The main reason this blog was created was to disseminate information about Greek education. Greek education in America has changed drastically since I was in Greek school. The demographics are different, lifestyles are different, priorities are different. There was no getting out of Greek school when I was younger, we never even dared to ask our parents to skip school, because we knew it was so important to them (1st generation) for us to learn the language of their homeland.. they needed that connection. They sacrificed and worked at factories and restaurants so we could have the best education, including Greek School, and in return they expected us to study. They expected us to be good Orthodox Christians and honorable "Ellinopoula". But as I stated before, times have changed and many things take priority over Greek school... baseball, birthday parties, life. Every family has its priorities, and sometimes, Greek education does not fit in... and there is nothing wrong with that, it just comes with the territory of being Greeks in the diaspora.
Thirty years ago, Greek textbooks used in America were the same ones used by Greek children in Greece. As a matter of fact, when I went to Greece at 8 years old, I went to school with my cousin and guess what... we were on the same lesson . These books worked then because mom and dad in most cases spoke Greek and if not, Γιαγιά and Παππού did and they would help with homework. But now the books used by children in Greece do not work for us. The Greek government knows this and spends a lot of money developing books to teach kids in the diaspora Greek (your talking about over 40 countries speaking that many different languages with kids learning Greek as a second language).
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has also started producing a series of leveled books (not grades) called Τα Ελληνικά Μου. These books have been created for the Greek American student, using stickers, music, a dialogue CD and a supplementary book that explains everything in English for the non-Greek parent who does homework with the child. Anyway, I can go on and on.
Please take a look at what the Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs and the Univeristy of Crete (Rhethymnon) in has produced for us...
The kids in my Greek School class love learning about Ancient Greece. They learn so much about the agora, art, schools, clothing, armies, and the Olympics. Their favorite activity is acting out the story of the naming of Athens and pretending to be Athena and Poseidon. Although I don't go into detail about the gods of Olympus, we do touch on them briefly.
