LAst day of Poetry month...

Just a sprinkling of the poetry books we`ve been delving into this month...its hard to pick a fav ,Aideen like Shel Silverstein , she ends up laughing So hard the lesson can take a long time to get through...but thats such a part of HS, the FUN :)

Todays craft

Aideen decided to have one more lash at making something for tomorrows party ,she made these cone baskets completley out of an old newspaper , and she said shes hanging them on the adults chairs tomorrow with some flowers and sweets in them...

Our school name

This is our school computer wallpaper...its free to download, along with others...google "free homeschool wallpapers" and be amazed !

This is our school "emblem" :) Last year we all decided it would be fun to give the HS a name and we painted this sign...its a mixture of a Daisy and of a dandellion, Aideens fav flower ! The name itself, well we tried all sorts but decided on "scoil" (teh Irish for school) and "Dai" is a re-name of "day" , but using the first three letters of both Aideen and Daisy`s names !

We even got this emblem printed on t-shirts that we wear when we go on outings and also we printed up our own letter-head paper...Aideen loves having a "real" school name...

Grow ,grow !

Well our tomatoe plants that Aideen raised from seed on the HS window sill have made it outside...now all we need is sunshine :) she also grew marigolds from seed and we planted some of those in the growbag too...they are suppossed to keep the flies away from the tomatoes...we`re all really excited about these plants :)

I WILL SURVIVE !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIOogqa-5GA

To ALL Homeschool Moms out there...you HAVE to watch this...enjoy :)

Weaver of Dreams

Isnt it amazing what a child can do with some twigs, wool and bits n bobs found on a nature walk ???

Natures ABCs...cont

Again today , Aideen outdid herself spotting natures ABC`s...she found the letters E,U,M,W,Land Z...can you spot them all? Its such good fun ,she wants to print all her photos at the end and make them into an ABC book for Daisy :)

Opps forgot to meantion "Y" !

Wildflowers project

Aideen finished the wildflowers (written) projest yesterday...even with the HS room we`re running out of wallspace in the cottage so it had to be displayed at the bottom of the stairs :)

We went for a walk today and took some more pictures of wildflowers for her album too...

Bealtaine Lanterns

The lanterns she made for the party are great ,she started with our jam-jar collection ,and pasted banana paper shapes onto them ,then she used feathers and beads to decorate them and lastly ,Sean helped her shape wire handles...I must admit they do look brill ,I cant wait to see everyones lit up on Friday ! Aideen couldnt resist lighting one before bed...

Aideen is SO excited...we are having a Bealtaine fire-lighting and small party on Friday evening (weather permitting)...and ever since shes found out , Aideen has gone into organisational overdrive, and anyone that knows Aideen knows shes laid back, so its fun to see her so up beat !

An angel in our classroom

Cara sent us a beautiful little green angel all the way from Florida, she sits on one of the shelves overlooking our days and our work :) We havent come up with a name for this little cutie yet...all suggesstions welcome !

ABC`s in Nature

Aideen is starting a project called "The ABC of Nature"...it will be an on-going project over the next few months. Basically we are looking for the shapes if letters in the world around us ! Today I managed with Annah to find "i", "x" and "o" in some trees near Annahs house ,so we`re off to a good start...I know Aideen will do much better as she has a wonderful artisitic eye and can spot "shapes" in anything...

Our hands were THAT size?

The walls in our cottage are for want of a better word ,dirty :) So the kids had a ball painting with their fingers and hands , some wonderful flowers outside the sitting room door ! They really are cheery and I cant wait to paint the rest of the walls and plan some more paintings and murals...and they are a lovley "how tall we were" reminder...Daisy squealed with delight and couldnt get enough of the paint on her hands :)

A baking lesson

When Ella arrived early last Friday she decided to join in that days baking lesson...we were baking chocolate chip muffins ! The two girls donned their aprons (one belonged to Seans Grandmother, Mary and the other to his Mam, Nell...they are patched to the limit but it feels so good to use them and carry on the tradition of family baking)...the girls had great fun and worked very well together...they licked the bowl clean too ! And yes, the muffins were just fantastic :)

This month in the garden...

Our seedlings are growing well too...in the kitchen window in old food cartons we have coriander and some marigolds (to sow around the tomatoes to deter the flies) and also we got more seeds yesterday so fingers crossed xx

Our herbs are doing really well :) Here we have some dill, parsley (curly) and some rosemary slips that Michael and Annah gave us.

We also have garlic, chives, lemon balm , thyme , bayleaf , basil and mint...so there are lots of lovley scents in both the garden and the kitchen :)

Paul Gauguin

This months artist is Paul Gauguin, Aideen does a project on where the artist is from, when they were born, etc etc and we go to the library and get books...also she does a picture (her own intrepretation) of the artists most famous work...

Sewing class...

this is Aideens sewing so far, shes working on embroidering a dolphin (like she saw in Florida), and also shes sewing her hand...simple but effective ,and old pillowslip cut up and then draw in pencil around your hand ,and decorate with simple designs...then sew , were using running stitch. Also BIG decisions, (any suggesstions would be welcome)...Grandma Daisy Lila gave Aiseen the most fabulous horse material and she cant decide what to make, shes caught between an apron , a bag or a cushion...?

Daisy van Gogh !

Daisy has taken to painting in a big way this weather ,theres no stopping her ! On wood, on paper and as you can see on the sitting room door...when I asked her did she do it she looked at me so sweetly and said "no"...I would have believed her only she still had the brush in hand !

Our Environment projects...

This week we`ve recycled by making "new" swings from old wood and a tire we found, and also we cut some pegs for our friend, Michaels allotment net to cover the veg, again from old wood. we`ve also been collecting lots of firewood from fallen branches on our walks and we managed to grow 3 chesnut and one sycamore tree from wild seeds...so we`re very pleased with ourselves :)

Studying wildflowers of Ireland

We are at the moment studying the amazing wildflowers that are blooming here at the moment for Nature, it would take the sight out of your eyes...we`ve been walking miles around Maynooth and as you can see we`ve been well rewarded ! Aideen is also writing up about each flower...its heartbreaking to think that the flowers of my own youth are becoming so rare...