked off a bit in the fourth week. That is because I was busy creating this blog! Starting monday I will do a better job of describing our days…I just had to play catch up! Please let me know if you have questions or comments!

In Christ,

D. Kyriake

My K2 Curriculum

So, lets talk curriculum shall we? While I was in college, I worked at a day care. While I was there, I worked in the K2 class, the K3 class, and the K4 class. So, I had an idea of what type of activities my 2 year old, Theia, would be capable of. Well, during the later years of college, I had become Orthodox and I knew that I wanted my curriculum to center around all of the Traditions and Feast Days of the Church.

So, my first place to start, I felt, was to pick a “method”. Through some searching on the internet, I decided I really liked both the Classical Education method and the Charlotte Mason method. I read thoroughly about both methods and decided that I felt the Classical Education method would be the best for our family and what I wanted to achieve. I highly recommend the book, The Well-Trained Mind, written by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise, to anyone looking into homeschooling, or to anyone who would like to supplement their child’s public education. I also recommend that anyone interested take a look at The Well-Trained Mind Website.

Now, using this foundation, I chose a lot of activities out of The Well-Trained Mind for Theia’s age (which I will talk about more when I share our lesson plans), and one book in particular: June R. Oberlander’s Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready. Oberlander’s book is wonderful because it is a birth-to-age-5 activity book that gives an activity to do with your child each week of life. This means I can also use it with my 6 month old, Apfeya, and it is well worth the money because I can continue to use it for years  (until my youngest turns five)!

At this point I had a general idea of structuring Theia’s daily lesson plans, but at the same time I was still missing a HUGE component – Orthodox Study, Prayers, Church Feasts… I was actually still missing the key thing I needed to structure my days, weeks, and months. On top of all of that, I was kind of clueless on how I was going to tie Church into the whole thing. Where should I start? Then, thank God, I heard about the Children’s Garden of the Theotokos curriculum. Now, this curriculum is really made for kids that are 5 and up, but Macrina Lewis did a wonderful job in structuring the daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly rhythm of school around the Church. I have learned and taken a lot from this curriculum and I plan to continue to use it and adapt it to be age-appropriate as necessary.

I have also taken a lot from a curriculum that my dear sister-in-law, Diakonessa Mariam, has begun to put together. A lot of her work is focused on children just a bit older than Theia, probably 3-5 year olds, but again, I am adapting some of it to use with Theia. I will be writing more about this when I get to our Lesson Plans.

Lastly, while I was shopping for school supplies I found a pre-writing activity book, Almost Ready to Write by The Mailbox, to use with Theia. I will talk more about her pre-writing activities when I share our lesson plans.

Well, that, in a nutshell, is how I created our curriculum. I have been very happy with it so far. I would love to hear from you if you have any questions!

In Christ,

D. Kyriake

Why I started this Blog

On September 1, 2014 I began homeschooling. Now, I am not into anything really complicated – I am just scheduling some daily activities with my 2 year old – or so I thought. Some days have been easier than others. Thats how it goes, I guess. I really need a way to record what I am doing with my first child so I can copy my work for the second. I also want a way to share what I have done with others who may be looking for ideas or encouragement. I hope that you all enjoy reading about what we are up to and I hope it gives those of you with families some inspiration for your own homeschool, or for those of you who have kids that attend a school outside of your home, ideas for some extracurricular activities to do with them.

Now, for some introductions:

My name is Diakonessa Kyriake. My Husband, Father Michael, was ordained a Deacon in the Orthodox Church this past year on Holy and Great Saturday – the day before Pascha. That is why I have the title Diakonessa. Some people also know me as Llana. That is my legal name. I greatly prefer the use of my baptized name, Kyriake, after the Holy Martyr St. Kyriake. Kyriake is Greek for Sunday, or “the Lord’s Day”. St. Kyriake was given that name because she was born on a Sunday.

My first daughter, who is two years old, is named Theia. She was given the name Theia because she was born on the day we celebrate St. Theia, also known as St. Chionia. She is a very active, very loud toddler…at home. Outside the home, she is very very shy.

My second daughter, who is 6 months old, is named Apfeya – also because St. Apfeya is commemorated on the day of her birth. I am very blessed because she is the most easy going baby ever. She is a true sweetheart – and a talker. She learned how to use her voice, and now that is about all we hear unless she is asleep.

I hope that you all enjoy reading the following posts about my days with Theia and Apfeya!

In Christ,

D. Kyriake