“We two once ran along the hills,Β and picked the daisies fine; / But we’ve wandered many a weary foot since those days of long ago.” (Our homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Robert Burns, for auld land syne.)
Archives for 2019
π QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families β Week of 29 December 2019
Great homeschool teaching ideas and little lessons for the week ahead: calendrical changes, artistic birthdays, β β β β ₯β β β β β β β β β β , frosty verses, pelagic birds, African rivers, a toast to days gone by, and more!
π πΊπΈ SUNDAY STATES: Louisiana, Guatemala, Guyana, and More
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Louisiana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Guyana.
π‘β HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: Murder in the Cathedral
Take five minutes today to teach your students the story of Archbishop Thomas Becket, whose murder on this day in the year 1170 has loomed large in the Western imagination for nearly a thousand years.
π΅ π HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: The Sussex Mummersβ Carol
“God bless your house, your children too, / Your cattle and your store; / The Lord increase you day by day / And send you more and more.” (The Sussex Mummersβ Carol, from Percy Grainger and others, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.)
π¦ FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Tropicbirds, Loons, and Albatrosses
Join our year-long homeschool tour of North American bird families and pick up some great science and natural history teaching ideas along the way. This week: the Tropicbirds, the Loons, and the Albatrosses.
π΅ πΉ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Lo, How a Rose Eβer Blooming
“It came, a flow’ret bright, / Amid the cold of winter, / When half spent was the night.” (An ancient German carol that has been translated into many languages, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.)
π΅ π HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: The Shepherdβs Carol
“We stood on the hills, Lady, / Our dayβs work done, / Watching the frosted meadows / That winter had won.” (A Christmas night carol, by Bob Chilcott and Clive Sansom, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.)
π βIT WAS a short, cold Christmasβ
Herman Melville reminds us that even on Christmas Day, somewhere in the world there are sailors setting out to sea.
π π©πͺ WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Old Town of Regensburg in Germany
Pay a homeschool visit to a World Heritage Site from one of our countries-of-the-week. This week: the Old Town of Regensburg in Germany.
π‘ π π¦ NORADβs Santa Tracker is Up!
Want to know when your Christmas presents will arrive? Don’t ask Amazon, ask NORAD!
π π βTWAS the Night Before Christmas
“So up to the housetop the coursers they flew / With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.” (Our homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Clement Clarke Moore, for Christmas Eve of course!)
π΅ π HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Hallelujah!
Introduce your homescholars (in just five minutes) to one of the world’s most famous pieces of classical music, from Handel, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.
π΅ π A CHRISTMAS EVE INVITATION: Carols from Kingβs College
The annual Festival of Lessons and Carols from King’s College at Cambridge University is broadcast every year on Christmas Eve to millions of people around the world. Won’t you and your homescholars tune in and listen with us?
π QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families β Week of 22 December 2019
Great homeschool teaching ideas and little lessons for the week ahead: Christmas merriment, Hanukkah happiness, anticipatory poems, Delaware crossings, scientific birthdays, German rivers, a toast to Christmas, and more!
π πΊπΈ SUNDAY STATES: Ohio, Germany, Grenada, and More
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Ohio, Germany, Ghana, Greece, and Grenada.
π΅ βοΈ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: In the Bleak Midwinter
“Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; / Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, / In the bleak midwinter, long ago.” (A frosty carol from Christina Rossetti and Gustav Holst, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.)
π βοΈ WINTER IS HERE! (Astronomically Speaking)
Winter is here! (If you’re in the northern hemisphere, that is.) If you’re in the southern hemisphere, summer is here! Happy December 2019 solstice to homeschoolers everywhere!
π¦ FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers (II)
Join our year-long homeschool tour of North American bird families and pick up some great science and natural history teaching ideas along the way. This week: the Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers (Part II).
π΅ π HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: IΒ Wonder as IΒ Wander
Introduce your homeschool students to an American folk tune that has now become an internationally famous Christmas carol.
π π WONDERFUL WORDS: The End of a Season
“The leaves are all dead on the ground, / Save those that the oak is keeping / To ravel them one by one / And let them go scraping and creeping / Out over the crusted snow, / When others are sleeping.” (Our homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Robert Frost, for the end of fall.)
π π«π· WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Chartres Cathedral in France
Pay a homeschool visit to a World Heritage Site from one of our countries-of-the-week. This week: Chartres Cathedral in France.
π A PRINTABLE PLANNER for Your Homeschool Week (and Month, and Year)
Try our brand-new printable homeschool planner! It will help you and your students stay organized and track your accomplishments week by week all through the year.
π HOMESCHOOL RESEARCH & NEWS β December 2019
A December 2019 roundup of some recent academic research and news about homeschooling worldwide, with links to sources. We have three items this month: Kuthimba (2019), Landerfelt-Ozbolt (2019), and Williams (2016).
π΅ MARVELOUS MUSIC: It’s Beethoven Day!
Take a few minutes out of your homeschool schedule today to celebrate Beethoven’s Birthday!
π΅ π HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Christmas with William Billings
“Methinks I see an heavenly host / Of angels on the wing; / Methinks I hear their cheerful notes, / So merrily they sing.” (Discover what Christmas sounded like at the time of the American Revolution.)
π QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families β Week of 15 December 2019
Great homeschool teaching ideas for the week ahead. This week: solstitial verses, Beethovian birthdays, Bostonian tea parties, first flights, Gabonese rivers, holiday music, a toast to warm hearts, and more!