Annie Mae Posted August 17, 2013 Share Posted August 17, 2013 Hello, I'm a home schooling mum of three teens aged 14, 15 and 17. We have been home schooling for a couple of years now with limited success. Home schooling in Ireland is not common and I recently heard that there are 100 home schooling families here in the Republic of Ireland but I cannot verify those figures. I have only met one other home schooling family here. I recently came across the book 'The Well Trained Mind' and this is the type of education I wish I had been given. I would love to start my teens on a classical education with the few years we have left but honestly, after reading the book I am totally overwhelmed and wouldn't know where to start. We have been following the public school curriculum and I don't feel my children are learning much. We will be changing our approach this year and would appreciate any advice at all. I would like to teach the children critical thinking and reasoning but I have never been taught it myself not to mention the rhetoric stage. Two of my children also struggle with writing activities and I'm determined to help them out with that this year. 'The Well Trained Mind' has really opened my eyes and I believe I need to go back to school with my children. I just don't know where to begin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serene Posted August 17, 2013 Share Posted August 17, 2013 Welcome! =) I don't really have any helpful advice, except to recommend you also post this over on the high school board. There are some great ladies over there that might be able to give some good direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serene Posted August 17, 2013 Share Posted August 17, 2013 Welcome! =) I don't really have any helpful advice, except to recommend you also post this over on the high school board. There are some great ladies over there that might be able to give some good direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Mae Posted August 17, 2013 Author Share Posted August 17, 2013 Welcome! =) I don't really have any helpful advice, except to recommend you also post this over on the high school board. There are some great ladies over there that might be able to give some good direction. Thanks, I'll do that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted August 17, 2013 Share Posted August 17, 2013 Welcome to the board! The people here love to answer questions! You probably will have quicker responses if you ask specific questions about rhetoric and writing. There are some great threads already out there so searching may work. I use curriculum for both logic and writing. Memoria Press for logic and Excellence in Literature for my daughter's (age 15) writing and literature studies. My son age 13 loved the Fallacy Detective book which is a great introduction to logic and is using Writing With Skill to improve his writing abilities. There is a sample PDF at the Peace Hill Press website. I hope this helps. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Mae Posted August 17, 2013 Author Share Posted August 17, 2013 Welcome to the board! The people here love to answer questions! You probably will have quicker responses if you ask specific questions about rhetoric and writing. There are some great threads already out there so searching may work. I use curriculum for both logic and writing. Memoria Press for logic and Excellence in Literature for my daughter's (age 15) writing and literature studies. My son age 13 loved the Fallacy Detective book which is a great introduction to logic and is using Writing With Skill to improve his writing abilities. There is a sample PDF at the Peace Hill Press website. I hope this helps. :) Thanks for your input. We have ordered the Fallacy detective and I'm looking forward to starting it. At the moment I'm trying to get my head around the classical approach to education so I'm not sure which questions to ask. We are thinking of using the Ambleside online curriculum this year as we all love good literature and the book list appeals to us. However, I think my children will need specific training in writing/language arts because they just haven't been taught much at public school. I'll look up the curriculum you suggested, thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishMum Posted August 17, 2013 Share Posted August 17, 2013 Welcome Annie Mae! We are an Irish family, but we have lived in Australia for the last 7 years. I know of one lady on my blog FB page who homeschools in Ireland, but I haven't heard of many others. This forum is amazing, and a great place to ask all your questions about HS curriculum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Mae Posted August 18, 2013 Author Share Posted August 18, 2013 Welcome Annie Mae! We are an Irish family, but we have lived in Australia for the last 7 years. I know of one lady on my blog FB page who homeschools in Ireland, but I haven't heard of many others. This forum is amazing, and a great place to ask all your questions about HS curriculum! Hi and thanks for the welcome, We lived in Australia for a couple of years as well. We loved it there but we had to come home as the company that was sponsoring my husband for residency went belly up right in the middle of the process. We were on a 457 visa which meant he only had 28 days to find another job. He was let go in early December. As you can imagine jobs were not a plenty coming up to Christmas. We came home dreading moving back to Ireland. We have lived in Spain, Canada, and Australia and the weather is better in all of those countries. Even snowy Canada seemed better to me than rainy Ireland. However, we have been pleasantly surprised and have settled back into the Irish pace of life really well. The downturn in the market has enabled us to buy a house and we are all really happy here. I loved Australia and would have stayed but I can honestly say there's no place like home. I have been home schooling for a few years and haven't really found a style that suits us yet. We were following the Irish curriculum but it seems so dumbed down to me. Last year we introduced ambleside online into our studies to see how we would manage and I'm probably going to use it fully this year instead of the Irish curriculum. We are also a book loving family and can never have enough reading material in the home. we don't have a TV which has really encouraged reading among the children. The area I really need to brush up on with the kids is their written work. I'm determined to improve that this year so any ideas that encourage better language arts/writing skills would be much appreciated.. Thanks again for the welcome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Hi :seeya: I am using the book Writing with Skill by Susan Bauer with my 15 and 13 year old. I know that they are older than the target range, but the 15 year old has Dyslexia and needs very explicit instructions. I highly recommend the book as it teaches the strategies of writing in a very orderly way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishMum Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Hi and thanks for the