Monday, October 16, 2017

Professional Development for the Homeschool Teacher




Our local school district is out today and Tuesday for Fall Break and on Wednesday for the teachers' Professional Development. 

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Since they had the day off, we took a day off our homeschool studies so we could meet some dear friends for a picnic lunch and romp around a 44 acre artistic public garden in our area.

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What can homeschool teachers do for professional development, free professional development? Two wonderful resources can help you.

First, The National Conference on Orthodox Christian Schools had a conference in August of 2017 and Ancient Faith Radio has the speakers available as podcasts. Even though these are meant for brick and mortar private schools, they seem helpful for any teacher.

Do any of these topics interest you?

Bryan Smith
57:31
Abbot Damascene 
49:45

Pres. Ana Coman 
37:55

Dr. Philip Mamalakis 
48:14

Dr. Philip Mamalakis 
43:52

Fr. Panayiotis Hasiakos 
34:40

Pres. Nikolia Hasiakos and Katerina Rallis 
40:54

Michael Odiotti 
46:52



Second, Hillsdale College offers free online courses.* You can listen to just one lecture, or you can officially register, listen to all of them, read the extra reading assignments, take quizzes, and receive a certificate at the end. I have almost worked my way through "A Proper Understanding of K-12 Education." Though it is not from an Orthodox Christian perspective, many of the lectures are based in classical thought, with a respect for tradition. Each lecture is followed by a Q&A which often answers questions I had during the lecture. I really liked the "Fundamentals of Writing" lecture, but here are all of them:

Teaching Education at Hillsdale College   (Introduces the rest of the course. It talks about how the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 states, “Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”)

Proper Understanding of Education  (Contrasts Greek and Roman education, Early Christian education, and Modern Progressive education.)

The Progressive Influence on Modern Education (Helps you understand the motivating factors behind many modern philosophies and ways of doing school. If you've always been homeschooling, I'm not sure it would matter to you, but for me - who taught public high school for 10 years - it helped me see why some practices are in place, or rather why they are constantly being replaced in many school systems. Then I could contrast that with how I wanted to organize my own "school.")








The Fundamentals of Writing (Very, very good!)





  • Friday, October 6, 2017

    A Parent's Prayer



    Happy Feast of
    St. Innocent of Alaska!
    In honor of him, I share with you this prayer by St. Innocent, which I received once at a Sunday School Training Day. It was labeled, "A Prayer for Teachers" at that time.


    "Lord Jesus Christ, to Thee I cry: hear me Thine unworthy servant!
    Enlighten my mind; grant that I may truly and clearly describe Thy way into the Kingdom of Glory which Thou in Thy mercy has granted us!

    Grant that those who read and listen to my words may be filled with Thy love,
    enlightened by Thy knowledge and
    made strong by Thy power.

    Warm our hearts with Thy spirit and we shall joyfully and fervently go the way which Thou hast shown us."

    This could also be labeled (but not limited to)

    A Blogger's Prayer
    A Facebooker's & Tweeter's Prayer
    A Friend's Prayer
    A Bible Study Leader's Prayer
    A Priest's Prayer

    If you would like stories, games, and coloring pages for the Saints of North American, the OCA has provided a free Activity book. Scroll to he bottom of the page to download it.