In the last ten months Little Fox went from learning that M/m says “mmm” to reading Magic Tree House chapter books. We have so much joy witnessing the progress of her reading! And so let’s delve into how we made it happen. Step One: Reading Readiness This step took a lot of patience. Waiting for …
Gift Giving and Family Time – Preparing For St. Nicholas Day/Christmas
In the modern world, December is often a stress-inducing hubble-jumble of a month filled with parties, gifts, and overdrawn credit cards. As a family of faith, we want the month leading up to and including the birth of the prince of peace to look very different from this. So here is what we do to …
Humanity Joins in the Akathist
Akathist to The Theotokos – Heading to Egypt In continuation of our akathist to the Theotokos series, let’s cover the seventh set of prayers! This week all of humanity comes together to sing the praises of the Theotokos. If you missed the first six articles, be sure to read them first! Start with https://thebyzantinelife.com/akathist-to-the-theotokos/ and …
5 Ways to Make Faith Visible for Children
A while back I did an article on encouraging faith in infants and toddlers. As a quick recap, I talked about sitting at the front in church (read about why in my article about keeping kids (somewhat) quiet at church). I also mentioned reading stories about the faith and having icons and crosses on the …
Bonding with Babies and Toddlers (Updated!)
The bonding of siblings is an often complicated process. Children mix feelings of joy and excitement and jealousy. In this article I explore three ideas of how I helped Little Fox (21 months) and Little Badger (newborn) bond. Plus I have some new ideas for helping Little Badger (3) and Little Fox (5) bond with …
Grade One Math
.This year we are working on Grade 1 Math with Little Fox. Before I get into what we are doing, let me give this little disclaimer: Our core program is Kate Snow’s First Grade Math with Confidence. This program targets 6-7 year olds. (Though Little Fox started it at the end of her 4th year). …
Why We Love Montessori Bead Chains
What Are Bead Chains? In Montessori, the bead chains are a math material for hands on learning. There are a few prerequisite works/skills needed for introducing bead chains. However, this generally boils down to being able to count to 100 and recognize the numbers written out (1, 2, 3…). Generally, the age range for introducing …
Nativity of Mary
Nativity of Our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary On September 8th we celebrate the Nativity of Mary, which is one of the 12 major feast days. It is also the first major feast in our new liturgical year. Tradition is that Joachim (a descendant of King David) and Anna (of the tribe …
The Akathist of the Theotokos Heading to Egypt
Akathist to The Theotokos – Heading to Egypt This week we are heading to Egypt in the Akathist to the Theotokos. Also Happy Church New Year! This year I want to do more saint and bible story read-aloud time with my children. Be sure to check out our new year article and let me know …
What We are Using to Homeschool Kindergarten
Homeschool Kindergarten In Canada the school year starts in September. But we have started some Kindergarten work early. We did this in order to figure out a good routine for us. And also in order to get used to formal homeschooling before having a new baby! Because we certainly did not want to try everything …