New Games, Support Materials, a chicken coop, vacation and...........the Kitchen Sink

I'During the past few months I have been trying out some new games with my students and changing some of the old games. The way I was using the Ni Pa Vou cards was heavily influenced by the games from Music Mind Games to teach western music. I have made a lot of changes to bring the games more in line with the structure of byzantine chant music. The new games really seem to be supporting my students ability to sight read better.

I have also been working on transferring some Word documents into Google Docs as I would like to share them on the website but need to keep making changes to them. I have completed a doc with the games in levels 1 and 2 listed in table form so that teachers can keep track of what games they play at each lesson (coming soon). I have also been working on a doc that outlines which games to play when (coming soon). Teachers can use this document as a rough outline (some games may need to be repeated) for their lessons. The third doc is the curriculum guide for the whole program (already available). Next I'll be working on the instructions for all of the games. Some of the games' instructions are available on the website but I would like to have a comprehensive document that teachers can print out.  

April Project: Chicken coop built from scratch without any plans. For some reason I thought six doors and siding were a good idea!

I started working on some videos but quickly realized that I couldn't make one video that would serve the needs of chanters wanting to use the materials to teach and those wanting to use the materials to teach themselves (and/or their children). The videos geared to chanters that already know the subject matter will be much easier to create so I have decided to do those first. I have chanters that contacted me three or four years ago and I feel bad that I don't have more done for them. After that I will work on videos geared to homeschooling families and online learners.

I have really been dragging my feet on the videos and the marketing/selling of materials because those things aren't my forte. Your prayers would be much appreciated. This fall my three children will be in school all day so I am hoping to get a lot accomplished, especially these two things. I have asked some friends for help with the business side of things so hopefully that will help move things along.

Removing and regrading the side yard for our future herb garden and patio. I'm hoping to do the hardscaping and planting this summer and fall!

Finally, another reason that I decided to do the videos geared to chanters first is that I feel a little uncomfortable making instructional videos for learners online. I have always told myself that I want to chant well enough so as not to embarrass myself:)  I would feel better having more outside confirmation so I have set the goal to take the Certificate Exam through Holy Cross next May.

Palm Sunday at St George Cathedral

Since I rarely lead services at St. George I have had no real necessity pushing me to learn and I have taken things pretty slowly, developing the materials as I go. This has been a blessing but I feel that it would be good to study harder now. Hopefully my health and schedule will allow for that.

​When I wrote here last I thought that I could get a lot done on ByzB in April, May and June. Then I realized I needed to build a chicken coop from scratch, do some major work in our yard, go on vacation for two weeks and finish a large festal icon by the end of June. So, I didn't have as much time for ByzB as I had hoped.

Out vacation was lovely.  We spent a few days camping in the Smoky Mountains on our way down to Florida (and made stops in Atlanta to see friends and Chip's aunt).  In Florida we spent most of our time in the pool or at the beach and the kids had a blast.  On our way back we visited our god-daughter and the rest of her family in Poqouson, VA.  Her dad is the priest at St. Basil the Great Antiochian Orthodox Church and it was great to catch up with them on Sunday and see the building that the parishioners have been remodeling for two years.  

....And the kitchen sink...waiting patiently to be installed in the mudroom when we get that far on our house...actually I changed my mind yesterday and it will probably be part of an outdoor kitchen by our patio.  Having a contractor with limited time is helpful when one changes one's mind a lot!