Archives for 2021

“Ring out the old, ring in the new, / Ring, happy bells, across the snow: / The year is going, let him go; / Ring out the false, ring in the true.” (Join Tennyson and some skillful bell-ringers to ring in the new year.)

Come along on our homeschool tour of North American bird families and pick up some great science and natural history teaching tips along the way. This week: the Shearwaters, Petrels, and Storm-Petrels, birds of the open ocean.

“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 lang syne.)

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.

“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.)

“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.)

Great homeschool teaching tips and little lessons for the week ahead, including: New years, new almanacs, scientific birthdays, Scottish poems, missing planets, remarkable remonstrances, Peloponnesian rivers, a toast to betterment, 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.

“We stood on the hills, Lady, / Our day’s work done, / Watching the frosted meadows / That winter had won.” (A Christmas night carol, from Bob Chilcott and Clive Sansom, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.)

Herman Melville reminds us that even on Christmas Day, somewhere in the world there are ships and sailors heading out to sea.

Come along on our homeschool tour of North American bird families and pick up some great science and natural history teaching tips along the way. This week: the Tropicbirds, Loons, and Albatrosses.

Introduce your homescholars (in just ten minutes) to one of the world’s most famous pieces of classical music, from George Frideric Handel, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.

“The children were nestled all snug in their beds; / While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.” (Our homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Clement Clarke Moore, for Christmas Eve of course!)

“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 and the winter solstice.)

Winter is here! If you’re in the northern hemisphere, that is. If you’re in the southern hemisphere, summer is here! Happy December 2021 solstice to homeschoolers everywhere!

The beautiful 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. You and your homescholars can join them.

Want to know when Santa will deliver your Christmas presents? Don’t ask Amazon, ask the North American Air Defense Command! (And maybe even learn a little world geography along the way.)

Introduce your homeschool students to an American folk tune that has now become an internationally famous Christmas carol, and invite them to think about how different the same piece of music can sound under a variety of vocal and instrumental arrangements.

Great homeschool teaching tips and little lessons for the week ahead, including: Christmas carols, beautiful broadcasts, winter solstices, scientific birthdays, holiday poems, French rivers, a toast to freedom, and more!

Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Tennessee, France, Gabon, the Gambia, and Georgia.

Our December 2021 full-moon report on the real scientific and scholarly projects around the world that you and your students can join from the comfort of your little home academy. Pick one and get started today!

Come along on our homeschool tour of North American bird families and pick up some great science and natural history teaching tips along the way. This week: the strong-flying Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers (Part II).

“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.)

Take a few minutes out of your homeschool schedule today to celebrate an annual musical milestone, to wit, Beethoven’s Birthday!