evlogia

Nativity Fast Recipe Exchange

In addition to the series of posts on our family's Nativity Fast menu the following recipes have been shared: 

• Spirals with Peanut Sauce shared by Ashley at The One Thing Needful
• A series of fasting recipes that includes Thai Butternut Squash Soup, Pumpkin Pie Pancakes, Cuban Black Beans and Rice, Koshari, Hummus, Egyptian Lentil Soup and Indian Spiced Lentil Soup shared by Arielle at The Jungwirths
• Pasta with Pesto Sauce, Shrimp and Cherry Tomatoes shared by Elizabeth at Elizabeth in Alaska
• A digest of recipes as well as a creative way to make three meals out of one bag of beans shared by Monica at Orthodox Mother's Digest
• Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Kale with Cannellini Beans, Spaghetti Sauce with Clams and Zucchini, Creamy Potato Soup, Manhattan Clam Chowder and a favorite recipe link for Quinoa and Spinach Soup shared by Rachel C. from Sansoyvegan
• Lentil Stew with Crispy Garlic Potatoes shared by Michelle M. at Our Little Monkeys
• Bean Soup shared by C at Transposzing
• Peanut Butter Apple Crisp and Moroccan Lentil Soup shared by Debbi at Deb on the Run
• Tuscan Bean Soup and Six Bean Soup shared by Leah at Leah's Blessings
• Quick Broccoli Slaw Stir-fry shared by Emily at The Children of God
• A weekly menu and grocery list are being shared by Anna at St. Theophan Academy

In addition to the posts above, I compiled all of the recipes shared by readers via email. You can download them in two documents:

Strict Fast Recipes (two page document)
Download Strict Fast Recipes

Wine & Oil Recipes (nine page document)
Download Wine & Oil Recipes

Thanks to all who participated. If you sent a recipe in and do not see it here, please leave a comment below. I rescued many submissions from my junk folder. (I not only found many delicious recipes that were re-routed to spam, but found that I seem to win the British Lotto on a daily basis. Nice.) Hopefully I have not lost any submissions, but the response was great enough that I worry that I may have left someone out. I apologize if I have. Just let me know so that I can make any necessary corrections.

What a wonderful resource we've created together. When we prepare these recipes for our families, why don't we make an effort to pray for the mother who shared them and for her family? There is no better gift we could give one another.  

Side Dish and Desserts

Download Cranberry Sauce

Download Pumpkin Pie

 

Download Granny Smith Apple Pie

Alternate Planning

As The Tree of Jesse is an Old Testament daily lesson intensive, scheduled to be completed over a seven-week period, the plans may not work for many families. Those who follow a set curriculum may find the daily plans to be too much of a burden for their children's already heavy workload. It is also likely that many children may not be able to handle an IEW writing course scheduled at the rapid pace of five lessons per week. (In fact, the IEW course is designed to be used at a pace of one or two lessons per week.) So unless you're willing to drop your current history and writing program during this season, the original seven-week plan will probably not work for your family. 

If you are interested in the plans, but need an alternate schedule, consider this option: 

For those who plan on using The Tree of Jesse during the Nativity Season, I will continue to post the weekly lesson plans in the current format; but for those who are interested in using the Jesse Tree plans as a long-term lesson block, I have organized an alternate schedule to be implemented over the course of one semester (18 weeks). In fact, since our family will soon begin a two semester study of ancient history, I have reconsidered our plans and decided to follow this alternate schedule. If you are planning on spending a year studying ancient history, covering The Tree of Jesse over the course of the first semester and the lesson block on The Holy Apostles during the second will make a complete year-long ancient Church history course. (I'm now thankful that baby Zoe's birth conflicted with our family's opportunity to work on the Holy Apostles lesson in the early summer. The plans fit in perfectly with our history curriculum and this is something that I did not anticipate.) 

I hope to continue this type of organization within the plans of  Learning Through the Year of Grace. Envisioning a four-year rotation of Orthodox Church history, what I have described above makes up the first year. (Speaking of that, I am working on an alternate semester-long schedule for the Apostle plans as well, which we plan on using next fall. A few home schooling families and a church school have contacted me about difficulties with the online lesson calendar. The new undated spreadsheets should solve that problem.)

