Ages of Grace

Ages of Grace is a small Orthodox Christian homeschool curriculum organized around the chronological history of the world as the history of salvation, with literature, geography, art, and music woven into each historical period. It is one of very few curricula written specifically for Orthodox Christian homeschool families.

Last updated: 2026-04-24 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Charlotte Mason-inflected / classical / chronological unit studies / family-style
Worldview	Orthodox Christian (Orthodox Church in America parish affiliation; Byzantine and Orthodox Church history are integral to the content)
Grades	K-8, designed for multi-age family-style use
Formats	Print and digital (PDF) teacher materials
Cost tier	Budget
Parent intensity	5
ESA-common	Varies; ESA programs that permit religious curriculum typically include Ages of Grace; states that restrict religious materials may not
Accredited	No
Established	Approximately 2011; first cycle (Age of Triumph) released in the early 2010s by Katherine Johnson
Website	agesofgrace.com

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	3	Rigor comes through the quality of the primary texts the curriculum assigns; the framework itself is a guide rather than a standalone text
Ease of teaching	2	Family-style, teacher-intensive; requires the parent to lead read-alouds and discussions
Content quality	4	Integrates Orthodox Church history with general world history at a depth most homeschool curricula do not attempt
Flexibility	4	Designed for multi-age family-style use; adaptable across grade ranges
Value for money	5	Budget pricing; proceeds support an Orthodox mission in Texas
Worldview scope	2	Built for Orthodox Christian families; Orthodox liturgical and theological content is integral, not bracketed
Visual/design	3	Functional document and guide design; not a visually ambitious published product
Support resources	3	Active homeschool group on Facebook; curriculum author engagement; no formal customer support infrastructure

Who the publisher is

Ages of Grace was developed by Katherine Johnson, a parishioner of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) and a homeschool mother whose parish is St. Maximus the Confessor Orthodox Mission in Denton, Texas. The curriculum emerged from Johnson's own multi-year experience homeschooling within the Orthodox tradition, and was initially released through an early-2010s web presence and associated Facebook community. The Orthodox Church in America profiled the curriculum shortly after its release, noting Johnson's approach of weaving Orthodox Church history through general world history, literature, geography, art, and music.

The first published cycle, Age of Triumph, covers the Middle Ages and the Byzantine era, narrating history from the fall of the Western Empire to the fall of Constantinople with particular attention to the Byzantine Christian world, the monastic tradition, and the lives of saints across this period. Subsequent planned cycles — Age of Captivity, Age of Monasticism, and Age of Mission — extend the chronological arc through the sixteenth through twentieth centuries. Families using Ages of Grace typically take a year per cycle in a multi-cycle progression through world history.

Financially and institutionally, Ages of Grace is a small-scale operation. All sales benefit St. Maximus the Confessor Orthodox Mission in Denton, Texas, a mission parish of the OCA Diocese of the South founded in 2001. This mission-support structure places Ages of Grace in a different category than commercial publishers — the curriculum is in part a ministry and fundraising effort rather than a business. Families should expect the scale, production values, and customer-service infrastructure of a small publisher, not those of Apologia or Memoria Press.

The core pedagogy

Ages of Grace is a family-style, multi-age curriculum in the tradition of Charlotte Mason-inflected chronological history programs such as My Father's World, Tapestry of Grace, and Heart of Dakota. The parent teaches all age-appropriate children together from the same historical period, using age-differentiated reading lists, activities, and writing assignments. A student in kindergarten and a student in sixth grade studying the Byzantine era together will read different books, write different kinds of narrations, and complete different activities, but they share the same historical narrative as the spine of the year.

The distinguishing feature is the Orthodox theological and ecclesiastical content integrated into the history framework. Where a secular or Protestant chronological program treats the rise of the Byzantine Empire as one historical topic among many, Ages of Grace treats the history of the Church — the ecumenical councils, the lives of the saints, the development of liturgy, the iconographic tradition — as central to the historical narrative. This is not a supplement bolted onto a generic history program; it is the frame within which the rest of the content sits.

Signature mechanics: (1) Cycle structure. Each cycle covers a period of world history as a coherent year-long study (Age of Triumph for the Middle Ages / Byzantine era; subsequent cycles for later periods). (2) Family-style lesson plans. The parent teaches all ages together from a single set of plans with age-differentiated assignments. (3) Integrated subjects. History, geography, literature, art, music, and Orthodox Church history are taught together rather than as separate subjects. (4) Primary-source reading lists. The curriculum is a teacher guide; the parent sources the actual books (many available used or through Orthodox publishers) from annotated book lists.

A day in the life

A morning using Ages of Grace in a family with a first-grader and a fourth-grader studying Age of Triumph begins with the parent reading aloud from the assigned historical text — this week, a chapter on the reign of Emperor Justinian and the building of Hagia Sophia (15-25 minutes). The first-grader narrates back what he heard; the parent writes down his narration. The fourth-grader writes her own one-paragraph summary in a history notebook. Both children work on the weekly map assignment (locating Constantinople, marking the extent of the sixth-century Byzantine Empire) together.

Midmorning, the family moves to literature — a read-aloud from a children's historical novel or saint's biography set in the period (perhaps a story about St. Theodora or a retelling of the life of St. Benedict, which while a Western rather than Byzantine saint pairs well with this period). The elementary children work on corresponding art (attempting to copy a simple icon or illumination) and music (listening to Byzantine chant). By lunch, the core Ages of Grace work for the day is complete, totaling roughly two to two and a half hours with heavy parent involvement throughout.

