Lifestyle
Learning at home in a class of its own
Lifestyle – Judy Murphy meets a woman who is devoted to schooling her children through the world around them
Pauline O’Reilly’s son Finn was four when he announced that he didn’t want to go to ‘school school’. He’d been attending Montessori, where “everybody was lovely and kind”, according to his mother, but he had never settled, was constantly tired and was not looking forward to ‘big school’.
“A lot of children say that, but we were in the habit of trusting our child’s instincts,” says Pauline.
Until Finn made that utterance, she had been having sleepless nights, wondering what primary school to send him to. Suddenly everything fell into place.
Pauline and her husband Conor, who live in Galway City, began to explore the option of home-schooling, something that is legal under Ireland’s constitution.
These days, Pauline takes charge of educating Finn, who is now eight, and his four-year-old sister Caragh. And, while home-education might not be for everybody, it’s an option worth exploring, says Pauline, who trained and worked as a solicitor before opting to focus on her children’s upbringing and education, via ‘unschooling’.
While she agrees that the term ‘unschooling’ might imply that somebody isn’t receiving an education, that’s not the case. The term was coined by American educationalist John Holt in the 1960s after his experiences as a teacher led him to believe that formal schools actually stunted children’s development, educationally and emotionally.
Unschooling is based on what children are interested in and has no formal curriculum as children discover the world around them and learn how to navigate it in co-operation with their family, friends and larger community. That may sound a bit anarchic to those who believe in rules and regulations, but it works, says Pauline. And she has researched the subject extensively.
“You trust your children to want to learn in the first few years and that doesn’t stop as they get older,” she observes. Adults, too, are curious about the world around them, so she finds it difficult to see “why a human being needs to be forced to learn between the ages of four and 18, when for the rest of our lives we are interested in things and want to learn things”.
Very little research has been carried out into home-education in Ireland, but studies elsewhere have shown its benefits, she says.
She points to US psychologist Peter Gray, a professor at Boston College, who researched the role of play in helping children to learn. By ‘play’, he means self-directed play, initiated by children themselves. Like all mammals, such as cats and dogs, young humans have a natural instinct to learn.
Modern society “assumes that children are, merely because of their age, incompetent and irresponsible,” and forces them into formal schooling, says Professor Gray. This type of schooling deprives them “of the time and opportunities they need to practise self-direction and responsibility”.
Self-direction is a big aspect of home-schooling and, says Pauline, “Finn can spend a period of months at something and then not go near it for ages”. He loves the computer game Minecraft and might spend hours playing it, but will then switch effortlessly to making things with cardboard. Minecraft is now on the syllabus in many schools and Pauline feels it’s important educationally, although “you’d hate to see them on the computer or iPad all the time”.
When it seems that might be happening, it’s a question of directing the child away from the computer, so as a home educator, “you spend a lot of time checking in on the child and on yourself” to see what is happening.
Pauline is clearly fascinated by the way children follow their own educational instincts and says that while Finn is into computers and war history, Caragh is already displaying far more artistic tendencies.
“When you have a second child, you see it’s nothing you have done [as regards rearing]. They are themselves.”
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
Health, Beauty and Lifestyle with Denise McNamara
A native of Ballinasloe has expanded his baby clothing business and created a range of unique tableware and cutlery – all made from bamboo. Entrepreneur Enda Barton, who set up BambooBaby during the lockdown when he lost his job, has recently taken the huge leap of leaving his job in a computer company to work full-time in the business.
While there are some companies that sell baby tableware made from bamboo, this is the first Irish company to produce tableware themselves.
“I started BambooBaby with clothing, and the idea of having a tableware range made from 100% bamboo came to me when I was thinking about what our customers would want,” explains Enda.
“This makes it particular attractive for those who are gifting because now they can order a bundle of clothes, and add a beautiful sustainable feeding set to go in with the clothes which makes a really unique gift.”
Each item has smooth edges that are gentle on little gums and easy for babies to hold, facilitating their seamless transition from liquids to solids. The plates are divided into sections to encouraging them to eat varied foods and develop healthy eating habits from an early age.
An FDA approved silicone suction base is attached to secure the tableware in place, minimising spills and messes. Though silicone is a synthetic material, it outshines its plastic counterparts in terms of durability, temperature tolerance, and environmental impact. Unlike plastic, silicone does not degrade into harmful microplastics, which means it’s better for the environment.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Positivity, empowerment, encouragement and hope will be the focus in schools this Thursday, when children will get to celebrate National Confidence Day in classrooms right across the country.
A host of Irish celebrities have come together to participate in an inspirational and motivational half hour show, produced by STARCAMP with Gala Retail for the children of Ireland, with contributions from An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, Alisha Weir (Matilda in the movie by the same name), Rory’s Stories and Cillian O’ Connor, an Irish favourite in this year’s Britain’s Got Talent. “If children watch only one thing this year, let it be this”, stated Principal Sean Cummins.
