Home Sweet Homeschool

Home Sweet Homeschool
Home Sweet Homeschool

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Thankyou notes...







Here at Scoil Dai , old-fashioned though it may seem , we believe strongly in manners...they cost nothing , but mean SO much ! Aideen spent the last 2 days writing her "thankyou" notes to friends and family for their kind and thoughtful gifts , and Daisy coloured in pictures to send...also we have been walking a lot in all kinds of weathers ... cold but fun ! We think we`ll probably go back to the "books" next week as everyone is getting bored of tv and lazing on the couch , as they say "too much of a good thing". Also we made Victorian pomanders...very easy , but worthwhile...simply push cloves into an orange , decorate and hang up . lovley wintery smells :0)

Monday, December 14, 2009

Winter excercise...

Hello friends and family from us all here at "Scoil Dai" ! Well , despite the winter chill , everyone has to excercise so we wrapped up well and headed to the local playground...we were the only ones there ! As you can see the kids were fine running around, but the teacher and principle had to cuddle up to keep warm ;0)
Also Daisy is very busy "posting" , well everything this weather , we had to nip it in the bud when we found some of our cards in the oven so we made her a "postbox" , very simple just a cereal box with a slot cut in it , makes for hours of fun , so she`s happily drawing and writing "letters" to post !
Also we`ve started reading a family favourite, reading around the fire , ( a chapter a night after dinner) , of "The night before Christmas" by Alice Taylor , of an Irish country childhood Christmas from days past...
and weve been cutting out paper snowflakes , this is Aideens speciality she has a great eye for patterns ! And of course the paper chains made from old magazines :0)
Today we had a great surprise in t`he post , lots of lovley educational pressies from dear Papa gene and Daisy Lila in the USA , they are the girls adopted grandparents and also sent lovley material for a wall-hanging for me ! (THANKS GUYS xx)
So , its busy but fun here in "scoil Dai" with the usual visits to the library and walks around the town to see the wonderful colours of he winter skies and the sillouttes of the branches...
hope you are all enjoying the winter wonderland wherever you are , till next time ...











Friday, December 11, 2009

Colour :0)

"Mere colour , unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways".
-Oscar Wilde-


Wednesday, December 9, 2009

and SEW say all of us !

Well everyone , life is busy but beautiful at this time of year ! And here in "Scoil Dai" , as well as ordinary lessons , we find ourselves as busy as the elves in Santa`s workshop ! Daisy LOVES "cooking" with her homemade playdough (thanks for that Annah , great gift !) , and as you can see she wouldnt even take her coat off to play , herself and Saul played ALL DAY with playdough at the Knights house and Daisy got to bring some home , and its STILL going strong ! Aideen is busy sewing her Christmas gifts (can`t show too many pics or we`d give the surprises away) , and it SO cosy because when you are a homeschooler you can do your sewing lessons in bed with Mom :)on cold winter evenings ...
Also Aideen made a cartoon piture of her friend Ella , who loves Tinkerbell and we laminated it , so Ella has a great coaster to put under her teacup ! These pictures of Aideens are SO popular and such a quircky , personal gift !
Also with the weather being cold we are cooking a lot and learning as we go about how animals and indeed humans around the world cook and store their foods ...and plenty of lovley fruit being eaten here in Scoil Dai at the moment , to keep all the nasty colds at bay....hope if you have the winter sniffles you feel better soon !







Wednesday, December 2, 2009

all you need is...





Did`nt she do well???? Heres Aideens Christmas cards , the photos really dont do them justice !!!!! Some of the cards (the tree ones) are simply made from strips of old magazines (National Geographic) , and the bauble on the branch are made from old Christmas cards, and of all things ,chewing gum wrappers !!!! Aideen gets chewing gum from the USA (thanks Heather !) and she keeps the wrappers , now , yes we are really into recycling , but I was stumped as to what she was keeping them for...the clever kid was using them as the silver bits on the baubles as they have "zig-zag" shapes on them ! Then she drew the pine branch using pencils and stuck on bows saved from packages ,etc....
Daisy meanwhile spent most of the day playing "drums"...yes the faithful saucepans and singing "merry chwismast".... :o)
Hope you all had a good day too !

Monday, November 30, 2009

Snowflakes...and storms





Well ,what a few days ! EVERYWHERE and I dont just mean Ireland is literally washed out...just look at the photo of the storm blowing the other night ! And tonights forcast is for minus 5....shiver !!!! Aideen has been literally put out of the school room since yesterday as our bedroom is being insulated so everything from our room has had to be put into the schoolroom for storage for a couple of days , but that doesnt mean there isnt work being done ! Today Aideen outdid herself writing Christmas cards for all her homeschool friends all over the world and we also packaged some small gifts (in recycled paper of course) ! And Aideen has cut some amazing snowflakes so we can start decorating the schoolroom once we get it back ...
aslo we signed up to HOPENAGEN.com , world leaders are meeting in Copenhagen on Dec 7th to see what can be done for climate chance so do go to the site and sign the petition its only takes a minute ! Keep warm , from all at Scoil Dai :0)

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Haikus away !


What with the evenings drawing in so early Homeschool work can be done when its dark outside, which sparked a conversation about people who live in the dark , whether they have no electricity , and if so how they make light or indeed if they are blind...Daisy`s "book of the week" is "Elmos Pets" , its on her little desk and she sits there everyday pretending to read ,while big sister Aideen works at her desk...cute ! Also Aideen is practicing writing Haikus this week as she wants to enter the International childrens haiku poetry competition ,this year the theme is "school" ,she hasnt decided on her entry yet but we`ll post the finished poem! And Aideen is too ,making her Christmas gifts , as a family we have a plan every year to make home made gifts for each other ,and look at what Aideen is doing for Daisy , she printed a page from a vintage coloring book and is embroidering it to put in a frame ,and Dad is getting a knitted scarf ! Thanks to aunty Nora by the way for the Viking poster towards the project ! Aideen is spending a little time each day colouring a bit in to "relax" after a fun days Homeschool...and what do you think of Daisy`s cress???? OMG most of the seeds ended up on the floor , but some survived and we had them in tonights salad , they were lovley Daisy well done :0)









Saturday, November 21, 2009

Preparing for Thanksgiving

Another busy , but fun week here at the "Scoil Dai" Homeschool ! As always we are preparing for Thanksgiving , the girls have been busy painting all week , I dont know if you can see by the photo but baby Daisy is managing some kind of 3D painting !!!! Aideen has as well as making a wonderful papier mache Native Indian teepee , made a lovley banner for the hallway , and is studying about the wild American turkey.
Also this week in Science/Health Aideen has been studying the affects of drinking and smoking on the body , and why you should "just say NO" ! EdHelper has some wonderful question and answer sheets...also Aideen made a "thankyou" certificate for our Librarian , you can print out one of these certificates to colour at : www.crayola.com
well thats about it for this week , as you can see our hyacinth is just about surviving after another battle with our cat W.B. :0)
Take care and happy homeschooling until next week !