View The Tree of Jesse semester planning page.
(Simply look up the lesson plans and resources by title on the weekly planning posts linked on The Tree of Jesse page.  A week's worth of work on the schedule below will correspond to two days of work on the original schedule.)

For those who are not interested in a lesson block on the Jesse Tree, but would like to use the fifty-two ornament set during the Nativity Fast and 12 Days of Christmas, Matushka Emily has organized a reading list for little ones using the retellings from the Children's Bible Reader and is sharing it as part of the resources for The Tree of Jesse. 

View the Children's Bible Reader Jesse Tree reading list. 

Links to these spreadsheets as well as embedded versions have been added to The Tree of Jesse page.

Reading Through the Season of Nativity

An Orthodox Christian Reading List for the Nativity Season

As we approach the time of the Nativity Fast, Anna and I have continued our work of cataloging Orthodox children's literature by focusing our attention on organizing a reading list for the season of Nativity. This particular season spans a large portion of the Church Year, touching in some way or another four of its twelve months. We begin the period of the fast on November 15 in order to prepare our hearts to receive the grace of the Nativity of our Lord on December 25. This joyful season extends through the Great Feast of Theophany, the feast of the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan, celebrated on the sixth of January and officially concludes on the Great Feast of The Meeting of Our Lord in the Temple on February 2. 

One commonly finds seasonal reading lists made up of a set of books focused on the season of Advent, but this preparatory season does not represent the entirety of the Nativity Season. In order to create a truly Orthodox reading list, Anna and I focused on organizing a series of titles that touched upon each of the four milestones within the season spanning from mid-November through the first of February. The saints of the season, books on the Great Feasts celebrated during this period of time, titles specifically devoted to the birth of Christ, pious customs related to the feast of Nativity, and traditional folktales from Orthodox countries make up the substance of our list. 

Many of the books on the list are both written and published by Orthodox Christians; some are written by other Christian authors. As with the Reading Through the Year of Grace list, the parent must ultimately decide which books are worthy additions to the family library. Anna and I chose the books that we feel are both well-written and beautifully illustrated. Because all books will not suit every family, the titles have been hyper-linked in order to assist the parent in making this decision. Although there are many non-Orthodox seasonal books appropriate for this time of year, Anna and I have decided to omit many of them from our list, not because we don't enjoy these types of books with our children, but because there are already many wonderful Advent and Christmas-themed reading lists available online and there is no need to duplicate them. 

The comments will remain open on the Reading Through the Season of Nativity page linked below. If you, as an Orthodox Christian family, have found additional titles that Anna and I have not included, please consider sharing the title and author (or a link to the book) in the comment box. Our initial list is only a beginning, a small step in the direction of creating a series of seasonal reading lists for Orthodox families. Please join us in creating this resource. Your help and prayers are greatly appreciated. 

Please visit:
 Reading Through the Season of Nativity

Isaac and Rebecca through Joseph the Dreamer

Learning Plans for the Second Week of The Tree of Jesse

 
The Tree of Jesse page and overview.

Week Two ~ Day One
Isaac and Rebecca

Reading with Little Ones
Isaac Marries Rebecca, p. 34

Reading for Older Ones
Genesis 24

Picture Study
The Meeting of Isaac and Rebecca, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (Baroque)
Download The Meeting of Isaac and Rebecca

Writing Lessons for Little Ones
Manuscript
Download Day One - Level A
Download Day One - Level B
Cursive
Download Day One - Level C

Writing Lessons for Older Ones
Unit III: Summarizing Narrative Stories
Lesson 6: The Miracle at Cana

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Week Two ~ Day Two
Jacob and Esau

Reading with Little Ones
Two Different Brothers, p. 27

Reading for Older Ones
Genesis 25-27

Picture Study
Esau and Jacob, Matthias Stomer (Dutch Golden Age)
Download Esau and Jacob

Writing Lessons for Little Ones
Manuscript
Download Day Two - Level A
Download Day Two - Level B
Cursive
Download Day Two - Level C

