Ireland

Walk on air against your better judgement. ~Seamus Heaney

Overnight flight to Ireland. Kids crossing the pond for the first time.

Arrived at our 1st destination, a farm in Kiltale (centeral Ireland). We couldn't believe how impossibly GREEN it was!
CLICK PIC FOR LINK — Arrived at our 1st destination, a farm in Kiltale (centeral Ireland). We couldn't believe how impossibly GREEN it was! CLICK PIC FOR LINK

The owner, Mary (LOVED her!) instructed us to pick and eat anything we wanted from the garden and orchards.

Soup and salad for dinner. Cooking in keeps us well within our budget... especially when the ingredients are free!

Breakfast at the farm and living auntie Ket's motto: hydration is key (especially after a red-eye flight and 7 hour time change)!

Kids learned about the feudal system and plotted the Trim castle on their historial timeline (1180 AD).

WHO KNEW!? William is the GOAT (greatest of all time) at milking goats. We milked the goats twice a day.

After we milked the goats, we used their milk to bottle-feed orphan baby goats.

Wild blackberries are everywhere in Ireland in late August. Read Sean Heaney's famous poem about them. CLICK PIC FOR LINK.

Farm owner, Micheal, taught the kids Irish words and all about the Irish Catholic tradition of cemetary Sunday [CLICK PIC FOR LINK]

After the farm chores... racing around tire tracks.

We had guiness and played dice with new friends at Marcie Regan's Pub, apparently the 2nd oldest pub in Ireland.

Lesson from Fionnan on hurling, one of Ireland's native Gaelic sports.

The landscape is indescribable. Also, there is no adequate description for how to make these roads fit two cars side-by-side.

Travel Tip! Rent manual cars and only choose one driver to save $.

Arrived at destination 2: Roundstone. One of western Ireland's best kept secrets! It is a quaint fishing village full of charm. Our home is the white one. [CLICK PIC FOR AIRBNB LINK]

Coffee shop next to our house, overlooking the harbor. Worldschooling in session.

The nearby pub (4 doors down) serves drinks to be enjoyed along the stone wall overlooking the harbor. This is where Daniela and Eric met lovely new friends!

Proof-of-life selfie from the kids who babysat themselves.

Journal time. Puffy animal pen is mandatory.

Loving the words of wisdom on the stone wall near our home in Roundstone.

Dog's Bay near Roundstone. Absolutely worth a visit! Rolling green hills, grazing cows, protected dunes and a beautiful sloping white beach.

A day well spent at Dog's bay. We built a well-decorated sandcastle for the sheer fun of it, fully knowing it would soon be washed away. This is what the RTW is all about!

Worldschooling: architecture and shell discovery. Dog's bay had loads of limpet and razor shells.

Connemara National Park. Entrance is free and memories are priceless. We hiked to the top of Diamond Hill (~6-7km), did a lesson in poetry, created Haikus, and enjoyed the breathtaking views.

Connemara National Park. Views from hiking Diamond Hill.

Kids taking in a snack and the endless landscape of Connemara national park.

Daniela and Grace completing the last false summit to join Eric and William at the top.

Look closely. Yep. Those are sheep joining us for some playtime at the park.

Grace painting in our airbnb in Roundstone while her cakes were baking in the oven. Travel Tip: to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, multiple by 9/5 and add 32.

Ireland in August: castles, the color green and blackberries.

We met the most lovely Irish couple, Derik and Maria. They invited us on their sailboat and taught us so much about Irish culture, history and humanity in general.

Grace interviewing Derik for world school. After asking about Ireland's typical foods, the conversation evolved into an excellent history lesson on the potato famine.

Currency Exchage Time!
$5 Bermudian = 4.65
Exchange with Patty in Roundstone. — Currency Exchage Time! $5 Bermudian = 4.65 Exchange with Patty in Roundstone.

Afternoon in Galway. Notice the Sean Heaney quote on the wall: Noli timere [Latin] "do not be afraid"

Farewell for now Ireland but we are not leaving the UK just yet... off to England.

We fell in love with Ireland. Never since on our journey have we so consistently met such inviting and warm people. Derek and Maria stood out as shooting stars among the cosmos. They were enjoying a long sail around the island and luckily for us, they were anchored in the harbor near our temporary home in Roundstone. Within a day of crossing paths, we found ourselves floating on the Atlantic aboard their monohull. Grace and William conducted their first Country Interview, a longitudinal worldschooling project they’ve continued throughout our trip. We watched on as the magic of worldschool unfolded aboard the floating classroom.

When Grace asked Derek, “What is a typical food in Ireland?”, he shared a list of common potato dishes and then asked if they knew the historical importance of the Irish potato crop in the late 1800s. Nope.

What proceeded was the most organic and engaging history lesson. Derek described the Irish Potato Famine from the perspective of his ancestors. He explained why we’d been seeing so many abandoned stone houses on the hillsides - remnants of the mass exodus. The ultimate “ah-ha” moment was when the kids deduced that their very existence was linked to this live history lesson: without the emigration of mommy’s Irish ancestors to America, they wouldn’t be here.

The kids plotted the Irish Potato Famine on their growing timeline and stamped it in their memory banks. As a thank you, Grace baked Derek and Maria a big cake!