As a homeschooler, I tend to borrow from a variety of educational philosophies: we’re fairly structured like Classical, read a lot of books like Charlotte Mason, and I’m not afraid to derail things when a learning opportunity comes up or a particular subject is really interesting and we want to pursue it more in depth like an unschooler.
In more of the vein of Charlotte Mason, I’ve been developing this list of books about saints and feasts that follows the Liturgical calendar and decided to share it here. We are beginning to use this as the spine of our children’s educational program at our little Orthodox mission. I know there are other programs out there that are more popular, but I love that through these “living books” our kids get to know practical lessons for how the saints lived and interacted with the world.
I’ve broken the list down by month with the moveable feasts separated out. As we know, the Orthodox Liturgical year starts in September, so with that in mind my list starts at the beginning. While I have the list in a Word document and built into my smart phone calendar, tracking down all the links to buy the books and their covers takes a bit of time, so I am planning to put this list out in quarters with a post for the moveable feasts (Pascha) alone.
I’ve also been collecting little “t” traditions and craft/recipe ideas on several Pinterest boards for these saints. Please, please, please share more if you know of them in the comments. I feel like so much of this stuff is hard to dig up and find for us American converts. I also know there are other books out there and new ones being written all the time, so this is by no means the ultimate Orthodox children’s book list, just a beginning.
September
1 – New Liturgical Year
Children’s Garden of the Theotokos: Treasury of Feasts
4 – The Prophet Moses
Children’s Garden of the Theotokos: Treasury of Feasts
St. Hermione
Women of Faith
8 – Nativity of the Theotokos
Children’s Garden of the Theotokos: Treasury of Feasts
11 – St. Euphrosynos
A Boy, A Kitchen, and His Cave
St. Euphrosynos Pinterest Board
14 – Elevation of the Cross
Children’s Garden of the Theotokos: Treasury of Feasts
Feasts of the Cross Pinterest Board
15 – St. Niketas
My Warrior Saints
17 – St. Sophia
Christina’s Favorite Saints
20 – St. Eustathios
My Warrior Saints
22 – The Prophet Jonah
The Book of Jonah
Jonah’s Journey to the Deep
Jonah Pinterest Board
25 – The Great Earthquake at Constantinople
And Then Nicholas Sang
27 – St. Callistratus
My Warrior Saints
October
1 – Protection of the Theotokos
Children’s Garden of the Theotokos: Treasury of Feasts
Feasts of our Lady Theotokos Pinterest Board
St. Romanos the Melodist
Sweet Song
6 – The Apostle Thomas
Children’s Garden of the Theotokos: Treasury of Feasts
St. Kendeas
Under the Grapevine
7 – Sts. Sergius & Bacchus
My Warrior Saints
14 – St. Kosmos the Melodist
Christina’s Favorite Saints
18 – The Apostle Luke
Children’s Garden of the Theotokos: Treasury of Feasts
20 – St. Artemius
My Warrior Saints
21 – St. Ursula
Women of Faith
26 – St. Demetrios
Saint Demetrios: The Myrrh-Flowing
November
8 – Archangel Michael
Children’s Garden of the Theotokos: Treasury of Feasts
Feasts of the Angels Pinterest Board
11 – St. Martin of Tours
The Life of Saint Martin
Martinmas Pinterest Board
St. Menas
My Warrior Saints
15 – Beginning of the Nativity Fast
Children’s Garden of the Theotokos: Treasury of Feasts
The Kindness Kids – An Alternative to Elf on the Shelf
21 – Entrance of the Theotokos
Children’s Garden of the Theotokos: Treasury of Feasts
Feasts of our Lady Theotokos Pinterest Board
24 – St. Catherine
St. Catherine of Alexandria
Christina’s Favorite Saints
St. Catherine’s Day Pinterest Board
25 – St. Mercurius
My Warrior Saints
30 – St. Andrew
St. Andrew Pinterest Board
December
4 – St. Barbara
Women of Faith
6 – St. Nicholas
Children’s Garden of the Theotokos: Treasury of Feasts
Jolly Old St. Nicholas Pinterest Board
St. Nicholas Center
The Legend of St. Nicholas
13 – St. Herman of Alaska
North Star
Christina’s Favorite Saints
St. Herman of Alaska Pinterest Board
St. Lucia
St. Lucy’s Day Pinterest Board
Lucia: Saint of Light
Women of Faith
Sunday Before Nativity – Esther
Esther’s Story