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Training Up a Child: Educational Options for Orthodox Christians
Excerpts from online article by
Bishop THOMAS (Joseph), Ed.D.,
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
"Before you examine the school’s ability to teach academics, however, it is absolutely necessary that you determine whether the school is Christian-friendly, Christian-tolerant or anti-Christian. If you find the school to be Christian-friendly and capable of teaching academics, you may want to utilize it as part of your responsibility to rear and educate your children. If, however, the school is merely Christian-tolerant or is anti-Christian, it behooves you to look for other choices. Let me stress that in raising your children, it is their eternal salvation which should be at the top of your priorities. This is your responsibility before God."
"Whatever teaching method you choose, Christ must be at the head of the classroom. The icon of Christ is what your children must view in you, in their teachers, on the screens of their computers, and in the faces of their peers."
“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).
*** Special thanks to Ashley who first posted this article ***
4 comments:
Is is so important to put our chldren in school where they accept our Orthodoxy. I was a teacher in the public schools, and I can say that the public school system is not Orthodox friendly. Thank God that in Illinois there are many Orthodox preschools and day schools. It is truly a blessing.
Elenie, I have read your blog for some time now and am very thankful for all the resources and information you make available.
I have thought about this specific topic a lot and spoken to looked into some different Orthodox Christian schools because I think that that is the safest route to take. Actually, I would love to teach at an Orthodox private school. (But that's not possible right now.) Anyway, I was wondering if perhaps it would be helpful (if your interested, of course) to compile a list of different Orthodox private schools throughout America and Canada.
I came across this one http://sainthermanschool.org/school.html and was very pleased to see that they offer children a foundation of knowledge in various categories but first and foremost seek to "raise Saints". In my opinion wisdom is nothing if we do not first direct our attention at acquiring "divine wisdom."
Perhaps this would be of benefit to some families who are interested in a community Orthodox school.
Correction: I think this is the best option when posed against schools in general. I think homeschooling is a great thing as well.
Greetings Konstantina ~
Thanks for your post. There is a really nice directory of Orthodox schools listed online. It's remarkable to see so many!
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Orthodox_Schools
(Orthodoxwiki is a fantastic resource in general)
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