Come along on our homeschool tour of North American birds and pick up some great science and natural history lessons along the way. This week: the Skuas and Jaegers, and the Auks, Murres, and Puffins, two widespread groups of oceanic birds.
Archives for 2023
🗓 🎄 🎅 HAPPY HOMESCHOOL DECEMBER from the River Houses!
Happy homeschool December! Here are some little lessons, teaching traditions, and wonderful educational opportunities you and your students can watch for this month.
🗓 🗡 ORION TERM and the River Houses Homeschool Year
We divide the homeschool year into four three-month terms in the River Houses. Today is the first day of Orion Term, our winter term, named for the Great Hunter of the Heavens. Orion Term runs from December through February.
📖 🦦 LOUISA MAY ALCOTT Gets a Visit From Horace the Otter
Our River Houses homeschool mascot, Horace the Otter, remembers the author of the popular American novel Little Women (1868) on the anniversary of her birth.
🌎 🇩🇲 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Morne Trois Pitons Park in Dominica
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: Morne Trois Pitons National Park in Dominica.
🌕 HOMESCHOOL “CITIZEN SCIENCE” PROJECTS for November
Our November full-moon report on the many “citizen science” projects around the world that you and your students can participate in from the comfort of your little home academy. Pick one and get started today!
📚 HOMESCHOOL BOOKS: A New World Almanac for 2024
The annual World Almanac and Book of Facts is a one-volume desk encyclopedia that every homeschooling family should have.
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 26 November 2023
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Winter terms, holiday music, Alabama meteorites, oceanic birds, memorial poems, famous novelists, Dominican rivers, a toast to the chase, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Rhode Island, Dominica, Egypt, and More
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Rhode Island, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Egypt. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
📚 HOMESCHOOL LIBRARIES: Happy Birthday to Andrew Carnegie!
If you love libraries as much as we do, be thankful this Thanksgiving week for the life of Andrew Carnegie, born on this day in 1835. His philanthropy built more than 2500 libraries in cities and towns across the United States and around the world.
🎵 🏡 THANKSGIVING MUSIC: “Rise up, follow me, I will lead you home”
“Through the air there’s a calling from far away, / There’s a voice I can hear that will lead me home.” (Some lovely music and words from Stephen Paulus and Michael Dennis Browne, for homeschool Thanksgiving.)
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Sandpipers (Part II)
Come along on our homeschool tour of North American birds and pick up some great science and natural history lessons along the way. This week: the long-legged Sandpipers (Part II), familiar shorebirds all around the world.
🎵 🍽 HOMESCHOOL THANKSGIVING: We Gather Together
Take a minute this week to introduce your homeschool students to a beautiful four-hundred-year-old Dutch folk tune that has become an American Thanksgiving classic.
🎵 MUSICAL INTRODUCTIONS: Thomas Tallis, Master of Polyphony
Why not give thanks in your homeschool this Thanksgiving week for the life of Thomas Tallis, the grand master of early polyphonic music, who died on this day in 1585.
🖋 🦃 WONDERFUL WORDS: Delicious “Thanksgiving Magic”
“Oh, some like magic made by wands, / And some read magic out of books, / And some like fairy spells and charms / But I like magic made by cooks!” (Our playful homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Rowena Bastin Bennett, for Thanksgiving!)
🌍 🇨🇾 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Painted Churches of Cyprus
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 Painted Churches of the Troödos Region of Cyprus.
🦃 THANKSGIVING at the LIBRARY: Franklin Roosevelt Talks Turkey
President Roosevelt offers a stern admonition on how to prepare your turkey. (Oh, the things you can find in the library!)
🔎 HOMESCHOOL RESEARCH & NEWS – November 2023
Our November 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 three items this month, on homeschool coverage in the Washington Post; comparative international homeschooling; and gifted homeschooling in Iran.
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 19 November 2023
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Thanksgiving days, amazing astronomers, phamous philanthropists, ethereal music, excellent evacuations, Czech rivers, a toast to two great American birds, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: North Carolina, Cyprus, Djibouti, and More
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: North Carolina, Cyprus, Czechia (Czech Republic), Denmark, and Djibouti. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Sandpipers (Part I)
Come along on our homeschool tour of North American birds and pick up some great science and natural history lessons along the way. This week: the long-legged Sandpipers (Part I), familiar shorebirds all around the world.
🇺🇸 HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: Eight Score Years Ago
“What place is this? Where are we now?” (Marking the 160th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, with help from Ken Burns and Carl Sandburg.)
🖋 🌠 WONDERFUL WORDS: Of Poems and Meteors
“Stars, I have seen them fall, / But when they drop and die / No star is lost at all / From all the star-sown sky.” (Our homeschool poem-of-the-week, from A.E. Housman, for the annual Leonid meteor shower.)
🌎 🇨🇷 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Cocos Island in Costa Rica
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: Cocos Island National Park in Costa Rica.
🌠 🦁 HOMESCHOOL ASTRONOMY: Leonid Meteors for November
Take your young astronomers outside this week and look to the constellation Leo for the annual Leonid meteor shower.
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 12 November 2023
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Leonid meteors, magical movies, Gettysburg Addresses, wading birds, Costa Rican parks, Croatian rivers, a toast to freedom, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: New York, Costa Rica, Cuba, and More
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: New York, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Croatia, and Cuba. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!