Archives for December 2019

“We two once ran along the hills, 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.)

Great homeschool teaching ideas and little lessons for the week ahead: calendrical changes, artistic birthdays, ⠠⠇⠕⠥⠊⠎ ⠠⠃⠗⠁⠊⠇⠇⠑, frosty verses, pelagic birds, African rivers, a toast to days gone by, 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.

“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 Mummers’ Carol, from Percy Grainger and others, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.)

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.

“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.)

“We stood on the hills, Lady, / Our day’s 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.)

“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!)

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.

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?

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!

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.

“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.)

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!

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).

Introduce your homeschool students to an American folk tune that has now become an internationally famous Christmas carol.

“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.)

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.

“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.)

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!