Home Sweet Homeschool

Home Sweet Homeschool
Home Sweet Homeschool

Friday, July 31, 2009

National Geographic...for kids


Heres our fav HS buy...every month , those cool people at National Geographic bring out not only a magazine for us adults but one for the kids too ! Aideen loves going to Easons every month to pick up her magazine, and once its read thats certainly not the end...they are used for projects ,art etc and also are shared around with friends and of course when the magazine is down to the last , it goes into the recycle bin...they also have a great kids website , national geographic kids , check it out !

Thursday, July 30, 2009

art and books...


Aideen can make art from ANYTHING...while waiting for friends to visit the other day and tidying up the games cupboard (Daisy loves messing up the games cupboard)...Aideen made a "modern art" model...we just HAD to take a photo and everyone commented on it, it really was a shame to have to take it apart...times like this you love having a camera :)

Today (Thursday), a lot of reading got done , as Dad is recuperating from his op (nothing serious ,just a vasectomy) , but its a great oportunity for the kids to read to him as he sits on the couch...and read they did ! Aideen tore into the "Big Issue" magazine and read about how the Irish Homeless Football team have made it to the finals in Italy this summer (well done guys) ...and Daisy read about "Gabba"...

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Stars and Stripes







THANKYOU Jennifer, Renee and EB, in this mornings post we recieved 2 wonderful American flags (one now lives in Noras house) and especially as HSers both families are very proud to have them displayed in our schoolroom ! Also wonderful bubble-painted writing paper ,isnt it just GORGEOUS ??? We love it and Aideen cant wait to try make some...is`nt it wonderful the way HSers can just immediatley "unite" no matter how far apart geographically we are ???

Photos...by Sadhbh !







Sadhbh seemed very interested in my camera, so , while Nora was sweating (fear not Nora) I gave Sadhbh a quick photography lesson and let her loose...I think for a first time photographer these are FAB photosgraphs, I really do...great work Sadhbh, can`t wait to take more photos with you !

The sound of music






















Noras house is a music lovers dream...thankyou to Sadhbh for the wonderful violin recital, I really enjoyed it ! Keep practicing everyday and we`ll see you on tv soon with all the greats ! Daisy who adores music of anykind nearly fell over herself with delight when she got a xylaphone to play and I kid you not...Nora was tinkling the ivories with "twinkle twinkle" and Daisy COPIED the notes on the xylaphone, she was on the opposite side of the room to Nora and no-one was showing her !!!! The Nora got jiggy with it, playing the can-can and Daisy and Sadhbh were kicking legs up higher than you`d believe !!!! As you can see Nora and the girls have an excellent HS space/room...and as with all HS rooms the walls are covered with the kids work....you guys HAVE been working hard ! Dont worry Daisy isnt hurt she just rang away with a lipstick and covered herself in it ...

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Grow your own...soup !




Heres the GORGEOUS herb, onion , garlic and potatoe soup we made for lunch today (thanks for the help Aideen)...and heres just some of the herbs that were left-over...(the pink roses are from a neighbour...to be used in the bath)...

Puzzles and rhymnes











Aideen adores word-search puzzles and must have spent a good hour at the kitchen table today until she completed a (large) one...patience is a vertue ! And meanwhile Daisy was "cowering" in some pictures...shes not a huge fan of nursery rhymnes, never was, but loves , loves ,loves books...and has to have at least one story everynight...just look at that concentration !(By the way ,sorry the photos are b&w, Daisys picture is blue...shes fascinated with the colour "bue" at the moment)...

Monday, July 20, 2009

cat on a cushion











And where was W.B...just having a grand oul snooze on the computer (chair) cushion, waiting for the bard Aideen to finish telling her story about the Viking ship and all the dangers it encountered on the high seas....(she decided to do it, no body told her to , arent HSèrs great ? they want to do more work, isnt that right Sadhbh)????




also we took some photos of a couple of Aideens favourite things in the HS room , her favourite bookshelf (there is on for each subject) is of course her Nature/Animals shelf (what else) ? and one of her favourite ornaments (it was SO hard to choose as lots of people bring us back nice things from their holidays in different countries) had to be the Russian Dolls that Aunty Nellies gave Aideen a couple of years ago...Aideen and her Dad visited the library today where she got books on rattlesnakes, jellyfish and hammerhead sharks...Ella and Aideen were having a great discussion on jellyfish a couple of weeks ago on jellyfish and they nearly fell off the couch laughing when Sean told them that IF by chance they got stung by a jellyfish when we go to Skerries in August that they should get someone to pee on the sting !!!! (True it works) ,Ella said what about vinegar ,and we said we`ll be carrying enough to the beach without bottles of vinegar which set the giggler sisters off again !!!!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Famous Hamster !




