The River Houses

A National Network of Local Homeschool Societies

You are here: Home > 2022 > May > 11

Archives for 11 May 2022

🌞 🌏 🌕 LUNAR ECLIPSE Sunday–Monday Night (15–16 May 2022)

by

Just a reminder that there will be a total lunar eclipse this coming Sunday night and Monday morning (15–16 May 2022). It will be visible across most of North and South America, weather permitting, and will be a great treat for your homeschool scientists.

For the exact times at your location, visit the timeanddate.com eclipse page:

The total duration of the eclipse, from beginning to end, will be about five and a half hours. (Lunar eclipses are slow.) In the eastern United States, for example, it will begin just after 9:30 p.m. Sunday night, reach maximum about ten minutes past midnight (Monday morning), and then end a little before 3:00 a.m.

If you can’t make it outside or if the weather is poor in your neighborhood, timeanddate.com will also be broadcasting a livestream of the eclipse:

So if it’s too cloudy or too rainy or too cold to go out, you and your homescholars can spend a successful eclipse-viewing night right at home by your fireside.

Timeanddate.com also has a handy little primer on how lunar eclipses occur (and solar eclipses too), so you’ll be ready to teach a great little lesson. 🌞 🌏 🌕

What other celestial sights and astronomical alignments have you been examining in your homeschool this Leo Term? 🔭

❡ All the star-sown sky: Teaching your students the major constellations and the names of the principal stars is one of the simplest and most enduring gifts you can give them. Our recommended backyard star guide and homeschool world atlas both contain charts of the constellations that will help you learn your way around the heavens. Find a dark-sky spot near you this month and spend some quality homeschool time with your students beneath the starry vault. ✨

❡ Star bright: If you’d like some light and easy homeschool astronomy lessons, download and print a copy of our annual River Houses Star Calendar and follow along with us month by month as we make twelve heavenly friends-for-life over the course of the year. 🌟

❡ The starry archipelagoes: For a great weekly astronomical essay, perfect for older homeschoolers, pay a visit to “The Sky This Week” from the U.S. Naval Observatory. These well-written pages, posted each Tuesday, usually focus on one or two special astronomical events or phenomena. If you have high school astronomy students, have them read these pages aloud to you each week, or ask them to study them and then narrate a summary back to you. 🌌

❡ Watchers of the skies: This is one of our regular Homeschool Astronomy posts. Add your name to our free River Houses mailing list and get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox every week. 🔭

🌍 🇷🇺 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Solovetsky Islands in Russia

by

Russia in eastern Europe and Asia is one of our homeschool countries-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today learning about one of Russia’s World Heritage Sites: the Cultural and Historic Ensemble of the Solovetsky Islands.

The Solovetsky Monastery complex in Russia’s Solovetsky Islands. (Image: Wikimedia Commons.)

The Solovetsky Islands in northern Russia are famous for their history and natural beauty, and infamous as the site of the first GULAG slave labor camp in the communist Soviet Union:

The Cultural and Historic Ensemble of the Solovetsky Islands comprises six islands of the Solovetsky Archipelago situated in the western part of the White Sea, 290 km from Arkhangelsk, the centre of Arkhangelsky region.

Founded in the 1430s, the Solovetsky complex is an outstanding example of the tenacity, courage and diligence of monks of the Russian Orthodox Church in the inhospitable environment of Northern Europe. The complex is unique in its integrity and safeguarding of its religious, residential, domestic, defence and waterside constructions, its road network and irrigation systems of the Middle Ages harmoniously blended with the surrounding natural and cultural landscapes as well as archeological sites that reflect the ancient and medieval culture of the islands for six thousand years. The Solovetsky complex represents all periods of the history of the archipelago and the Russian North in general.

The Cultural and Historic Ensemble of the Solovetsky Archipelago comprises a monastery-fortress of 15th to the early 20th centuries, a former monastic village of 16th to the early 20th centuries, cells and hermitages of 16th to the early 20th centuries, insular hydraulic and irrigation systems, sacred sites and dozens of settlements of 6 to the first millennia BC, groups of memorial constructions of the Solovetsky Special Prison Camp of 1923–1939 and the surrounding natural and cultural landscapes throughout the archipelago.

The heart of the historic and cultural complex of the archipelago is the architectural ensemble of the Solovetsky Monastery, which is a holistic unique architectural complex. Its constructions are characterized by their monumentality, individuality and integrity of all components resulting from the centuries-old tradition of building.

The Solovetsky historic and cultural complex is the only large set of monuments in northern latitudes, built from local boulders in combination with rare brick and forge iron produced on Solovki. The peculiar linear design of the facade and high density of buildings on small areas contribute to the integrity and architectural expression of the ensemble. The fortress is the only Russian fortification complex built with the use of large boulders, which adds greatly to its individuality.

The Solovki is often recognized by the public as one of the first and best known Soviet special purpose camps of the GULAG. The islands have been used as a place of exile since the 17th century. (World Heritage Centre #632)

Remains of one of the prison barracks of the communist Solovki labor camp. (Image: Wikimedia Commons.)

You can find a gallery of additional photos of the Cultural and Historic Ensemble of the Solovetsky Islands on the World Heritage Centre’s website.

World Heritage Sites are cultural or natural landmarks of international significance, selected for recognition by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. More than 1000 such sites have been recognized in over 160 countries, and we feature one every Wednesday, drawn from one of our homeschool countries-of-the-week. You can find a complete list of World Heritage Sites online at the World Heritage Centre and in Wikipedia.

The World Heritage Centre also has a free and comprehensive World Heritage education kit for teachers, as well as a wonderful full-color wall map of World Heritage Sites, available for the cost of shipping. Why not add them both to your own homeschool library. 🗺

What world treasures have you been exploring in your homeschool this Leo Term? 😊

❡ Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses almanac, atlas, and history encyclopedia for more information about any of our countries-of-the-week. The almanac has profiles of all the nations of the world on pages 752–859; the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found; the history encyclopedia includes national histories on pages 489–599; and you can find additional illustrations, flags, and other mentions through the indexes in each of these volumes. For an ideal little lesson, just write the name of the Weekly World Heritage Site on your homeschool bulletin board, find its location in your atlas, read the WHC’s brief description aloud, look at a picture or two, and you’re done. Over the course of the year, without even realizing it, your students will absorb a wealth of new historical, geographical, and cultural information. 🇷🇺

❡ The great globe itself: This is one of our regular Homeschool States & Countries posts featuring historical and natural sites of international importance. Download a copy of our River Houses World Heritage Calendar and follow along with us as we tour the planet, and add your name to our weekly mailing list to get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🌎 🌍 🌏