Primary School
You want your child to be holy… to never lose the faith… to be an advocate for the Truth in these dark times… so we at The Hedge School want to expose him or her to the best of the best in our Irish and European tradition. We want your child to know and love the Faith and their Irish heritage, so they will always serve the God that made them and the land wherein they were born. Browse our Irish Primary School Homeschooling Plans below!
Our Primary School curriculum allows parents to combine multiple students and all enjoy the same time period of history, together. That’s right, you can save time and teach your similarly-aged children together. We learn about history through Living Books–the Classics that have come down to us over time. We then incorporate the Lives of the Saints, Literature, and the Fine Arts–all to ensure the child is fully immersed in that particular time period and easily able to make mental connections to appreciate our Catholic and Irish heritage. We specifically include and focus on our Irish Saints, Literature about and set in Ireland, and Irish art and music. We will study:
- Ancient History: Ancient Egypt, Ireland, Greece & Rome
- Ireland’s Role in Christendom: The Redemption & The Early Church, The Fall of Rome, The Middle Ages–all with a special emphasis on our Irish Saints and their role in spreading the Faith
- Reformation & Revolutions: The Protestant Revolt, The Age of Discovery, The Early Modern Era, and the American & French Revolutions
- The Modern Era (1800s-Present): An Gorta Mór, Parnell & The Land Wars, The World Wars, 1916 & the Irish Republic, and much more!
Read on to find out how our unique programme works!
Core Learning: Primary School
The standard Primary School subjects–Religion, Irish, handwriting, phonics & reading, maths, grammar, spellings, tin whistle–arranged by Class.
We use a few National School workbooks, for things like handwriting, phonics and maths. We then use solid, traditional readers for Religion and Reading to ensure that your child learns the Faith well and learns to read well, by only being exposed to the best explanations of our Religion and wholesome, timeless literature.
In the upper Classes, we round out your child’s education by adding in Latin! We want your child to have a thorough, Classical education!
Choose whichever Classes your children are in; you’ll need a Core Learning Plan for each Class.
For Fifth and Sixth Classes, we also offer an additional Essay Grading service for parents who may not feel comfortable marking their children’s work. (At present, this is only available for assignments in the English language.)
The History Cycles: Primary School
Our History Cycle Curriculum Plans are arranged on a four-year Cycle of History. They include the following subjects, and are designed for use by all your students in 1st-6th Class!
- History: An engaging read-aloud (or dramatised audio-book) that will have the whole family on the edge of their seats! History doesn’t have to be boring!
- A Timeline/ Book of the Centuries: We learn important dates and better understand the flow of Human History by writing these down on a child-friendly Timeline
- Irish Poetry: We spend a good amount of time looking at poems from Ireland
- Literature: We study the literature either about the time period under study, or first-hand accounts written by authors living in that period
- Science: We have a passion for Science here at The Hedge School, and want to make homeschool Science one of your family’s favourite subjects. We study, in rotation, Earth Science, Chemistry, Physics and Biology, all at an age-appropriate level.
- Fine Arts: We listen to the music representative of each historical time period, as we really get to hear the mood and temperament of each period of our History.
We’ve carefully arranged our Day-by-Day Plans to be easy to use–do the Combined Studies together, then send your older children off to read on their own, while helping your younger, beginner readers! We expect each day’s assignments to take as little as 1-2 hours. (Also, don’t forget–we’re a 4 Day Curriculum–leaving you a 5th Day off to enjoy your family!)
(The Modern Era: Coming late 2025!)
Beginning in 2025-2026: We are now offering Live Zoom classes in the Irish Language by a National School teacher. Read more about our Live Classes, here:
We want to save you money. Our programme allows you to reuse your curriculum products with your younger children, and to combine as many children as you can (also saving yourself valuable time!). Here’s an example of how our costs go down each year:
An example: You have 4 children: Patrick in 4th Class, Mary in 3rd Class, Brigid in 1st Class and Margaret in Junior Infants. This year, you would use: Ancient History for Patrick, Mary and Brigid, all together. You’d also use: 4th Class for Patrick; 3rd Class for Mary, 1st Class for Brigid. Finally, you’d need Junior Infants for Margaret. Total cost: €595
Next year, you would use Christendom History for Patrick, Mary and Brigid, all together. You’d then also use: 5th Class for Patrick; 4rd Class for Mary (which you already have from Patrick), 2nd Class for Brigid and Senior Infants for Margaret. Total cost: €490
The year after that, you would use Reformation & Revolutions History for Patrick, Mary, Brigid and Margaret, all together. You’d then also use: 6th Class for Patrick; 5th Class for Mary (which you already have from Patrick), 3nd Class for Brigid (which you already have from Mary) and 1st Class for Margaret (which you already have from Brigid). Total cost: €250
“The beauty of home education is that it gives a family more time together–time to solidify relationships, to communicate values, and to focus on each child’s individual needs in a consistent and unhurried atmosphere.”
~Kimberly Hahn & Mary Hasson, Catholic Education: Homeward Bound
As with our Infant Classes, the overwhelming majority of books used in our Primary School curriculum are available FREE either in the Irish Library System or online! There is never a need to import books or curricula from abroad–no need to pay additional VAT or hefty shipping fees. We are a truly economical solution for the Irish homeschooling family!
Concerned about your child’s Faith, but not interested in a full curriculum? Browse our helpful Religion-Only Courses today! Or our very popular Irish Language Courses to supplement homeschooling through another provider.
Finally, be sure to check out our (Hedge)School Tours for all Irish Catholic homeschoolers! We love to support families and support other homeschoolers in Ireland!