Aideens HS room hamster is now on tv :-) Having saved her pocket money for weeks, Aideen got Henrietta a TV for her cage !!!! And Henrietta seems to be taking to drama she adores crawling into the tv and the more the kids laugh the more she performs ... honestly...


also , thanks to the green fingers of Sadhbh and Caoimhe our HS room now has 2 healthy looking aloe vera plants gracing some of its shelves , so thanks you guys :-)

Friday, July 17, 2009

Viking ships have landed !




























































































Today a great start to our combined project , and what fun we all had ! Sean and Nora both have detention of course for misbehaving in class !!! The girls really enjoyed making their own model longboats (recycled cardboard) , and they turned out great ! So as well as a combined project ,everyone has a longboat and a folder with theory work in it...and being the old school teacher I gave them some homework to be getting on with till next wedesday , to design a sail for a longboat ,to fill in a map of where the vikings came from and went to , and to write their full names in Rune , the Viking writing...I thought Id go easy on them , but Sadhbh asked for more (accompanied by shouts of "no" from Aideen and Caoimhe !)...we even had a small rice krispie bun "cake" and candle to celebrate before the girls went home , and we sang (to the tune of happy birthday) "Happy first combined project together to us"...and blew out the candle :0)













A good time was had by all, and Nora even treated us to new pencils...you can see mine on the neck of my top , told ya I never lost the school teacher in me !!! And during the break (the tea break for the adults) the girls put rubber snakes in Caoimhes long hair and pretended she was Medusa turning them to stone !!!! a grand day was had by all , and we have loads of other "viking" crafts ahead...Nora is going to make jewellery with kids, Sean is helping them make wooden handles for their knives , I`m doing weaving ,and clay...I don`t know who is more excited the kids or us :0) Thanks by the way girls for the aloe vera plants xx

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Prepare for a Viking invasion !
















Well, tomorrow (Friday) is a big day for us and our HS friends, Nora, Sadhbh and Caoimhe...its the very first day of our very first combined project "The Vikings"....we havent set a time limit on getting the project completed , as obviously we are homeschoolers and also we will be going between houses to do the project , ie a day here a day in Noras...so for starters it was my job (though -thankyou Sean and Aideen) I had helpers , telling me what was right and wrong...dont mind me I`m only the artist !!! And both families had decided a long=boat would be a great background to put all our bits and bobs on...and here she is...excuse the photos as our hall is very dark and small (but its the only wall free in the cottage, what with paintings and HS stuff)...to give you a better idea, the boat is just over 2.5 feet in lenght so its plenty big for the girls work...and Nora, Frank and the girls visited teh Viking center in Dublin and got us loads of cool stuff and after the project is finished both families will be going on a "school tour" of the center again ! Heres some of the bits we have ready for tomorrow...Aideen LOVES the way the girls did a crayon rubbing of her name in Runes (the viking writing) ,and I love (And laugh every time I go to write something on my shopping list) at the "message" the girls made for me ! So heres to a great project , and may there be many more !

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

at last...




Despite our heavy rain ,our tomatoes and nasturtiums are doing great , so we look forward to making a nice salad soon...also the lemon trees are about 3 inches tall now and doing well...very exciting to watch the whole process...

Science workshop






















Aideen and her friend Jordan were at a science workshop in our local library today ,given , no less by one of the professors from Maynooth college ! He was a lovley man , and made the whole concept of air and pressure fun and simple for all the kids (of many ages) very easy to understand...unfortunatley I had to leave early and missed lots of photo opportunities ,but heres just a taster . The professor actually GUESSED Aideen was HSed as he came over to me and said she was tottaly into it all , and was volunteering for EVEREYTHING , and she was the only kid who didnt say that they couldnt do these experiments at home as they would be too messy !!!!!