Here Comes Ages of Grace!

I had just heard of this new Orthodox curriculum as we were wrapping up our study of Ancient History. Truthfully, I was a bit intimidated with the prospect of covering the early church as my perspective on the early church was greatly changing. I needed a little hand holding as we headed into the Middle Ages. Voila! Here comes Ages of Grace (and it just so happens it is starting in the Middle Ages.)

The night it became available, I got it. I was giddy with excitement as I held the crisp pages straight off my printer. Then I sat on my living room floor, organized it into categories that made sense to me, got out my ProClick and the punching and binding began. They turned out lovely! Here is my attempt to show you what is included and how I have organized things.

Total program

Here is what you are seeing. On your right I have put together 3 large notebooks. One contains just the Weekly Lesson Plans. Another, all of the Picture Study, Icon Study, and Theology in Sound. (I have not printed out the actual music sheets for TinS yet. That would make a fourth notebook) The last notebook contains: The Children's Bible Reader Schedule, Prologue Reading Schedule, Reading List, Oral and Written Exams, and Dictation Exercises. To your left I have printed off 4 separate Copywork notebooks for my 4 kids.

Example of Copywork Notebook.

[caption id="attachment_82" align="aligncenter" width="573" caption="Page 1"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_83" align="aligncenter" width="502" caption="Page 2"][/caption]

Each week contains 2 pages of lesson plans.

 

[caption id="attachment_84" align="aligncenter" width="502" caption="Children's Bible Reader"][/caption]

 

Here is the first section of my next notebook. 15 pages.

 

 

[caption id="attachment_85" align="aligncenter" width="502" caption="Prologue Reading Schedule"][/caption]

 

The Prologue Reading schedule is 12 pages.

 

 

 

[caption id="attachment_86" align="aligncenter" width="502" caption="Reading List"][/caption]

 

The next section is the reading lists. The lists are broken into categories such as: Family Reading, Level A, Level B, Level C, and Additional Reading. They are then further divided by Subject (History, Literature, Bible, and Faith) and scheduled for you.

 

[caption id="attachment_87" align="aligncenter" width="502" caption="Oral and Written Exams"][/caption]

 

Again, these are divided by Subject, Level, and Term.

 

[caption id="attachment_88" align="aligncenter" width="502" caption="Dictation Exercises"][/caption]

 

 This is one of the areas where this curriculum is worth its weight in gold! 18 pages with beautiful quotes from Orthodoxy. Since my children are a bit to young for these dictations, I plan on adapting them into more Copywork.

Cover for Picture Study

 

Love these pictures!

 

And here is my favorite part! The Artist study is wonderful. You receive 30 beautiful prints. I laminated mine so the kids could handle them without too much worry. Exquisite!!!

A Broken Vigil Lamp.

A  few days ago I was getting such enjoyment out of watching my children process thru the house. One of my kids even took this little hanging candle holder/vigil lamp and was swinging it like a censer. To cute, right? The game has continued of and on, and occasionally I would warn them to, "Be careful," with the lamp/censer.

Fast forward to last night. Husband and I are getting dinner ready in the kitchen when all of a sudden I hear a CRASH followed by, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" UUUUUUGGGGHHHHHH, honestly some days I do not think I am going to survive getting the twins to adulthood . Yes, twinB had swung the lamp/censer into a door frame. The glass candle holder portion would no longer stay attached to the chains from which it would have hung.
I wish I could say I handled it better. That I was calm, understanding, and soothing, but I was pretty upset! Oh, did I mention that I had just gotten back from the store with the hardware to hang the lamp in our Icon corner?!

Here's where the story takes an up swing. As I was going to sleep last night I realized I could crochet with wire a sort of basket to hold the glass portion to its chains. So, I got up in the morning and did just that. I went to hang it up, but it didn't look quite right. It was hanging to high. But wait! I have wire and the perfect beads to string on the wire. I was able to extend the length of the chain with a beautiful string of beads.

I placed a candle in it, lit it, and stood back. As, I took in the scene I realized something. Aren't we like this lamp? Cracked and broken, sometimes by people who don't even mean to. Then God comes, He doesn't just fix us like we were before. The damage is still there, but under His loving hand we become more. More than we ever were before.

I called my son into the room. "Son, I was able to fix the lamp. See, no harm done." Son, "Mom, you are so creative!"

Now I have a cheap broken hanging candle holder that is more precious to me than anything else in the Icon corner. I also have a restored relationship with my son.

An Orthodox view on Salvation.

I like this video's illustration of salvation. As a contemporary pentecostal believer I already had more in common with the Orthodox perspective, but my husband made note that as a Calvinist, he was raised with the "typical" protestant view of God's wrath and salvation.