Invite your young homeschool astronomers to view the solar eclipse coming up on Saturday, 14 October 2023, all across North America.
🔭 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 add your name to our free River Houses mailing list 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 posts that introduce you and your students to twelve of the brightest stars of the northern hemisphere night sky. 🌟
![[Thomas Carlyle on the constellations]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/carlyle-astronomy-1024x222.png)
🗓 🍂 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!
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Deneb for September and the New Homeschool Year
Get the new homeschool year off to a great 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.
🗓 🦢 CYGNUS TERM and the New River Houses Homeschool Year
We divide the homeschool year into four three-month terms in the River Houses. Today is the first day of Cygnus Term, our fall term, named for the Great Swan of the Heavens. Cygnus Term runs from September through November.
🌎 🌌 SUNDAY STATES BONUS: The Earth, Solar System, and Universe
Thank you for taking a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with us over the past year! We conclude today with a special bonus: the Earth itself and the amazing Universe beyond. A new world tour for the upcoming homeschool year will begin next month!
🔭 OUR HOMESCHOOL ASTRONOMY YEAR is Complete!
Our explorations of stars and planets, comets and meteors, galaxies and more, are now complete for the homeschool year! What astronomical apparitions will you and your students be examining in the new homeschool year ahead?
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Vega for August and the End of the Homeschool Year
Make one last homeschool friend for the summer: our blue-white neighbor-star Vega in the constellation Lyra the Lyre, one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere night sky.
🖋 🌠 WONDERFUL WORDS: A Star in a Stoneboat
“From following walls I never lift my eye, / Except at night to places in the sky / Where showers of charted meteors let fly.” (Our homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Robert Frost, for this month’s Perseid meteor shower.)
🌠 HOMESCHOOL ASTRONOMY: Perseid Meteors for August
Point your homeschool students to the constellation Perseus this month for the annual Perseid meteor shower, the lovely trail of debris left behind by Comet Swift–Tuttle.
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for August
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 August.
🌝 KNOW YOUR MOONS 🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑
For this month’s anniversary of the first moon landing in 1969, why not teach your homeschool students the phases of the moon. You can even use emojis to do it!
🚀 🌕 HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE: Apollo 11 Moon Landing Resources
Share some great educational resources with your homeschool students this month for the July 20th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969.
🌕 A LUNAR SAMPLE COLLECTION for Your Local Library
With help from your local librarians you might be able to bring some real moon rocks to your town, courtesy of NASA. It’s a homeschool project worth exploring!
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Arcturus and Boötes for July
Introduce your homeschool students to the ancient orange giant Arcturus in the constellation Boötes the Herdsman this month, one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere’s night sky, and make it their friend for life.
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for July
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 July.
🌠 JOIN A HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE PROJECT for International Asteroid Day!
You and your students can help astronomers study the shapes and orbits of real asteroids in space, right from the comfort of your little home academy. How cool is that?
🔭 ☄️ HOMESCHOOL ASTRONOMY: The Most Beautiful Objects in the Universe
Happy birthday to the great French astronomer Charles Messier (1730–1817), who cataloged some of the most beautiful nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies in the universe — so he could ignore them.
🗓 ⛱ SUMMER IS HERE! (Astronomically Speaking)
Summer is here! If you’re in the northern hemisphere, that is. If you’re in the southern hemisphere, winter is here! Happy June solstice to homeschoolers everywhere!
🌅 HOMESCHOOL SEASONS: Watch the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge
Follow a live broadcast of the summer-solstice sunset and sunrise at Stonehenge, the ancient astronomical landmark in southern England.
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Spica and Virgo for June
Make the acquaintance of the young blue-white giant Spica in the constellation Virgo the Virgin this month, one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere sky, and make it your homeschool friend for life.
📺 HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARIES for Your Homeschool Summer
Ten multi-part masterpieces of the documentarian’s art that you and your homeschool students can watch together and discuss over the summer. (Or at any other time of year!)
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for June
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 June.
🗓 💪 HERCULES 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 Hercules Term, our summer term, named for the Great Hero of the Heavens. Hercules Term runs from June through August.
🖋 🌟 WONDERFUL WORDS: Hymn to the North Star
“A beauteous type of that unchanging good, / That bright eternal beacon, by whose ray / The voyager of time should shape his heedful way.” (An extra astronomical homeschool poem-of-the-week, from William Cullen Bryant, for Polaris, our Great Star for the month of May.)
🇬🇷 HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: The Antikythera Mechanism
Spend a few homeschool history minutes this week learning about one of the most amazing objects the ancient world ever produced: an astronomical computer called the Antikythera mechanism.
🚀 HOMESCHOOL ASTRONOMY: Skylab’s 50th Anniversary
Do you have a future astronaut in your homeschool? Then why not take a few minutes this week to learn about Skylab, America’s first space station, launched on this day in 1973.
