Our little Star...

Its been a while since I wrote a post.
We have been so busy with end of year things, Ballet concerts rehearsals.
Our business has been keeping Dermot busy, so a lot of the house and yard work has fallen back onto me. Thats how marriage works.
Last weekend Brid danced in her end of year concert for her local Dance school.
We discussed the night before amongst ourselves, when we would have to leave, how long it would take for make up and hair to be done. It made for a smooth transition.
So after a nice sleep in, we got into action. We needed 1 hour to drive to the venue. 1 hour to do hair and makeup, so that we were not rushed.
So after showers and having Brids' costumes and assessories at the door, we went to work with putting her hair in a nice full bun, with the sides of her hair twisted back into the bun. We always part her hair on the side, so her hairline looks softer around her face. The twists just add something different and a little interest to her hairline.

our stage makeup

Then its stage makeup. We have learnt over the years to apply liquid andt hen powdered foundation in matt, not gloss. We also adapt our colours to Brids' skin type. She is rather fair, so there is no point putting red lipstick on her lips, or a harsh blush on her cheekline. It just looks terrible. I use a mixture of a pink and a brown, and it really sets her eyes off.

note the twist in her hair and the eyeliner under her eyes
 

This year we experimented with eye makeup. We used browns with white as the base and brown in the crease, smoothed over with a lighter brown. We use a liquid eyeliner on the eyelid and a pencil eyeliner about 1 mm underneath the eye. It makes her eyes stand out and there is no tears with applying eyeliners like in previous years.
We learnt a trick with mascara, Using a plastic teaspoon as a guide, you apply the mascara and the teaspoon is painted as instead of droping onto her face.
So that all done we were ready to grab drink bottles and food for backstage, her costumes and of we went.

Her classical Ballet costume
 

An hours drive took us to the venue and arrived in plenty of time for Brid to settle in and get her costumes ready.
She was beautiful and we couldn't have more proud of her.
Mum Dad Dermot And myself sat in the audience waiting for Brids dances. It was lovely. All those weeks of practice, all those classes at her new ballet school made all the difference. Brid you just Shone...like a star. Our star..

What a journey......reflecting

I have been reflecting lately, on our homeschool and the choices over the last few years.
We have used various tools and attempted several homeschool styles.
Early on when we had 3 at home, and we were very new to homeschooling, Dermot & I chose ACE. a  ready made Christian complete curriculum. It was OK and helped me over the steep learning curve we were on at the time.
I found many holes in it for us. The one I felt that most affected our teens learning  was its read a passage and  tick the boxes. They were not extended and it quickly turned into get the work done. Where was their love of learning? So different to what we were seeing with Brid.
I quickly found other curricula for them and it wasn't long before we just had Brid to concern ourselves with.
After buying mountains of workbooks for Brid- mind you they were excellent resources, we started using Mater Amabilis. I loved the afternoons just reading to Brid, the drawings that she drew as we read each book. The lapbooks we found and the love and enthusiasm we discovered, even more than before, for our Faith.
This is how we learnt for some years.
We were quite fluid and open to new ideas, curricula, books etc
As Brid got older, she wanted to spend more of her time on one focus area,  so I tailored her subjects to accommodate this, for example, History for a week, or Science for a week. I called it a subject a week. She immersed herself completely in that topic. This was after her mornings maths, faith reader, and English.
It developed into 2 subjects, particularly if they were rather light in there work load.
Brid began saying, "It would be fun to do this or do that", so after much consideration and feeling peace in my heart we had a season of unschooling, not radically, but let the books go. I just strews as I had always done. (I didn't actualy know it had a name until.....)
It was a very peaceful time mostly, I just needed to let go and Trust. Brid did various unit studies on  several Saints, we explored our surroundings more, went on wonderful excursions and just had fun together.
It was also the time that she was seriously considering her pathway in life.
This was also a wonderful time of letting me see how Brid likes to learn. As she has gotten older and able to articulate herself more, she expressed to me, that she likes to thoroughly learn a particular area. Much like myself I suppose.
So with this information, we leapt into our current phase. ........
High school really hasn't been any different. Admittedly, I stressed myself out, and Brid when she officially started ''highschool", until I realised it was just a progression.
So currently we are working through the subjects she needs to. At present she is completing IEW Grammar - a sentence ot two to correct in spelling and grammar, Maths, And Apologia Physical Science. She is a week or 2 away from completing them all for the year. After this she will read various history living books on the lounge or outside in the fresh air. Then most days its off to Ballet rehearsals.

All along our studies Brid has been very involved in choosing her books and curricula. She would look with me and we would decide together. Very rarely did I find a program that I didn't use. I have been quite frugal in my purchases, but I am pleased it our resources we chose along the way.
We are drawing our homeschooling to a close over the next few years and its been a wonderful time in our lifes. I wouldn't have changed it for the world.
My only regret is that I didn't find it earlier. I really hated sending my other children off to school, but It was not revealed to me by God until His perfect timimg.
We have loosly mapped out the next few years. I never thought we would ger here...But boy its been a journey..Maybe you may like to share yours...