Showing posts with label Ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ireland. Show all posts

The Brendan Voyage

0 comments Posted by Kristine at 1/12/2010 07:05:00 PM


As mentioned in my last post, for the past few days I've been researching Irish saints of the early Middle Ages. (Though I attended a Catholic high school, I don't remember *ever* learning about any of the saints and as someone new to the Faith, I'm intrigued by them all!) One saint whom I've especially enjoyed reading about is St. Brendan, well-known for a 6th century voyage in which he may have discovered North America. This article gives a good summary of the legend: St. Brendan: Sailor, Explorer, and Discoverer.

In 1974, British scholar and adventurer Tim Severin set about to recreate Brendan's voyage across the Atlantic, using a hand-constructed currach (a wooden-frame, animal hide boat), just as Brendan would have. He wrote a book, The Brendan Voyage, about his experience, and much to my delight, there's also a documentary! Parts 1 & 2 can be found below:

The Brendan Voyage, Part 1/5:



The Brendan Voyage, Part 2/5:


I'm not sure what happened to Parts 3-5, but they're not available on YouTube. Fortunately, the documentary can be purchased directly from Mr. Severin (who can be contacted via his website). I've ordered a copy and look forward to watching it; I think the boys, in particular, will enjoy it as well!

Another option, though a bit different is the YouTube series In the Footsteps of St. Brendan the Navigator (See Also: Climbing Ben Nevis, The Faroes Island & Iceland Expedition).

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Planning Notes: Irish Saints

2 comments Posted by Kristine at 1/12/2010 02:19:00 PM

Photo by FaithMonsoon

Over the weekend, I spent my time researching and planning for our study of Irish saints as a part of our larger study on the Church in the Early Middle Ages. I previewed a portion of the video "In Search of Ancient Ireland" (which I'd purchased last year for our St. Patrick's Day unit study) and was thrilled to find that it is perfectly suited to our needs. Part II of the DVD contains segments on the following: St. Patrick, St. Brigid, St. Columba, Monastic Treasures & Culture, Seeking White Martyrdom, St. Columbanus, and Irish Pilgrims.

Skellig Michael
The segment "Seeking White Martyrdom" was especially appreciated as just prior to watching the video, my imagination had been captured by Skellig Michael and I'd been avidly researching the island with the hopes of including it in our study. Truly I cannot imagine living in such a place and it humbles me to imagine the determination of the monks who chose to do so! I read every word of The Forgotten Hermitage of Skellig Michael, absolutely enthralled. My interest in Skellig Michael then led me to order a copy of Sun Dancing by Geoffrey Moorhouse, followed soon thereafter by Celtic Spirituality by Oliver Davies and How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill (though I have mixed feelings about Cahill's work).

In the midst of all this, I also began researching St. Brendan [the Navigator], who was on my list of saints to cover and is also mentioned in the video. In particular, I enjoyed this post about St. Brendan, as well as St. Brendan and the Contemporary Novel. Naturally, I then had to order Brendan: A Novel by Frederick Buechner, and I'm not sure how I could miss The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin. Goodness, I'm going to be very busy reading, but oh how I'm looking forward to it! Unfortunately, my books won't arrive until later this week, which scarcely allows me any time for preparation before our study (slated for next week, yikes).
A few additional sites of interest:

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Lesson Plans for Ireland and St. Patrick's Day

1 comments Posted by Kristine at 3/01/2009 07:52:00 PM

For a study of Ireland and/or Saint Patrick's Day, topics might include: St. Patrick's Day Traditions, Irish Legends & Folklore, History of Ireland, Celts, The Irish Potato Famine, Immigration of the Irish, etc.

Mapwork

Other Printables
  • The Shamrock Patch Game (G 5-8): A game to review facts learned about Ireland.
  • St. Patrick's Day Maze: A nice maze from MakingFriends.com.
  • St. Patrick's Day Word Search from MakingFriends.com.
  • A Visit to Ireland: Scavenger hunt worksheet to learn facts about Ireland.
  • ABCTeach has a huge list of St. Patrick's Day printables.
  • Ireland Theme Unit from EdHelper.com.
  • Scholastic also has a terrific huge list of printables, though alas, a monthly membership is required (memberships start at $8.99/month).
  • Teacher Vision also has a great list of printables (67 in all for grade K-12), including some fun crafts and activities. A membership is required, however the first three printables are free OR new users may opt for a 7-day free trial.
  • Apples 4 the Teacher has a variety of free St. Patrick's Day printables.
Coloring Sheets
Lesson Plans

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More Books on Ireland

0 comments Posted by Kristine at 3/01/2009 03:26:00 PM

This afternoon I ran to the local library and was greatly distressed to discover that someone beat me to all of the St. Patrick's Day books available, excepting two (quite by luck, since they weren't on the same shelf as the others!). While I normally prefer to buy our books anyway, in this case I'd hoped to borrow many since I'm already desperately short on time. Here's what I did manage to find:

For myself I picked up The Irish Way: A Walk Through Ireland's Past and Present which I suspect will displace Abundance as this week's selection for "52 Books..." Also, I was reminded that we already have a book about Saint Patrick (as part of Sonlight Core 6), Flame Over Tara by Madeleine Polland. Therefore, we'll be dividing our month in this way...the first two weeks we'll read "Flame Over Tara," followed by Celtic fairy tales, myths and legends. I think. Returning back to Amazon to determine what I needed to purchase, I came across the following to supplement my earlier list:
Picture Books
  • Katie's Wish by Barbara Shook Hazen - About the Irish potato famine
  • Market Day by Eve Bunting - Set in an Irish village
Also, I checked The Baldwin Project for books that were available free online, there we have:
Lastly, if we had more time, we'd read the Bantry Bay Series by Hilda Van Stockum - a fictional series from the 1930s, set in Glengarriff, County Cork, Ireland.

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Crafts for St. Patrick's Day

0 comments Posted by Kristine at 3/01/2009 12:18:00 PM

Despite my earnest efforts, I came up mostly empty-handed while looking for Irish/St. Patrick's Day crafts that weren't completely tacky. True it's not exactly a major holiday, but somehow I expected more options than were available. Nevertheless, Little Irish Blessings had quite a thorough list and The Crafty Crow has a great round up as well; here's what else I came up with:

I also found some DIY decor ideas: The Felt Mouse @ Flickr, JannyPie.com. Sadly, that is all for now.
"Good Luck Garden" from Gooseberry Patch

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Irish Movies and Music

0 comments Posted by Kristine at 3/01/2009 09:52:00 AM

This morning I had a rather inspired idea...I've decided that for the month of March, we will take a "time out" from our regularly scheduled history studies and focus instead on the rich history and traditions of Ireland. My new history schedule is coming together quite neatly and will allow time for this, so I expect it to be quite fun!

Needless to say, because I hadn't exactly planned for this, it will take some scrambling to throw together a decent plan...I would imagine that we'll mostly read, watch a lot of movies and documentaries, listen to some Irish music and enjoy some Irish food.

Since I've already covered many of the books, let's move on to movies and music:

Irish Movies

(See also: The Irish in Film database)

*Contains some violence

Documentaries
*Not available from Netflix

Irish Music

This list is far from comprehensive, I merely picked what appeared most interesting to me:

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Books for St. Patrick's Day

0 comments Posted by Kristine at 3/01/2009 09:33:00 AM

Books with an Irish Theme (Many discovered via By Sun and Candlelight):

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