The River Houses Homeschool Network

🏡 WELCOME! (Pinned Post)

15 June 2025 by Bob O'Hara

First time visitor? We post a wide range of easy-to-use educational ideas and “little lessons” that will enrich your homeschooling schedule all through the year. Please subscribe to our free homeschool newsletter! (It’s just one message a week with no spam.)

There’s a wealth of wonderful material here on our website — everything from homeschool astronomy to books and libraries to language and literature to geography, natural history, homeschool calendars, and more. The materials we’re developing are going to become the foundation for a new type of homeschool network made up of friendly local groups called “Houses” (just like in Harry Potter). Make yourself at home! 😊

🚀 🌕 HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE: Apollo 11 Moon Landing Resources

13 July 2025 by Bob O'Hara

Share some great educational resources with your homeschool students this month for the July 20th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969.

🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 13 July 2025

13 July 2025 by Bob O'Hara

Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Moon landings, cross-quarter days, July poems, great fires, ancient artifacts, little birds, Ukrainian rivers, a toast to tall ships, and more!

🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Oklahoma, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and More

13 July 2025 by Bob O'Hara

Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Oklahoma, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, and Ukraine. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!

📖 🖋 THOREAU’S BIRTHDAY and Homeschool Journaling

12 July 2025 by Bob O'Hara

“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.” (Happy birthday to the great American writer Henry David Thoreau, born on this day in 1817. Check him out at your local library this week.)

🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Arcturus and Boötes for July

12 July 2025 by Bob O'Hara

Introduce your homeschool students to the ancient orange giant Arcturus in the constellation Boötes the Herdsman this month, one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere’s night sky, and make it their friend for life.

🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Emberizid Sparrows (Part I)

11 July 2025 by Horace the Otter 🦦

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 diverse and ubiquitous Emberizid Sparrows (Part I).

🌕 HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE: Lunar Samples for Your Local Library

10 July 2025 by Bob O'Hara

With help from your local librarians you might be able to bring some real moon rocks to your town, courtesy of NASA. It’s a homeschool project worth exploring!

🌕 HOMESCHOOL CITIZEN-SCIENCE PROJECTS for July

10 July 2025 by Bob O'Hara

Our July full-moon report on the many “citizen-science” projects around the world that you and your students can participate in from the comfort of your little home academy. Pick one and get started today!

🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Golden Spike National Historical Park

9 July 2025 by Bob O'Hara

For America’s 250th anniversary, discover the history and landscape of the United States with your homeschool students. This week: Golden Spike National Historical Park in Utah.

🖋 🕊 WONDERFUL WORDS: Liberty and Peace

8 July 2025 by Bob O'Hara

“As from the East th’ illustrious King of Day, / With rising Radiance drives the Shades away, / So Freedom comes array’d with Charms divine, / And in her Train Commerce and Plenty shine.” (Our hopeful homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Phillis Wheatley, for independent America.)

🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 6 July 2025

6 July 2025 by Bob O'Hara

Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Peaceful poems, bright stars, American philosophers, moon phases, sliced bread, lost civilizations, hot days, Trinidadian rivers, a wish for wisdom, and more!

🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Utah, Tonga, Turkey, and More

6 July 2025 by Bob O'Hara

Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Utah, Tonga, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, and Turkey. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!

🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for July

5 July 2025 by Bob O'Hara

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 July.

🇺🇸 🎆 HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

4 July 2025 by Bob O'Hara

Happy Independence Day! Why not celebrate the occasion with a reading of the Declaration of Independence — it’s been a homeschooling tradition since 1776.

🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Tropical Tanagers and the Western Spindalis

4 July 2025 by Horace the Otter 🦦

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 tropical Tanagers and the peculiar Western Spindalis.

📸 PHOTO CHALLENGE for July: “Vending Machines” and “Waterside Structures”

3 July 2025 by Bob O'Hara

Calling all homeschool photographers! The Wikimedia Commons Photo Challenge is a great way for enthusiastic homeschool photography students to develop their skills and gain some recognition for their work. This month’s themes are “Vending Machines” and “Waterside Structures.” Take a look!