Saint Emmelia Ministries is blessed to have a board of wise, loving Spiritual Advisors who help run our regional conferences and online events, provide guidance to local homeschoolers, and guide the vision & work of the ministry. Alongside them are their wives, who work tirelessly to support their husbands’ work, on top of educating their children. In this series, we are honored to introduce you to these exceptional women.
by Mat. Zoë Kavanaugh
Hi! I’m Matushka Dr. Zoë Kavanaugh. I grew up with the Russians, so the title Matushka is dear to my heart. My husband and I met through an act of God at seminary in the last minutes of my visiting the area for an unrelated work conference. I always tell young people that it is when you have given up, and given your heart’s desire to Christ and the Theotokos, that miracles happen, and meeting my husband is one of my biggest miracles. We have been happily married for over a decade and have four vivacious children. While my husband attended public schools growing up, I was homeschooled, so it was a natural, mutual choice to homeschool our children. My favorite part about homeschooling is devouring great literature together all snuggled up on the couch, and being able to follow rabbit trails of knowledge to uncover fascinating and memorable knowledge nuggets. I also love how Fr. and I can encourage each child to realize much of the potential of who they already were when we got to hold them for the very first time.
There are so many wonderful books out there. One recent one that has had a profound influence on Fr.’s and my vision for our homeschooling, our ministry, and our family farm is called “The Family Economy”. It is a Protestant book, and is limited to the nuclear family, but it becomes even more poignant when this book is taken in conjunction with the spirit of the book “The Benedict Option,” and interpreted through the lens of Orthodoxy, to include Christian community. These two books have inspired Fr. and me in our community building and farm work at Ave Maria Farm in Wichita Falls, TX, where we have a ministry to help young people escape from the machine and return to clean, simple living, with the time-tested Orthodox rhythms of work and prayer. There is nothing like sharing food that you have raised and prepared together as a community.
Our homeschooling focuses on helping each child delve deeply into their interests with a goal of future monetization of those interests. We also are blessed with lots of guests joining us for farm to table family meals at our huge table. Many of these guests share priceless insights with the whole family. For example, one of our guests completely changed the way we see weeds in the garden. Weeds are now fun tools to prevent soil erosion here or add minerals there, or perhaps another one is good for an herbal remedy or skincare. Community life is so rich and rewarding, and I love how people in community are free to be friends with people of any age, rather than only with people within their birth year. This organic socialization is a beautiful way to prepare children for the real world.
There are so many fabulous curriculae out there. We have found that Ambleside Online, Scriptorium Writing (fabulous new curriculum written by Subdeacon Callum Lyda), and Math You See have met our needs well. However, I contend that the fun of homeschooling is that you don’t have to do things like public school. I feel that the largest part of my children’s education is liturgy, reading The Prologues from Ochrid at the breakfast table, devouring the countless totes full of picture books from the library, and taking trips inspired by those stories to bring the stories alive. The free association and cross-disciplinary possibilities available from going on rabbit trails is so much more memorable and poignant than stressing while checking off the boxes of a curriculum. The best advice we got for selecting curriculum is to find your mission statement, put it in a sentence or two, and weigh out any activity or class against that mission statement, outlining where/who you want your children to be as the end goal. Of course, anything worth doing is difficult: being an Orthodox Christian, being married, having children, and homeschooling. One thing that has helped me find joy is to rip out my microwave, and in its place, make a lovely little shrine with a statue of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and icons of Saint Ita and Saint Morwenna, all of whom inspire me in the many areas I’m lacking, while I spend time cooking with them.
If I were to share any wisdom from our homeschooling journey, it would be the advice my dear husband constantly encourages me with: to teach the children from a place of joy and Christ’s peace, and when you’re not there, in the words of St. Sophrony, “Stand on the edge of the abyss and when you feel that it is beyond your strength, step back and have a cup of tea.” May His peace and joy be with you on your journey!