The Saint Emmelia Podcast

Mindi is joined by her husband, Calvin Schneider, to discuss how his unique educational experience impacted his relationship to reading, as well as how books reveal the Incarnation. Books mentioned: Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury The Unsettling of America by Wendell Berry The Miraculous Pigness of Pigs by Joe Salatin 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C Clarke Perelandra by C.S. Lewis The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis Other media mentioned: Arrival (2016 film)

Today on the podcast, Melissa Elizabeth Naasko talks technology with Subdeacon Herman Ward. Subdeacon Herman is a husband and father and holds his masters degree in library science. He works as a technology expert with a public school district in California. His wife works as a teacher with St Athanasius Online School and he gives parents advices based on both his professional experience and his faith. Today’s show will be extraordinarily useful for parents but there will be references to some of the specific temptations facing children today. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/family-tech-planners

Fr. Peter Kavanaugh offers guidance on how to address some of the challenging questions with which parents will be faced.

On today’s episode, Melissa Elizabeth Naasko interviews Casey Kassiani Newman, an iconographer, mother, and wife of a deacon . She maintains her studio, Kassiani’s Art Studio from which she produces icons and children’s art and iconography educational materials. She is the creator of the incredibly helpful Sparks4Orthodox materials for children. Kassiani’s Art Studio on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kassianis.art.studio?igsh=M3g3emZ3dDBveWh4 Sparks4Orthodox Website https://sparks4orthodoxkids.com/ Sparks4Orthodox on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sparks4orthodox?igsh=cnlyamFodnlnajRn

Fr. Ignatius Green reflects on the importance of and need for beauty. Fr. Green is St. Emmelia's Spiritual Advisor for the OCA.

Amanda Chagnon is a wife and mother of three who is now using her professional experience as a nurse to care for her medically fragile child. She talks with Melissa Elizabeth Naasko about the joys and challenges in homeschooling with chronic illness.

In this episode, Fr. Noah Bushelli (Saint Emmelia Ministries Director) joins Mindi to discuss the spiritual aspects of reading, especially selecting books. Books mentioned: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery The Cosmere series (and other works) by Brandon Sanderson The Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Fr. Peter Kavanaugh offers suggestions for helping our children to form good Orthodox friendships.

On today’s episode, Melissa talks with Steve Christoforou. Steve’s smile and friendly voice is familiar to Orthodox youth and their families because of his incredibly popular Be the Bee internet series and the accompanying Bee Retreats. Melissa and Steve talk about the positive and the many negatives of engagement with social media. Recently, Steve has made an intentional effort to reduce the role that social media plays in his life and he shares the way he’s managed it and the positive effect this had in his life. These days, Steve is the Director of Operations and Community Engagement of FOCUS North America, an organization dedicated to helping Orthodox Christians serve the needy.

Among the many books mentioned are: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Wave Kings by Brandon Sanderson Billy Summers by Stephen King How Should We Then Live? by Francis Schaeffer Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey Dracula by Bram Stoker Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevski Les Miserables by Victor Hugo A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens AND MANY MORE!

Fr. Peter Kavanaugh offers suggestions for the challenges of Orthodox dating.

Two of our Summer 2023 interns join Mindi for a discussion about favorite books and how their parents helped them learn how to love good literature. The books discussed are: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodr Dostoevsky The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander Fahrenheit 451 and Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

Fr. Nikolai Meyers reflects on loving ways to address moments when parents are faced with disobedience and disrespect.

Today’s podcast with Melissa Elizabeth Naasko features the new financial coordinator for St Emmelia Ministries, Marcy Fox. Marcy is a mother of three and she and her husband own a small business. As music teachers with a studio, they incorporate their business life with their homeschooling life. Marcy is also a dedicated life long adult learner and she inspires others to always keep learning and to not let the fear of failure deprive of us the opportunity to do new things. One of her tasks is to distribute scholarship funds to clergy families enrolled in online education, a program which is funded through the generous donations of the faithful. You can find out more about this and other scholarship programs offered by St Emmelia by clicking through here. https://www.saintemmelia.com/scholarships-grants

The interns discuss some of the challenges they've faced in their homeschool journey, and how they have faced those challenges.

The Saint Emmelia interns discuss what they've loved about their homeschool experience.

In this introductory episode of the "Growing With Grace" series, we meet the hosts: Three homeschooled teens who have been interning with St. Emmelia Ministries. They get to know each other a little better and discuss their respective homeschool backgrounds.

Today Melissa Naasko sits down with Deacon Nicholas Kotar. Father is an author and publisher and an expert on Russian folklore as well as an accomplished musician and director. Father discusses storytelling and the role that stories play in our lives. He also discusses the right and wrong ways to introduce them. Deacon Nicholas’ website: https://nicholaskotar.com Deacon Nicholas’ vlog episode with reading recommendations that can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ9tfs0naVbzTKzxMzv6X-1mxX0bJhRYf Deacon Nicholas’ upcoming writer’s webinar: https://www.subscribepage.com/guidepostswebinar Melissa’s suggested book for learning to analyze what our children read: https://ignatius.com/a-landscape-with-dragons-lwdp/ Jonathan Pageau’s Snow White Project: https://youtu.be/DgaCikt1hSg

Fr. Raphael Barberg is the Saint Emmelia Ministries Spiritual Advisor for the diocese of Ottawa, Canada, & Upstate New York. In this episode of Spiritual Nuggets, Fr. Raphael shares his insights into and experience with teaching our children science that is grounded in Orthodoxy.

Today Fr Noah Bushelli's wife, Khouria Elizabeth, joins the show to talk about homeschooling not just in a priest's family but in a large family. She shares her thoughts on how her methodology has changed over the years and what homeschooling has taught her as well as the blessings that homeschooling has brought her. Products mentioned in today's podcast: https://rightstartmath.com/ https://cathyduffyreviews.com/homeschool-reviews-core-curricula/math-supplements/3rd-grade/math-it#