The National Archives is offering a wide range of online educational programs for all grade levels over the next two months β it’s an ideal homeschooling opportunity!
Archives for March 2020
π QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families β Week of 29 March 2020
Great homeschool teaching ideas and little lessons for the week ahead, including: Alpine harvests, shoures soote, peaceable kingdoms, big ticket items, Danish authors, Mozambiquan rivers, a toast to comfort, and more!
π πΊπΈ SUNDAY STATES: California, Mozambique, Nauru, and More
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: California, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, and Nauru.
π SUNSET and Evening Star
Venus will be as bright as it’s been in a long time this weekend β be sure to take your young astronomers outside at sunset to see!
πΈ VISIT THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS in Washington, D.C.
On this day in 1912, the Japanese government presented a gift of 3000 cherry trees to the United States to line the banks of the Potomac River and other sites in Washington, D.C., where they and their successors may still be seen today.
π¦ FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Crows and Jays (II)
Join our year-long homeschool tour of North American bird families and teach some great little science and natural history lessons along the way. This week: the Crows and Jays (Part II).
πΉ HOMESCHOOL LITERARY LESSONS: Apollo, God of Plague
“Over against the ships he dropped to a knee, let fly a shaft / and a terrifying clash rang out from the great silver bow. / First he went for the mules and circling dogs but then, / launching a piercing shaft at the men themselves, / he cut them down in droves.”
π π²π³ WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Orkhon Valley in Mongolia
Pay a visit to a World Heritage Site from one of our countries-of-the-week and learn some great homeschool history and geography along the way. This week: the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape in Mongolia.
π WONDERFUL WORDS: A Shakespearean Sonnet a Day from Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart β Star Trek’s Captain Picard and also a noted Shakespearean actor β reads Shakespeare’s Sonnets.
π π± WONDERFUL WORDS: Nothing Gold Can Stay
“Nature’s first green is gold, / Her hardest hue to hold.” (Our homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Robert Frost, for his birthday and for early spring.)
π QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families β Week of 22 March 2020
Great homeschool teaching ideas and little lessons for the week ahead, including: Renaissance painters, springtime poems, life-saving agronomists, Hungarian magicians, fiery speeches, Latin translators, Montenegrin rivers, a toast to freedom, and more!
π πΊπΈ SUNDAY STATES: Wisconsin, Monaco, Morocco, and More
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Wisconsin, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, and Morocco.
π΅ HOMESCHOOL MUSIC: Happy Birthday Bach!
Take a few homeschool minutes to introduce your students to a tiny masterpiece by one of the world’s great composers, Johann Sebastian Bach, born on this day in 1685.
βοΈ SATURDAY STARS: There May Be a Comet Coming This Spring!
There’s a comet coming this spring. It’s called C/2019 Y4 ATLAS, and it may turn out to be a good one. Put it on your homeschool calendars for the end of May.
π¦ FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Crows and Jays (I)
Join our year-long homeschool tour of North American bird families and teach some great little science and natural history lessons along the way. This week: the Crows and Jays (Part I), garrulous residents of town and country.
π π· SPRING IS HERE! (Astronomically Speaking)
Spring is here! (If you’re in the northern hemisphere, that is.) If you’re in the southern hemisphere, fall is here! Happy March 2020 equinox to homeschoolers everywhere!
π π²πΊ WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Aapravasi Ghat in Mauritius
Pay a visit to a World Heritage Site from one of our countries-of-the-week and learn some great homeschool history and geography along the way. This week: the historic immigration portal or “Aapravasi Ghat” in Mauritius.
π΅ MANY WEEKS’ WORTH of MARVELOUS MUSICAL DOCUMENTARIES
Expand your students’ auditory imaginations with dozens of top-quality documentaries on music and music history.
π HOMESCHOOL RESEARCH & NEWS β March 2020
A March 2020 roundup of some recent academic research and news about homeschooling worldwide, with links to sources. We have five items this month: English (2019), Fields-Smith (2020), Michaud (2019), Murphy (2019), and SepΓΊlveda-DΓaz et al. (2020).
π π‘ WONDERFUL WORDS: The Ides of March
“And if you can’t curb your ambitions, / at least pursue them hesitantly, cautiously. / And the higher you go, / the more searching and careful you need to be.” (Our homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Constantine Cavafy, for the Ides of March.)
π π‘ BEWARE the Ides of March!
Remembering the Ides of March, the famous date on which the Roman politician, general, and dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C.
π QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families β Week of 15 March 2020
Great homeschool teaching ideas and little lessons for the week ahead, including: Roman revolutions, revolutionary rockets, vernal equinoxes, Constitutional fathers, Classical composers, Puritan poets, Mauritian waterfalls, a toast to free republics, and more!
π πΊπΈ SUNDAY STATES: Iowa, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, and More
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Iowa, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, and Moldova.
π‘ JOIN A HOMESCHOOL RESEARCH PROJECT for Einstein’s Birthday
You and your students can search for undiscovered pulsars in deep space, right from the comfort of your homeschool living room. (Really!) How cool is that?
π STAR BRIGHT: Sirius for March
Make the acquaintance of the brilliant white star Sirius, “the dog star,” in the constellation Canis Major this month β the brightest star in earth’s night sky β and make it your homeschool friend for life.
π¦ FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Shrikes and Vireos
Join our year-long homeschool tour of North American bird families and teach some great little science and natural history lessons along the way. This week: the predatory Shrikes and the plain but vocal Vireos.
π π²π± WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Timbuktu in Mali
Pay a visit to a World Heritage Site from one of our countries-of-the-week and learn some great homeschool history and geography along the way. This week: Timbuktu in Mali.