Monday, April 26, 2010

Animal Tracks Workshop at Library


Kids had fun working with local science interns at NYS parks dept. the theme this week was animal tracks!

Caught and released a beautiful swallow tail butterfly!


Boston New England Aquarium - seals!

BOSTON! Field Trip:)

Well there are few better towns than Boston for field trip and educational opportunities! So we headed up to Beantown for the weekend and had fun and learning experiences together. We went on a harbour boat tour and got to see old ironsides and navy ships. We also got to check out the HUGE coast guard vessels and view some of the local animals in the harbor (mostly birds!). But we got to get up close and personal with the marine life at the New England Aquarium. The seals and penguins are two favorites of the kids and of course the shark and sea turtles were also fun to see! Conall enjoyed the new frogs section down at the animal clinic. It was super crowded with MA school break this week, but we managed the crowds fairly well. We also got to dine at Fanuel Hall and go to the local playground. It was a fun trip!

Monday, April 19, 2010

iphone and homeschooling!




So being on the road quite a bit, piano lessons, horse lessons, etc. and one or the other child waiting around, I thought we could squeeze in a bit of schooling using the iphone. I have learned to LOVE apps:). Pictured above you can see some of the ones I have. It's fantastic for learning sight words, math facts, listening to kids audio books, coin math, even learning Irish. . .you name it and there is probably an educational "app" or application for it. The kids will get excited about anything to do with using the iphone, so even if it's something as boring as rote memory kind of work if it's on the iphone they are fine with it! And the best thing is that most of the apps are $1.00 or less compared to the educational games you end up paying a fortune for. Now, even the "baby", my 3 year old, is enjoying the iphone educational games. He plays Clifford phonics, Thomas train mazes, etc. So I highly recommend the iphone for School work:)!

Just some random work samples for 3rd Quarter


Local History and Geography!

We took a field trip to one of the highest points in the village. Amazing views of the Hudson Valley and Catskills. We tried our hand at geo-caching while we were up there. On the way down, I pointed out to the kids one of the houses that legend has it was part of the Underground Railroad. We went into the house once and saw the secret door to underneath the floorboards. It was a fantastic day and some educational learning as well! Pictured above the Hudson Valley land views and also the old house that was supposedly part of the Underground Railroad.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

One of the best parts of Homeschooling is seeing "real life" up close! Got to visit a new foal!

Eoghan on the hunt for butterflies!

Nature Walks are always more fun with a dog!

Homeschool Horse Riding:)

Orla loves riding and helped organize a group homeschool riding class. Now she get to ride with homeschooled friends as part of gym every week.

Poetry Workshop!

Kids attended a fabulous poetry workshop with a local homeschooling group. They got to partner up with friends and draw illustrations to a poem read by the workshop leader. Lots of educational fun!!