Before we went out though, we got our Saturday things done.
Maggie did a great job studying for trimester finals today. She's having to backpedal a bit and catch up with the rest of her group as she missed many weeks of the trimester. Sheila and I split up the work. I have math(s) and history, while Sheila's helping with geography, religion, home ec, and French. The exam schedule is so different than what Annunciation does at home. Quite a bit easier, I'd say. They only have to stay in school if they have an exam. For the entire week. So that means she's off by one most of the days and, because Wednesday is a science exam day and because (at least for first years, they can opt-out of science) she doesn't have to go in at all (!). Then, the following week, she has it off entirely.
As they say here, JAY-sus!
It was a gorgeous day (seriously the first since we have been here where there wasn't one drop of rain). Sheila and Johnny headed out on bike to the movies so that Maggie and I could have some dedicated time to focus. The math isn't too bad. The only thing new for her to learn is set theory. And the history is really interesting. They are essentially learning about historians and archeologists, what they do and how they do research, and are covering archeological periods of history from stone age to bronze and iron ages to the Roman Era. It is fascinating because we saw a few of the ancient burial sites and forts here on our trip a couple of years ago (a stone circle in Drumskinny and Dunbeg fort in Kerry) and we are planning a visit to Newgrange.You just don't have that same kind of hit-you-over-your-head evidence of ancient humans in America, you know? But for a kid, I get that all that stuff just seems like a long time ago and who cares, anyway?.
Education is so wasted on the young.
I'd like to say though, that I could almost handle home schooling. You can seriously see the benefit of it. When we first got here, Maggie and I laid down a few rules for each other (basically, while we are studying I am not a "mom" and she is not "my kid" -- this road goes both ways). Once we got that down, and we successful avoid studying when either one of us is tired, you can see how efficient the process can be. It is much easier teaching one student than 25 or 35 (or 110 as in my class at UCD). You can simply assess what they know and don't know, and then you don't have to spend so much time doing rote problems. Maggie gets it too. I only need her to do one or two math problems from a section unless its something she doesn't really get. Then we can focus in on that to make sure she gets the concept. When we work in short, regular intervals, this process is even easier.
By five we were ready to head out. Johnny got his bike and we stopped to play soccer with a couple of kids in the street. Then headed to the DART and into Temple Bar. At home we rarely would make such a production of heading out on a Saturday night. I'm not sure why. Maybe we just get lazy, order in, pop in a movie. I don't know. But here, somehow, the extra effort seems worth it. And we know we have limited time. I lived in Washington DC for six years and I still haven't seen the White House. What the heck is that all about? How did I get so lazy?
Temple Bar is an area on the south bank of the Liffey.
From Wikipedia: "It probably got its name from the Temple family, who lived in the area in the 17th century; Sir William Temple, provost of Trinity College Dublin in 1609, had his house and gardens here. However it got its name, the earliest historical reference to the name Temple Bar is on a 1673 map."
There were a few other kids there (we were there early enough) but as we were leaving you could feel the energy ramping up. Sheila never found her "trad" music (it started later than we were willing to stay) but we found some good food and watched Manchester United beat Fulham.
We're going to have to worry about Johnny until he's thirty. He was totally comfortable with the increasingly raucous, party atmosphere on the street. He and Sheila could have stayed all night looking for just the right place to camp out with a beer and listen and watch. Maggie, though was cold and tired, sick of the place and ready for home.
At the train, I had the hilarious (horrible) idea to splay my arms like I was about to fall onto the tracks (I was well away from the edge, so no worries) but Sheila thought it was a stupid idea to put this in John's head:
It was stupid, of course, but our little actor fell right into his role and we spent the time waiting for the train with him teaching me how to really seem like you are falling. I am an awful actor. Johnny's a natural.
    
Here's what was worth it: a huge laugh out of our grumpy teen!
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