![[The River Houses]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/arms-icon-100x100.png "The River Houses"){kind=icon}
NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars four years ago, and “The River Houses” went along for the ride — and so did ten million other earthly travelers.
🔭 Homeschool Astronomy: Celestial Lessons for the Whole Year
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken.
Little homeschool astronomy lessons and easy teaching tips on stars, planets, constellations, comets, meteors, galaxies, space exploration, and more, from the River Houses Homeschool Network. Use these posts to enrich your homeschool science teaching all through the year, and subscribe to our free homeschool newsletter to get more little homeschool science lessons delivered right to your mailbox every week. 📫
❡ Star bright: This Homeschool Astronomy collection also includes our special series of monthly Great Star lessons that introduce you and your students to twelve of the brightest stars of the northern hemisphere night sky. 🌟
![[Thomas Carlyle on Knowing the Constellations]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/carlyle-astronomy-1024x222.png)
☀️ 🌍 HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE & HISTORY: Copernicus and His Revolutions
On Copernicus’ birthday, introduce your homeschool students to one of the most important books ever published: “On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres” (1543).
🔭 HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE & HISTORY: The Starry Messenger
Remembering one of the great minds of history, the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), on the anniversary of his birth.
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Betelgeuse and Orion for February
![[Orion Star Chart]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/orion-chart-121x150.png)
Make the acquaintance of the red giant Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion the Hunter this month — a strange, irregular, enormous variable star — and make it your homeschool friend for life.
⏚ 🐖 HOMESCHOOL HOLIDAYS: Happy Groundhog Day!
![[Woodchuck Stamp 1987]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/woodchuck-groundhog-stamp-1987-96x150.jpg)
Happy mid-point of astronomical winter to northern-hemisphere homeschoolers everywhere! In other words, Happy Groundhog Day!
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for February
![[Homeschool Astronomy]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/emoji-telescope.png)
Our homeschool review of the educational wonders that you and your students can watch for in the northern hemisphere night sky during the month of February.
🖋 🌊 HOMESCHOOL HISTORY & LITERATURE: Remembering Challenger
“I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, / And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.” (Our commemorative homeschool poem-of-the-week, from John Masefield, for the Challenger Seven of 1986.)
🚀 HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE: The Webb Telescope & Other NASA Missions
![[Webb Space Telescope]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/webb-telescope-logo-150x83.png){kind=logo}
Homeschool scientists can discover a world of wonder by keeping track of a NASA mission or two each month, including the James Webb Space Telescope as it explores the early universe.
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Capella and Auriga for January
![[Auriga Star Chart]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/auriga-capella-chart-150x141.png)
Make the acquaintance of Capella in the constellation Auriga the Charioteer this month — a nearby four-star system and one of the brightest lights in the northern hemisphere night sky — and make it your homeschool friend for life.
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for January
Our homeschool review of the educational wonders that you and your students can watch for in the northern hemisphere night sky during the month of January.
🌎 HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE & HISTORY: Earthrise
![[Earthrise, 24 December 1968]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise-150x150.jpg)
Every smart homeschool student should be able to recognize one of the most famous photographs in history, taken from lunar orbit on this day in 1968.
🗓 ⛄️ WINTER IS HERE! (Astronomically Speaking)
![[Equinoxes & Solstices]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/equinox-solstice-150x100.png)
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!
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Aldebaran and Taurus for December
![[Taurus Star Chart]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/taurus-iau-chart-150x142.png)
Make the acquaintance of the ancient red giant Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus the Bull this month — one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere sky — and make it your homeschool friend for life.
🌠 HOMESCHOOL ASTRONOMY: Geminid Meteors for December
Point your homeschool students to the constellation Gemini this month for the annual Geminid meteor shower, the debris-trail left behind by asteroid 3200 Phaethon.
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for December
Our homeschool review of the educational wonders that you and your students can watch for in the northern hemisphere night sky during the month of December.
🗓 🗡 ORION TERM and the River Houses Homeschool Year
![[Orion Constellation Chart (1822)]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/orion-jamieson-1822-150x133.jpg)
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.
🖋 🌠 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 sublunary homeschool poem-of-the-week, from A.E. Housman, for the annual Leonid meteor shower.)
🌠 🦁 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.
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Algol and Perseus for November
![[Perseus Star Chart]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/perseus-iau-chart-150x141.png)
Make the acquaintance of the strange variable star Algol this month — “the demon star” in the constellation Perseus the Hero and one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere sky — and make it your homeschool friend for life.
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for November
Our homeschool review of the educational wonders that you and your students can watch for in the northern hemisphere night sky during the month of November.
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Alpheratz and Andromeda for October
![[Andromeda Star Chart]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/andromeda-chart-150x141.png)
Make the acquaintance of the young double star Alpheratz in the constellation Andromeda this month — one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere sky — and make it your homeschool friend for life.
🚀 HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE: Remembering Space Pioneer Robert Goddard
Robert Hutchings Goddard, the inventor of the liquid-fueled rocket and the father of modern space flight, was born on this day in 1882 in Worcester, Massachusetts. Invite your young homeschool scientists to learn about him this week.
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for October
Our homeschool review of the educational wonders that you and your students can watch for in the northern hemisphere night sky during the month of October.
🗓 🍂 FALL IS HERE! (Astronomically Speaking)
Fall is here! If you’re in the northern hemisphere, that is. If you’re in the southern hemisphere, spring is here! Happy September equinox to homeschoolers everywhere!
🌞 🌏 🌕 PARTIAL LUNAR ECLIPSE Tuesday Night (17 September 2024)
Invite your young homeschool astronomers to view the partial lunar eclipse coming up on Tuesday–Wednesday night (17–18 September 2024).
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Deneb for September and the New Homeschool Year
![[Cygnus Star Chart]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/cygnus-chart-term-122x150.png)
Get the new homeschool year off to a stellar start by making a new friend this month: the giant star Deneb in the constellation Cygnus the Swan, one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere night sky.
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for September
Our homeschool review of the educational wonders that you and your students can watch for in the northern hemisphere night sky during the month of September.
