Homeschooling

We had another busy weekend. March is a very busy month for Irish musicians. After orchestra rehearsals Friday night and Saturday afternoon, we travelled to North Jersey for a Hooley at the IAANJ. Haley enjoyed joining the musicians, singing songs, and eating treats.

Ceili band

The full band playing for dancers



She's not angry...just thought this would be a cool picture.

We spent the night with a friend then drove to NY for Sunday afternoon fiddle lesson followed by a library concert with Brian, then the evening at his session. Haley really enjoyed the session because her homeschooling, viola playing friend from CT, Sofia and her family were in the city and joined us. Haley loves spending time with Sofia. The girls sat and played with session. Poor Sofia had to try and keep up on her viola, shifting up crazy high to make up for her non-existent E string. She did a great job!

Sofia and Haley


We had a scary ride home in pouring down rain through the city with flooded roads. We made it home safely but very late. Today between violin, fiddle, and orchestra practices, we finished up the last three geography lessons using Paddle to the Sea. We got the program and books as a hand-me-down from Haley's violin teacher who was also a homeschooler. They had used the map to Paddle so we did our best making our own.

Haley was inspired when learning about Niagara Falls so she decided she'd like to try painting her version of the Falls. This is the result of her work.

We finished the day with some reading, a spelling lesson in which we finished up Level H of Spelling Power, and she worked on writing her part of the story project her book club is currently working on.

Our other project for this week is to keep track of her practicing. One of the orchestras issued a challenge to the kids part as a fundraiser and part to get them to practice the new, difficult material. They keep track of how much time they practice the orchestra material then get sponsors for whatever amount each minute or hour. Since we have to do that, Haley and I decided to keep track of all her practicing this week. Her violin teacher promised her a prize if she practices more than 3 hours a day. I am curious how much she really does practice each day since people are always asking and I end up guesstimating an answer. I'll post the results this weekend.