Each month this year I want to prepare and look ahead to see what major feast days are coming up. One thing I appreciate about blogging is that it gives me a reason to look ahead at feast days. And that it makes me take the time to learn about them. However, especially with a …
Apostle Philemon the Holy and Glorious
Apostle Philemon We celebrate Apostle Philemon on November 22nd. He is probably most recognized as a recipient of a letter from Paul, which is included in the cannon of scripture. Philemon was wealthy, and as such at the time, had slaves in his household. In the epistle to Philemon, we hear that one of his …
Matthew the Holy Apostle and Evangelist
Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew We celebrate the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew on November 16th. One thing we know about St. Matthew is that he was a tax collector before following Christ. And, in reading his gospel, we see his attentiveness to numbers never leaves him! His gospel was written specifically for a Jewish …
Apostle Phillip
Phillip the Apostle We know a few things about Phillip the Apostle from scripture and tradition. First of all, Phillip was well versed in the scriptures himself, and able to recognize Christ as the Messiah through this knowledge (and God’s grace). Phillip brought his friend Nathaniel to Christ (in the Gospel of John). In John’s …
Reading: From Phonics to Chapter Books
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). …