Happy August to all our homeschool readers and friends! Here are some educational ideas, events, and activities to look for in the homeschool month ahead. 🔍
The month of August was originally called Sextilis (“Sixth”) back when the ancient Roman calendar considered the spring equinox in March to be the beginning of the year. (That’s why next month is September, “Seventh,” followed by October, “Eighth,” and so on.) The sixth month was renamed August in honor of the emperor Caesar Augustus in the year 8 B.C. You can learn more about different kinds of modern and historical calendars on pages 347–353 in your River Houses almanac. 📚
Dry August and warme,
Doth harvest no harme.
Our Sunday states-of-the-week for August — we’ve reached the end! — will be Alaska and Hawaii, and the U.S. Territories and Possessions, and our countries will run from Vietnam to Zimbabwe and beyond. Print your own River Houses States & Countries Calendar and tour the United States and the whole world with us from Delaware to Hawaii and Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. 🇺🇸 🌎
We’ll be visiting World Heritage Sites in Venezuela and Zimbabwe, and we’ll also look at some newly inscribed sites this month — our River Houses World Heritage Calendar will point the way. 🗺
We’ll have homeschool poems this month from Herman Melville (for his birthday), Robert Frost (for the Perseid meteor shower), Helen Hunt Jackson (for late summer), and Robert Louis Stevenson (for living rivers by the door, to bring our River Houses year to a close). Print your own River Houses Poetry Calendar and join us as we visit with fifty of our favorite friends over the course of the year. ✒️
Our Friday Bird Families this month will include an assortment of accidental and extinct species to finish up the year. Print your own copy of our River Houses Calendar of American Birds, get out your copy of our recommended homeschool bird guide, and follow the flyways with us. 🦅
Our monthly Great Star for August is Vega (alpha Lyrae), which we’ll be writing about next week. Print your own River Houses Star Calendar and join us as we visit twelve high lights of the northern hemisphere night sky and make them friends for life. 🌟
Our monthly Learning the Library post for August will conclude our annual tour of the Dewey Decimal system and will take you On Beyond Dewey — follow along with us (on the first Tuesday of each month) and invite your students to explore the whole universe of knowledge (really!) over the course of the homeschool year. 📚
And watch for our monthly Wikimedia Commons Photo Challenge post, coming up in the next few days — it’s a great opportunity for homeschool photographers. 📸
⬩ 1 August (M): Herman Melville’s Birthday 🐳
⬩ 11 August (Th): Lunar Society Report 🌕
⬩ 11–13 August (Th–Sa): Perseid Meteor Shower 🌠
It is now August, and the Sunne is some what towards his declination, yet such is his heat as hardeneth the soft clay, dries vp the standing ponds, wythereth the sappy leaues and scorcheth the skin of the naked: now beginne the Gleaners to follow the Corne Cart, and a little bread to a great deale of drinke makes the Trauailers dinner: the Melowne and the Cucumber is now in request: and Oyle and vineger giue attendance on the Sallet hearbes: the Alehouse is more frequented then the Tauerne, and a fresh Riuer is more comfortable than a firey Furnace. (Nicholas Breton, 1626)
What calendrical events and annual apparitions will you be marking in your homeschool this August? 😊
❡ Thirty days hath September: This is one of our regular Homeschool Terms & Calendars posts. Print your own set of River Houses Calendars to follow along with us, and add your name to our weekly mailing list to get more great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🗞
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