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. 

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.

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?

The Orthodox Faith Incarnate in Schools

Bryan Smith

57:31

Teaching Science from an Orthodox Patristic Worldview 

Abbot Damascene 

49:45

Orthodox Montessori: Spiritual Formation for Early Childhood 

Pres. Ana Coman 

37:55

First Things First—Understanding the Persons in Behavior Management (Preschool-Grade 5) 

Dr. Philip Mamalakis 

48:14

First Things First—Understanding the Persons in Behavior Management (Grades 6-12) 

Dr. Philip Mamalakis 

43:52

Mediating an Encounter with Beauty: A Fundamental Task of Orthodox Teachers 

Fr. Panayiotis Hasiakos 

34:40

Keeping It Real: Mathematical Habits of Mind 

Pres. Nikolia Hasiakos and Katerina Rallis 

40:54

Using Data at Cristo Rey St. Martin to Drive Student Achievement and Grow a School 

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.")

Learning to Read and Write: Phonics and Handwriting

Stories and the Teaching of History

The Tried and True Way to Teach Math

Why Grammar is Essential

The Teaching of Science and the Problem with STEM

The Importance of Literature

Why Learn Latin?

The Fundamentals of Writing (Very, very good!)

K-12 Education: Looking Forward

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.