Writing Lesson for Older Ones
Unit III: Summarizing Narrative Stories
Lesson 7: The Tale of the Talents

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Week Two ~ Day Three
Jacob's Ladder

Reading with Little Ones
Jacob Has a Strange Dream, p. 41

Reading for Older Ones
Genesis 28

Picture Study
Jacob's Dream, Adam Elsheimer (17th century cabinet painting)
Download Jacob's Dream

Writing Lessons for Little Ones
Manuscript
Download Day Three - Level A
Download Day Three - Level B
Cursive
Download Day Three - Level C

Writing Lessons for Older Ones
Unit III: Summarizing Narrative Stories
Lesson 8: The Story of Jonah

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Week Two ~ Day Four
Jacob and Rachel

Reading with Little Ones
Jacob Marries Rachel, p. 42 

Reading for Older Ones
Genesis 29-30

Picture Study
Jacob Meets Rachel, Raphael (High Renaissance)
Download Jacob Meets Rachel

Writing Lessons for Little Ones
Manuscript
Download Day Four - Level A
Download Day Four - Level B
Cursive
Download Day Four - Level C

Writing Lessons for Older Ones
Unit III: Summarizing Narrative Stories
Lesson 9: The Prodigal Son 

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Week Two ~ Day Five
 Joseph and His Brothers

Reading with Little Ones
Joseph and His Brothers, p. 50

Reading for Older Ones
Genesis 37

Picture Study
Stories of Joseph, Andrea del Sarto (High Renaissance/early-Mannerism)
Download Stories of Joseph

Writing Lessons for Little Ones
Manuscript
Download Day Five - Level A
Download Day Five - Level B
Cursive
Download Day Five - Level C

Writing Lessons for Older Ones
Unit III: Summarizing Narrative Stories
Lesson 10: The Good Samaritan

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Creation in Color
Day Two of Creation

Days of Creation
Day Two of Creation:
Follow the instructions for painting the firmament using the dry-brush technique. Read and consider the words of the Fathers included in the lesson plans. 

Example of a dry brush painting of the firmament from The Days of Creation

Buying and Selling, Receiving and Giving

Are you ever going to sell the lesson plans
 for Learning Through the Year of Grace? 

If I had a dime for every time this question has been asked of me... 

But then again, it's not about the nickels and dimes.

While it warms my heart to know that some of the families and church schools that use Learning Through the Year of Grace would actually spend money on the plans, the short answer to this frequently asked question is a definite no. 

The long answer to this repeated question is best offered by our Father among the Saints, John Chrysostom,

When a tailor makes and sells a garment, only one service is performed, that of putting clothes on a body. The same is true of a cobbler making and selling a pair of shoes; the only service in this case is to put shoes on the feet. But when a person makes a gift to another person, of money or some object, a double service is performed. First, the receiver derives a material benefit from the gift. Second, the giver derives a spiritual benefit, because this act of generosity will have brought a blessing to his soul. And there can even be a third service: if the receiver is filled with humble gratitude that will be a blessing to that person's soul. Imagine a society in which no one sold anything, but everyone shared freely their skills and wealth. Then every action in that society would bring not only material benefits, but spiritual benefits also. Such societies already exist in miniature: families operate in this way. How wonderful it would be if villages and towns could become like large families. Then heaven would come down to earth.

Heaven would come down to earth.

The reason I will never sell these lesson plans and resources is due to my own selfishness. To give them without cost brings a blessing to my soul. I could never give that away, not even for money. The acquisition of spiritual benefit is the motivation of this work. I will never accept a penny in exchange for it.

The work is bearing fruit and growing into something greater than a personal project. Although the curriculum and resources will remain available at no charge to its users, the project is changing and growing. The owner of Orthodox Web Solutions, Fr. John Parsells, has generously offered to create and host a web site for Learning Through the Year of Grace. With the blessing of my spiritual father, I plan to continue sharing on evlogia and will introduce the new website when it is ready. 

