“And thus, without a Wing / Or service of a Keel / Our Summer made her light escape / Into the Beautiful.” (Our homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Emily Dickinson, for the end of summer.)
🦃 🐓 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: “Gallinaceous” Birds
Come along on our homeschool tour of North American birds and pick up some great science and natural history lessons along the way. This week: the chicken-like “Gallinaceous” birds, including New World Quail, Curassows, Guans, Partridges, Grouse, Turkeys, and Old World Quail.
🗓 🍂 FALL IS HERE! (Astronomically Speaking)
Fall is here! If you’re in the northern hemisphere, that is. If you’re in the southern hemisphere, spring is here! Happy September equinox to homeschoolers everywhere!
🌏 🇦🇺 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Sydney Opera House in Australia
Pay a homeschool visit to a World Heritage Site from one of our countries-of-the-week and learn some great history and geography along the way. This week: the Sydney Opera House in Australia.
🔎 HOMESCHOOL RESEARCH & NEWS – September 2023
Our September roundup of some recent academic research and news about home education in the United States and around the world, with links to sources. We have four items this month, on homeschool rights; homeschooling in the Czech Republic and in Uzbekistan; and race and homeschooling.
📚 HOMESCHOOL LIBRARY LESSONS: Discovering Dictionaries
On your next library visit, show your homeschool students the many wonderful kinds of dictionaries that are available to them — a lot more than they may realize!
🇺🇸 📜 THE U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES and Constitution Day
The National Archives in Washington has a wealth of free teaching materials available that are ideal for homeschoolers. Why not pay them a visit this week to celebrate the signing of the U.S. Constitution on 17 September 1787.
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 17 September 2023
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Constitution days, autumnal equinoxes, tasty birds, flying fish, ancient emperors, American spies, Austrian rivers, a toast to rhoticity, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: New Jersey, Australia, the Bahamas, and More
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: New Jersey, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, and the Bahamas. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🖋 🦋 WONDERFUL WORDS: The Tuft of Flowers
“‘Men work together,’ I told him from the heart, / ‘Whether they work together or apart.’” (Our homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Robert Frost, for late-summer mowing, the Monarch butterfly migration, and all of us working together, whether we work together or apart.)
🦆 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Ducks, Geese, and Swans (Part II)
Come along on our homeschool tour of North American birds and pick up some great science and natural history lessons along the way. This week: the familiar Ducks, Geese, and Swans (Part II).
🌍 🇦🇴 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Mbanza Kongo in Angola
Pay a homeschool visit to a World Heritage Site from one of our countries-of-the-week and learn some great history and geography along the way. This week: Mbanza Kongo, the Capital of the Former Kingdom of Kongo in Angola.
⚔️ HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: Marathon, 490 B.C.
The Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. was one of the most consequential battles in the history of the Western world. It’s an event every homeschool student should know.
📚 LIBRARY LESSONS: Discovering Local Libraries With WorldCat
Have you found all the libraries in your local area? There may be more than you realize, and the WorldCat Library Finder will help you and your students locate them.
🇺🇸 HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: Remembering 9/11
On this anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, why not invite your homeschool students to contemplate the Star-Spangled Banner, in Baltimore, New York, and London.
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 10 September 2023
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Constitution days, migrating monarchs, ancient armies, star-spangled banners, children’s authors, Angolan rivers, a toast to bravery and freedom, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Pennsylvania, Angola, Armenia, and More
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Pennsylvania, Angola, Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, and Armenia. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Deneb for September and the New Homeschool Year
Get the new homeschool year off to a stellar start by making a new friend this month: the giant star Deneb in the constellation Cygnus the Swan, one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere night sky.
🖋 🍁 WONDERFUL WORDS: Song at the Beginning of Autumn
“But I am carried back against / My will into a childhood where / Autumn is bonfires, marbles, smoke; / I lean against my window fenced / From evocations in the air. / When I said autumn, autumn broke.” (Our homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Elizabeth Jennings, for the coming fall.)
🦢 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Ducks, Geese, and Swans (Part I)
Come along on our homeschool tour of North American birds and pick up some great science and natural history lessons along the way. This week: the familiar Ducks, Geese, and Swans (Part I).
🌏 🇦🇫 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Bamiyan in Afghanistan (To Open the Year)
Pay a homeschool visit to a World Heritage Site from one of our countries-of-the-week and learn some great history and geography along the way. This week, to begin the new homeschool year: the Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley in Afghanistan.
📚 LEARNING THE LIBRARY: A Simple Dewey Introduction (To Begin the Year)
Teaching your students to use the library independently is one of the best educational gifts you can give them. Join us this week as we begin our year-long homeschool tour of the Dewey Decimal system.
📸 PHOTO CHALLENGE for September: “Beach” and “Compost”
Calling all homeschool photographers in the new homeschool year! The Wikimedia Commons Photo Challenge is a great way for enthusiastic photography students to develop their talents and gain some recognition for their work. This month’s themes (to begin the year) are “Beach” and “Compost.” Take a look!
🗓 🎉 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 3 September 2023
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: New Years, new terms, labor days, seasonal poems, aquatic birds, Dewey decimals, great stars, celebrated circumnavigations, Afghan rivers, a toast to little houses, and more to begin this wonderful homeschool year!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Delaware, Afghanistan, Andorra, & More (A New Year!)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. We begin this brand new homeschool year with Delaware, Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, and Andorra. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for September
Our homeschool review of the educational wonders that you and your students can watch for in the northern hemisphere night sky during the month of September.
🖋 🏡 “A HANDSOME HOUSE to lodge a friend” (For the New Homeschool Year)
“I’ve often wished that I had clear, / For life, six hundred pounds a year, / A handsome house to lodge a friend, / A river at my garden’s end.” (Introducing our first homeschool poem-of-the-week for the new school year, from Horace via Jonathan Swift — and it’s our official River Houses motto, too!)