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Life Skills: Cooking & more
In addition to academics, we want our children to be learning life skills. My children love cooking and baking. I have supported them in this since they were young and it is so helpful now that I can ask them to go and make something for dinner, or even a substantial, nutritious breakfast. Thankfully they are also good at cleaning up. In-person cooking camp My children did the in-person cooking camps at Lismullen Cookery School, near Navan, Co Meath (2nd-4th class, 5th-6th class). My daughter and I did an online Mother & Daughter baking and connect afternoon with them during lockdown, and later we enjoyed a similar in-person afternoon. Both…
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Mater Dei Irish History
Mater Dei Education is a new Irish curriculum provider. Mater Dei was “founded in 2020 to support homeschoolers in Ireland and elsewhere discover the rich classical tradition of teaching and learning from Ireland”. In 2021 Mater Dei released their Discover the Past Irish history curriculum. As they were new I could not see them before I purchased them. I only bought one of their history book sets, but it has been working well for us and I wanted to share about it. We are using the Charlotte Mason curriculum Alveary, which we are really happy with. It has a slot for American or Canadian history, and we just substituted the…
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Valentine’s Day! ♥
Usually, the focus of my posts is on Ireland. However, my children and I really enjoyed this ♥ Valentine’s Day ♥ mini study from Brighter Day Press, we were able to get many of the listed enrichment books in our local library, which is unusual, and the snacks were all delicious, enjoyed by all and easily dairy- and gluten-free! Plus it’s a pdf so easily accessible in Ireland. I wanted to share the fun with you… You could make it more Irish by heading off to the Shrine of St. Valentine in the heart of Dublin city, at Whitefriar Street Church! ☘ This is a week long study of the…
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Some lovely books for Christmas in Irish libraries…
A homeschooling father of four in Dublin put together a list of books he has enjoyed with his children for Christmas and Advent over his many years of homeschooling. The descriptions below are his, links to the library added by yours truly… The Jesse Tree Geraldine McCaughrean – A ‘story for every day of advent’ – older children, a keeper. (Lots of copies at the library) Wenceslas McCaughrean/Birmingham, Story of the Carol – Beautiful illustrations. (Lots of copies at the library) The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Wojciechowski/P J Lynch – Heirloom! (Lots of copies at the library) The Gift of the Magi by O Henry, illustrated by P J Lynch…
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Music Theory
Recently friends were asking me what we were using for music theory. A lovely friend had shared her recommendations for music theory books with me. These have been working well for my family, and so I have created this post to share what we use with you. As we are using a Classical / Charlotte Mason approach in our home, we don’t use many workbooks. My children are both learning piano, my daughter is learning the violin (I highly recommend making the journey to Crehan‘s if you are near Dublin and wish to purchase a violin) and they both enjoy singing. Learning music theory supports playing an instrument. This is…
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Using All About Spelling in Ireland
Spelling is very straightforward in our home. I have used All About Spelling (AAS) from level 1 to 5 with my daughter and I am using it again with my son. We will continue to the final level, level 7. Although it is an American curriculum it has worked very well for us in learning UK English spelling. The books are so well laid out, working in a clear progression to ensure clear understanding. The books are open and go, and like All About Reading and RightStart Maths, the teacher guide is designed for a home educating parent working with one child. You are not trying to rethink activities designed…
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Learning French
I was planning our French studies for the coming year, so while the decisions are fresh in my mind I decided to create a post to share what my family has done. I trust it will be helpful. Aim ~ Early Years ~ Older children / Teens ~ Stories to listen to ~ Stories to read ~ Songs in French ~ Phonics app ~ What didn’t work for us ~ Charlotte Mason in French/France Aim I wanted my children to start a foreign language early so they could pick up the pronunciation. My hope for the future is they will be able to communicate in France and be able to…
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Beautifully Illustrated Irish Nature Books to Enjoy One Page a Day
Each day, during our book basket time, we read a double-page spread from a beautifully illustrated nature book. I leave the book open on a bookstand or shelf for the rest of the day to allow the images to blend into our day. We also follow this approach for both poetry and art. Coming up: Irish Page-a-day Nature Books ~ General Page-a-day Nature Books ~ Mother’s Education Currently, we are enjoying the stunning book Ireland’s Hidden Depths by Paul Kay. I bought it on sale for €10 directly from Sherkin Island Marine Station, who do a range of great Irish nature books. Their books work so well for Irish home educators, and…
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Starting Calligraphy
Previous posts: Handwriting without tears, Cursive (coming soon) My daughter wanted to try calligraphy. This has been lovely for us to do together and so I thought I would share what we used. I remember wanting to learn copperplate as a teenager. I bought wide, chisel-shaped nibs because that was all that had been in my local stationery shop. It was only last year that I realised my lack of success was having the wrong nibs. To create the fine lines and twirls, you need a pointed dip nib. And actually, they only cost a few euros. Sometime back, I was lucky to have been invited to a magical time…
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I want to close my Audible account… What could I buy with my Audible credits?
It is common to subscribe to Audible and not be listening as quickly as the credits clock up. But you have to spend all your credits before you unsubscribe or you lose them. What books might you buy? I’ve seen this question a number of times, so here are some suggestions for Irish home educators… And by the way, when you unsubscribe Amazon often offer a great deal, like 3 months at half price, or even 3 months for 99p, which as I write, is available here, for new or previous subscribers. On Audible, I would tend to go for books that aren’t easily obtainable in hardcopy in Ireland, requiring…