Math, phonics for the younger child, and any extracurricular subjects fill the rest of the school day on a separate schedule. Ages of Grace does not teach math, reading instruction, or science; it is a humanities-and-history spine.

What they do exceptionally well

Orthodox Christian integration at depth. This is the curriculum's central contribution. For Orthodox Christian homeschool families, finding a curriculum that treats the ecumenical councils, the development of Orthodox liturgy, the lives of the saints, and the Byzantine cultural inheritance as central rather than marginal to world history is genuinely difficult. Ages of Grace does this work and does it with theological and historical seriousness.

Multi-age family-style design. The curriculum is built from the ground up for a family teaching across a wide grade range together, which is a common Orthodox homeschool situation. A family with four children across K-8 can teach them together in a single time block, with age-differentiated outputs.

Budget pricing with mission alignment. At roughly $25-$50 per cycle including planned add-ons, Ages of Grace is among the least expensive full-year history-and-humanities curricula on the market. The low price reflects the mission-support structure; proceeds benefit St. Maximus the Confessor Orthodox Mission rather than capitalizing a commercial business.

What they do poorly

High parent-teaching load. Ages of Grace is a teacher guide, not a self-teaching product. The parent reads aloud, leads discussions, sources supplemental books from book lists, and coordinates across ages. Parents without time to prepare and teach will struggle. This is inherent to the family-style Charlotte Mason approach and not a flaw specific to Ages of Grace, but it should be named.

Small-publisher production values. The materials are functional and serviceable; they are not the visually polished, full-color productions of a Veritas Press or a Sonlight. Families who value the aesthetic quality of their materials alongside the content quality should expect a different visual experience.

Scope is humanities and history. Ages of Grace does not teach math, phonics, formal grammar, science, or foreign language (outside the liturgical Greek and Slavonic that may appear in supplementary materials). Families need a separate math, phonics, and science strategy; Ages of Grace is one part of a fuller homeschool plan.

Documentation and ongoing publication cadence. As a small ministry-supported operation, Ages of Grace has not had the continuous publication rhythm of commercial publishers. Families planning a multi-cycle arc should verify which cycles are currently available and which are forthcoming before beginning, rather than assuming the full planned sequence is in print.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick Ages of Grace if: you are an Orthodox Christian family seeking a curriculum that integrates Orthodox Church history and theology with general world history; you want a family-style multi-age framework; you have time and energy for teacher-intensive read-alouds and discussions; you are comfortable sourcing primary texts from annotated book lists; you value a budget price and are content with a small-publisher production.

• Skip Ages of Grace if: you are not Orthodox Christian and do not want Orthodox theological and liturgical content integrated throughout the curriculum; you need a self-directed student curriculum; you want polished full-color published materials; you need a math, phonics, or science program (Ages of Grace does not provide these); your family structure does not lend itself to family-style multi-age teaching.

Cost honest assessment

Ages of Grace pricing is modest. A single cycle (such as Age of Triumph) runs approximately $25-$50 depending on included add-ons, with additional costs for the primary-source books the curriculum references (many of which can be sourced used for $3-$15 per title or through Orthodox publishers at reasonable prices). A realistic annual family budget for a full year of Ages of Grace plus the corresponding literature library runs $150-$400 depending on whether a family buys new or builds from used bookstores and library holds.

For comparison: My Father's World charges $300-$500 for a year's core package; Tapestry of Grace runs $250-$350 per year-plan plus substantial book costs; Catholic Heritage Curricula runs a roughly comparable package at a higher price point. Ages of Grace is meaningfully cheaper than any of these commercial alternatives, which reflects both the ministry structure and the smaller scale of production.

ESA eligibility notes

Ages of Grace is an explicitly Orthodox Christian curriculum, which affects ESA eligibility. State ESA programs that permit religious materials — including Arizona ESA, Florida Step Up For Students, and similar — typically reimburse purchases of Orthodox curriculum on the same footing as other Christian curriculum. States that restrict religious materials (including current and evolving policies in several state ESA programs) may not. Because Ages of Grace is a small publisher, it may not be individually listed as a vendor on every state ESA marketplace; families may need to purchase through an approved retailer or seek specific vendor approval. Families should verify with their specific state ESA program before planning purchases with ESA funds.

Alternatives

• Orthodox Christian Education Commission / OCEC materials — a family would choose OCEC's published materials over Ages of Grace because OCEC publishes parish-Sunday-school-style religious-formation curriculum with denominational institutional backing from the Antiochian Archdiocese; OCEC is supplement to secular homeschool, where Ages of Grace is a full humanities spine.
• Ancient Faith Publishing children's and homeschool titles — a family would choose Ancient Faith titles over Ages of Grace for specific Orthodox read-alouds and devotional materials rather than a structured curriculum; families often combine Ancient Faith titles with a secular spine like Well-Trained Mind Press.
• My Father's World — a family would choose My Father's World over Ages of Grace for a more polished commercial classical family-style curriculum in a broadly Protestant frame; Orthodox families sometimes adopt My Father's World and adapt the theological content to Orthodox sources, though this requires parent work that Ages of Grace makes unnecessary for Orthodox families.

How we verified this

Our editorial team reviewed Ages of Grace's available content at agesofgrace.com, the Ages of Grace community wiki, the Orthodox Church in America news profile of Katherine Johnson's work, the Ancient Faith Ministries feature on the curriculum, and the St. Maximus the Confessor Orthodox Mission coverage of Katherine Johnson's curriculum and the associated mission support structure. Prices and program details verified April 2026.