Subject-by-Subject Description

Here’s a overview of what you can expect from our Irish Homeschooling Curriculum:

Religion: As always, this is the most essential subject that we offer. This year, we will continue using the beautiful reprints of the classic primary school textbook, Our Holy Faith. This tried-and-true text contains stunning artwork, Catechism questions for revision and memorisation, and excellent revision questions to ensure your child understands the material and can practise his Catholic religion well. This is a solid Catholic text that we’re sure both parent and child will enjoy!

Gaeilge: The study and love of our native language is another very important subject. We encourage children to really love Irish by selecting a relevant and engaging textbook, Caint is Comhrá. We provide parents complete answers to the exercises in the Main Textbook and in the Portfolio—all in our custom-made Answer Key. Caint is Comhrá also offers a range of online resources to help non-natives (or mothers who haven’t studied Irish in a while!) teach Irish to their children. The pronunciations given online are excellent to help your child learn to speak and understand Irish well!

Next, we work on your child’s reading and vocabulary with the delightful and vintage Soilse series. Finally, we continue our study of Irish Grammar, which we began in Third Class.

(We also provide resources for parents to utilise Gaelscoil mathematics texts at this level, to really encourage full immersion in our beloved language, if desired. We feel that it is important to use Irish as much as possible, to help our students become fluent.)

English: For our study of English this year, we will begin working on formal writing and essays. Your child has long practiced narrating about the material read and has perfected his handwriting–and is now ready to begin more formal writing exercises.

To complement this, we continue studying English Grammar and Spellings, as in Fourth Class.

Mathematics: Finally, we continue learning Mathematics with both the Mathemagic / Mata Draíochta and Table Toppers series. We provide parents a full Answer Key and detailed lesson plans. (We offer full plans for both the English and Irish version of the Mathemagic text!)

Latin: We complete our studies this year by a beginning look at one of the most influential languages in Western Civilisation–Latin. This exercise is not only beneficial (as it helps students perfect their grammar and vocabulary), but it is also a great way to teach your children more about ancient cultures and our Church History.

In summary, we will cover the core subjects of Fifth Class in this Core Learning Course for the Irish homeschool family!