welcome, We lived in Australia for a couple of years as well. We loved it there but we had to come home as the company that was sponsoring my husband for residency went belly up right in the middle of the process. We were on a 457 visa which meant he only had 28 days to find another job. He was let go in early December. As you can imagine jobs were not a plenty coming up to Christmas. We came home dreading moving back to Ireland. We have lived in Spain, Canada, and Australia and the weather is better in all of those countries. Even snowy Canada seemed better to me than rainy Ireland. However, we have been pleasantly surprised and have settled back into the Irish pace of life really well. The downturn in the market has enabled us to buy a house and we are all really happy here. I loved Australia and would have stayed but I can honestly say there's no place like home. I have been home schooling for a few years and haven't really found a style that suits us yet. We were following the Irish curriculum but it seems so dumbed down to me. Last year we introduced ambleside online into our studies to see how we would manage and I'm probably going to use it fully this year instead of the Irish curriculum. We are also a book loving family and can never have enough reading material in the home. we don't have a TV which has really encouraged reading among the children. The area I really need to brush up on with the kids is their written work. I'm determined to improve that this year so any ideas that encourage better language arts/writing skills would be much appreciated.. Thanks again for the welcome Wow, you guys sure have traveled. You have been very luck with the weather in Ireland this year, great first year back. Wouldn't it be great if Ireland always got such a great summer? I love Ireland, thought I love Australia too. Both have a lot to offer. We love to read too, and thought we have TVs we don't have cable, so we only watch DVDs. Like Melissa said WWS is great, we used it last year for a while, but it was too teacher intensive for me, so I went back to IEW. My older two are just about to finish the Student Writing Intensive Continuation Course, and I haven't decided what we will do after. Ask plenty of questions on this board, the ladies here are really helpful and many of them will have had similar issues to you, and will offer a range of recommendations and advice. Best board ever!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonFaerie Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 I have nothing to add except to say that I am totally jealous. I WISH I was living and homeschooling in Ireland. :001_tt1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishMum Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 I have nothing to add except to say that I am totally jealous. I WISH I was living and homeschooling in Ireland. :001_tt1: Haha DragonFaerie, do tell? Why the love of Ireland? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonFaerie Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 Not sure, actually. I'm Irish by heritage, but I've never been to Ireland. It's just a feeling that that's where my heart really belongs. I can't explain it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishMum Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 Not sure, actually. I'm Irish by heritage, but I've never been to Ireland. It's just a feeling that that's where my heart really belongs. I can't explain it. I hear that a lot form Irish descendants, strange the pull of the green, green land. I hope you get to visit it one day. It really is one of the most beautiful place in the world, but oh so wet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Mae Posted August 20, 2013 Author Share Posted August 20, 2013 Hi :seeya: I am using the book Writing with Skill by Susan Bauer with my 15 and 13 year old. I know that they are older than the target range, but the 15 year old has Dyslexia and needs very explicit instructions. I highly recommend the book as it teaches the strategies of writing in a very orderly way. Thanks, I'll try that one. My boys are a little behind in their writing skills so it wouldn't do any harm to start with the basics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedmom4 Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 Not sure, actually. I'm Irish by heritage, but I've never been to Ireland. It's just a feeling that that's where my heart really belongs. I can't explain it. I feel the same way. I have Irish ancestors as well. My mom took my daughters a few years ago on a trip to Dublin and they had an amazing time. I have always felt that if I stepped on Irish soil I would feel a deep connection and know that I was home! Glad to know I'm not the only one! Elise in NC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonFaerie Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 I hear that a lot form Irish descendants, strange the pull of the green, green land. I hope you get to visit it one day. It really is one of the most beautiful place in the world, but oh so wet! Rain is actually my favorite weather besides snow. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
munashe Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 Just across the channel from you. Waving to say hello from England. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Mae Posted August 20, 2013 Author Share Posted August 20, 2013 Just across the channel from you. Waving to say hello from England. Hi There :seeya: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Mae Posted August 20, 2013 Author Share Posted August 20, 2013 Rain is actually my favorite weather besides snow. :-) I wish I could send you some of ours. We get rather too much here, although I suppose that is why we have the lush green country that we do. Hope you get to visit sometime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishMum Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Look at a vid that Dana posted on her blog. It's an Irish homeshool family!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Mae Posted August 23, 2013 Author Share Posted August 23, 2013 I looked at that vid. What a lovely family and such a gorgeous place to live in. I'm not sure unschooling would work for us but I can see the attraction. It's just so stress free! We follow the Charlotte Mason Method and so far it's somewhat well for us. We're still trying to find our feet. Speaking of which, I'm up to my eyes at the moment getting ready for the new school year but we are all looking forward to getting back to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 We just returned home from a trip to Ireland and were talking to our B&B hostess about homeschooling there, which according to her is almost non-existent. I am jealous though...I love the country and would love to live there. It can be overwhelming to read The Well Trained Mind and begin especially if not starting in the beginning with an elementary-aged child. I pick and chose the parts I like from the book and implement those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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