While I've been aware of this from the beginning, the recognition of my limitations became obvious when considering the transition from blog to website. For this reason, Learning Through the Year of Grace is no longer the work of one person. Two talented and creative friends have joined me and will work by my side, making this labor of love the fruit of a team of three. Matushka Emily from Charming the Birds from the Trees and Anna from St. Theophan Academy have joined me. I'm so thankful for them. They have added so much already and most defintitely make up what is lacking in my abilities. The three of us will be working with the blessing of Fr. John, the spiritual father of this project. 

We have many projects in the works, from preschool to high school. Phonics, feast days and history are just a few of the topics we are working on. With God as our helper, as we bring projects to completion we will add them to the pages of the new website. But you'll still find us charming birds, sharing the details of the holy work of educating our children, and searching for blessings. We're not going anywhere. 

Please pray for us as we tend to this work. 

And since I have answered this question with a twist, I am leaving comments open with a question for you:

What would you like to see as far as Orthodox curriculum is concerned?
 What are your needs as an Orthodox family? 

An Update to the Copywork

When I first began creating the copywork for The Tree of Jesse lessons, I only considered making pages in two levels. The first would be for my daughter Anna who is 6 and the second was aimed at the skill of my 9 year old son, Michael. As I look at the plans it seems to me that there is a gap in the copywork. Having no advanced manuscript pages, I decided to add a level between the first two. My hope is that it will benefit others who are using these plans and will make my planning easier next year as Anna moves from simple sentences to more complicated passages. 

I've labeled the copywork pages as Levels A, B and C. The first level is for a child who is still practicing letter formation, but is capable of copying a sentence or two. The font of the models is an outline, which allows the young child to trace the letters first before attempting to copy the passage on his own. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

 

Level B is designed for a child who is not yet ready for cursive, but is capable of copying longer passages. The font is no longer outlined and, compared to Level A, is reduced in size.

 

Using longer passages than the first two levels, the advanced Level C is a cursive model. For a child who has mastered cursive handwriting, the Level C passages can also be used for studied dictation exercises. (The child studies the passage and then writes it down as it is dictated to her.)

A quick note on the translation of the Scriptures: The copywork passages are taken from the King James translation. Why? Because King James English is beautiful and the purpose of copywork is to offer children an example of the best the language of a culture has to offer. Much like reading Shakespeare, the more difficult language may be a challenge, but it is worth the effort. There is no need to twaddle down our children's literature, whether we are considering books to read or passages to imitate. Children are most often capable of much more than we assume of them. 

The samples above were taken from Week Two, which is scheduled to post early this week. The copywork passages for Week One have been updated with the addition of Level B. 

Main Course

 

Download Roasted Turkey Recipe

 

Download Cornbread Dressing Recipe

 

Download Homemade Gravy Recipe

Giving Thanks

The Nativity Fast begins next Sunday, November 15, and the great American feast of Thanksgiving is soon to follow. This week many Orthodox Christians in America will be celebrating Thanksgiving with their friends and families early by partaking of the traditional festal meal of turkey, dressing and all the fixings. Recognizing that Thanksgiving is the only American holiday in which our country stops to give thanks to God for His many blessings, our bishop has given his blessing for those in our diocese to break the fast for one meal on the Thursday of Thanksgiving. There is no universal rule on this matter, but out of respect for my Orthodox brothers and sisters who will be fasting on Thanksgiving Day, I wanted to post our family's Thanksgiving menu and a few recipes before the days of the Nativity Fast begin. As these recipes post for the next few days I will work on compiling the recipes emailed to me for our Nativity Fast Recipe Exchange. The response was wonderful and I am excited to put the resource together for all of us. 

Download Thanksgiving Menu

 

Fish, Wine & Oil

Fish, wine and oil are permitted on the weekends of the Nativity Fast. I'm not particularly crazy about eating fish, but even I am looking forward to making this dish for Sunday dinner. The following fish recipe is a tweaked version of Bobby Flay's grilled fish tacos. I adjusted the Iron Chef's recipe, removing all dairy ingredients.

For easy filing in the seasonal notebook, this fish, wine and oil recipe is labeled with a fish symbol. You can find our Nativity Fast menu and grocery list here. 

Download Grilled Fish Tacos