Having studied Middle Egyptian hieroglyphs for four years, our study group turned to the Egyptian language and writing as it had evolved after some 2,000 years. For two more years we learned to read Sahidic Coptic using the text:

Introduction to Sahidic Coptic by Thomas O. Lambdin
Reprinted November 2000
Mercer University Press, Macon, Georgia
ISBN 0-86554-048-9

We worked on translating some of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers as found in the Lambdin text. I find some less like biblical moral tales and more like parables of Zen masters. I would not call myself a Christian, so of interest to me was discovering that Christianity in its early years was fostered in the Egyptian desert by monastics and anchorites. For example, I never knew that Saint Anthony was an Egyptian. Here is the genuine article from a primary source, in contrast to what has been historically decreed by Rome, a secondary source.

I used a Coptic font to type the following Coptic worksheets to use for writing my translations. The Coptic is taken from pages 171-184 of Thomas O. Lambdin's text book. The accompanying translations are mine, and not authoritative. Since Lambdin doesn't give you any translations, these might help you if you get stuck.

A good reference for translations of most of these is The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Chrisitan Monks translated from Latin versions by Benedicta Ward. The copy I have is a Penguin Classics, published 2003. ISBN-13: 9780140447316.

Another edition is The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection. Trans. Benedicta Ward, SLG. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1984. ISBN-10: 0879079592, ISBN-13: 978-0879079598.

An interesting direction to go from here would be to read the Coptic Nag Hammadi scrolls, which include Christian books that were not included in, and allegedly sometimes contradict, the New Testament.