“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.)
Archives for December 2022
🖋 🍻 WONDERFUL WORDS (and Music!): Auld Lang Syne
“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.)
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Shearwaters, Petrels, and Storm-Petrels
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.
🗡♗ HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: Murder in the Cathedral
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.
🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: The Sussex Mummers’ Carol
“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.)
🌍 🇩🇪 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Old Town of Quedlinburg in Germany
Pay a homeschool visit to a World Heritage Site from one of our countries-of-the-week and learn some great history and geography along the way. This week: the Collegiate Church, Castle, and Old Town of Quedlinburg in Germany.
🎵 🌹 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming
“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.)
🌊 WONDERFUL WORDS: “It was a short, cold Christmas”
Herman Melville reminds us that even on Christmas Day, somewhere in the world there are ships and sailors heading out to sea.
🎵 🌟 🐑 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: The Shepherd’s Carol
“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.)
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 25 December 2022
Great homeschool teaching tips and little lessons for the week ahead, including: Holiday music, Revolutionary victories, scientific birthdays, remarkable remonstrances, pelagic birds, German rivers, a toast to Christmas, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Ohio, Germany, Grenada, 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.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Tropicbirds, Loons, and Albatrosses
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 water-loving Tropicbirds, Loons, and Albatrosses.
🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Hallelujah!
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.
🖋 🎅 WONDERFUL WORDS: ’Twas the Night Before Christmas
“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!)
🎵 ❄️ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: In the Bleak Midwinter
“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.)
🌍 🇬🇪 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Colchic Rainforests of Georgia
Pay a homeschool visit to a World Heritage Site from one of our countries-of-the-week and learn some great history and geography along the way. This week: the Colchic Rainforests and Wetlands of the Black Sea Region of Georgia.
🗓 ⛄️ WINTER IS HERE! (Astronomically Speaking)
Winter is here! If you’re in the northern hemisphere, that is. If you’re in the southern hemisphere, summer is here! Happy December solstice to homeschoolers everywhere!
📡 🎅 🦌 HOMESCHOOL HOLIDAYS: NORAD’s Santa Tracker is Up!
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.)
🔎 HOMESCHOOL RESEARCH & NEWS – December 2022
Our December 2022 roundup of some recent academic research and news about home education in the United States and around the world, with links to sources. We have five items this month: Gilliss (2022), Lewis (2022), St. John (2022), Szczesiul (2022), and Wu (2022).
🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: I Wonder as I Wander
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.
🎵 🎄 A CHRISTMAS EVE INVITATION: Carols from King’s College
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.
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 18 December 2022
Great homeschool teaching tips and little lessons for the week ahead, including: Winter solstices, Christmas carols, courageous crossings, celebrated poems, Georgian forests, French rivers, a toast to warm hearts, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Tennessee, France, Georgia, 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.
🎵 MARVELOUS MUSIC: It’s Beethoven’s Birthday!
Take a few minutes out of your homeschool schedule today to celebrate an annual international musical milestone, to wit, Beethoven’s Birthday!
🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Christmas with William Billings
“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.)
