Homeschool Lesson Plan: Ireland
My boys have traveled all over the world this year in their studies so, of course, we had to visit Ireland where both my husband’s and my ancestors came from!
Geography: Our Ireland map work came from www.enchantedlearning.com. Because our family is Irish, we spent some time looking specifically at the counties our ancestors inhabited. We visited http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/countries/ireland/ to learn more about the culture and landscape of the Emerald Isle.
Art: Celtic knots were used by the ancient Celts to represent the seven creations of the earth in art and sculpture. After being influenced by Christianity, the Celtic knot came to symbolize the sign of the Cross. If you look closely at knots with crosses, you will find that the knots hide the crosses between the knot’s ribbons. Drawing a basic Celtic knot is a fun activity. My boys and I viewed this video from the Circle Line Art School and then tried making our own.
Another handcraft project I have wanted to try with my boys is knitting. Knitting is a great way to teach manual dexterity and multiplication. It is also very soothing. Hand-knitting was first introduced to Ireland in the 17th century and knitting skills soon became part of everyday life. In fact, garments for husbands and sons were knit in a special family pattern so that in the event a man was lost at sea, his body could be identified by the sweater on his back. My sons and I had a wild time trying our own hand at knitting, and you can read more about it “Knitting with Boys.”
Computer: The great thing about homeschool is that my sons get to learn from dad too! My husband is a computer guy, so every once in a while the boys get a lesson in programming. One of our favorite FREE resources for teaching programming is Scratch from MIT. Kids can pretty much walk themselves through the activities as they learn how to code. There are also some great books available from The LEAD Project, including “Super Scratch Programming Adventure!” For an Irish project, my sons designed a program that draws their own Celtic knot. Pretty cool, huh?
Writing: Our creative writing assignment was: If I had a pot of gold. Using our baseball diamond writing organizers from the West Virginia Department of Education, each of my boys wrote and read aloud an essay about their dreams for a pot of gold.
Reading: We continued our love of the “You Wouldn’t Want to …” series By Jim Pipe and read “You Wouldn’t Want to Sail on an Irish Famine Ship!: A Trip Across the Atlantic You’d Rather Not Make
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