Earlier this week, ahead of National Confidence Day on Thursday, STARCAMP with Gala Retail carried out a national survey about confidence and children’s well-being in children. Just under 2,000 parents from all 26 counties across Ireland with primary school aged children took part. The research uncovered that:
- 66% of parents said that they would like their children to be more confident.
- 97% believe that it is very important that life skills such as handshakes, resilience and the importance of losing be taught to children.
- When asked if parents would like the school environment to be changed in any way, (they were allowed to choose up to 2 options), only 6% believe that the it is fine as is. 64% believing more life skills should be taught in school. 52% would like to see more creativity, 32% would like to see more emphasis on their holistic development, 10% would like to see more sport.
- 75% of those whose children use devices believe that it has a negative effect on their confidence.
- 42% of parents admit that they problem solve for their children too much.
- Out of 7 traits that were listed that parents would wish for their child going forward, including academic excellence, sociability, creativity, confidence, resilience, sporting ability and street smartness, 40% chose resilience, 35% chose confidence, 13% chose being sociable, 5% chose street smart, 3% rated creativity as the most important trait, 2% chose academic excellence and 1% chose being sporty.
- Further analysis from the survey showed a concern that the majority of parents share for their children. When asked about their children’s anxieties and worries, a concerning 13% of parents said that their primary school child suffered from anxiety. A further 38% said that their child worries too much, with less than half, 46%, stating that their child had normal worries in life and a further 2% that don’t seem to worry about anything.
- 43% would like if their child’s social skills were better.
- 85% believe that group activities (such as performance and sport) are extremely important in their child’s development, a further 14% find it important. Less than 1% state that it is of no importance.
Commenting on the findings, Aideen O’Grady, Founder of Starcamp says:
“Research clearly shows that parents across all 32 counties of Ireland desire a more holistic lifestyle for their children. An overwhelming 97% would like to see more emphasis on life skills, with a strong desire for more balance in the classroom and not for the main emphasis to be on academia. As always, excessive technology is playing a negative role in our children’s lives and sadly, the majority of parents feel that their child is not confident enough. The fact that the majority are genuinely concerned with their children’s anxiety and stress levels is quite disturbing, particularly with a group of children so young and innocent. I always appreciate these findings, whatever the outcome, because it gives us the opportunity to make changes.”
STARCAMP recently decided to take baby steps towards encouraging positivity, confidence and growth in children outside of their camp environment. This Thursday, for National Confidence Day, they have produced a special half hour show which will be available to watch in all classrooms and homes across Ireland. Over 300,000 are expected to tune in on Thursday. Over 270 STARCAMP with Gala Retail camps will take place this summer across Ireland, with almost 30,000 children attending. The theme is resilience and there is a new section on life skills. “From small acorns grow mighty oaks. If we can start with a positive little seedling like this show in the classroom or home, and build on it little by little, focus on the positive and laugh, dance and rejoice more – just imagine how our children could feel about themselves. And then, just imagine what they could achieve!”
The “I BELIEVE IN ME” Confidence Show for Children will be available for all to watch and can be streamed on Thursday, May 25th, from the Starcamp website www.starcamp.ie for a limited time.
Country Living with Francis Farragher
Sometimes, I’m taken aback a bit, by some of the younger acquaintances that I enjoy a few scoops with. They’re kind of surprised that I’m not a fan of Donald Trump; that I’ve no problem with gay rights; and that I have sympathy for the plight of the Ukrainians who have come to Ireland to avoid being slaughtered by the Russians.
There is, I feel, some lingering gene from famine times which clicks in with me – and a lot of other Irish people too – where a little alarm bell of the mind rings and transports me back to a time of only a few generations back when the Great Hunger ravished our land, killing around one million people with at least as many more, taking the emigrant boats, mainly to America, to try and survive.
At times, it’s worthwhile to have a little historical reflection, on the greatest catastrophe to have ever hit our island when we were a colony of the United Kingdom following the 1801 Act of Union. We were a largely tenant population – the poorest of the poor – relying almost exclusively on the potato crop to feed the general masses.
Although the penal laws had largely been repealed during the Daniel O’Connell era, there were only two classes of people in Ireland during those days of the 1800s: the English and Anglo-Irish families and landlords who owned practically all of the land and then at the other end of the ladder, the far greater majority of the population, the native Irish, who had to pay rent and eke out a living from two or three acres of often poor quality land.
As bad as things were up until 1845, at least the potato crop managed to keep the people fed. Potatoes ironically had been introduced by the landed gentry about a century before that as a garden crop, with one main variety grown, known as the Irish Lumper. Disaster though was to strike through 1845 in the form of potato disease with the name of Phytophrthora infestans, which in simple wordage translated into a word that’s now part of the Irish psyche – the blight.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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