Gather is a year-long Orthodox Christian curriculum that can be used either in a homeschool setting or around the family dinner table. It is modeled on Morning Time, a common homeschooling routine where families begin their school day (lunch hour, tea time) with readings and activities that can be done as a group, across grade levels. Gather is unique in that we have incorporated the style of an open-and-go Morning Time with the Orthodox year, covering a variety of feasts, saints, and liturgical topics through four books that span three months (one season) each. We have scheduled feasts and saints in an order that will get them close to the day on which they are celebrated on the calendar, but the weeks can be moved around as needed. We have included dates for both the Old and New Calendars for every week. Each season in the series has a teacher book and a selection of four leveled consumable student workbooks. As your children grow older, you can continue to use the program, choosing different activities than the ones you did the year before and purchasing new workbooks at their current levels. 

Within the book, each season is broken down into weekly sections. Each section contains a variety of lessons to use throughout the school week, and we have included a central Weekly Lesson about a feast or saint that appears on the Orthodox Christian calendar, focusing on the cycles and sanctification of time as we experience the liturgical year. Because this is meant to be suitable for a variety of grade levels, we have provided introductory information about the how and why of the events that occur during the Christian year with an emphasis on making the information suitable for younger children as well as older ones. Gather is designed to help Orthodox families develop a deeper understanding of the events that mark time within the church, and to bridge the gap between the “little church” we are in at home and the broader traditions and experiences of Orthodox worship that we participate in in our parishes. Gather is not intended to replace an age-appropriate catechism, but to provide a framework for understanding why Orthodox Christians do the things we do when we do them, and to illustrate how worship extends beyond church, into our homes and families. We have tried to keep things simple, and broader theological questions are always best answered by your priest or spiritual father.

One of the most beautiful aspects of the Orthodox Church is the breadth and depth of traditions and cultural expressions while maintaining a singular doctrine and essence. There are many variations from place to place and throughout history, but we are American Orthodox converts trying to address the needs of modern Orthodox people in America, which includes traditions from Greece, Armenia, Lebanon, Syria, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Georgia, and many, many more countries and cultures. We have tried to assemble a representative selection of “small t” traditions from a variety of sources, as well as “big T” traditions that are found across the Orthodox world. There are undoubtedly many, many more than we have included, and we encourage you to incorporate your own family rhythms and traditions, as well as those you learn from your parish family, into our recommendations.

Each week is menu-style (you choose how much or how little to tackle) and includes the following areas:

• Introduction & Prep List
• Vocabulary
• Read-Aloud Book Suggestions
• Epistle & Gospel text
• Bible Story text
• Weekly Lesson on feast or saint
• Lesson Activity
• Hymn or Prayer
• Memory Work
• Copywork
• Poetry
• Enrichment Activities (traditions, crafts, almsgiving, nature walk, art study, and/or recipes)