![[The River Houses]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/arms-icon-100x100.png "The River Houses"){kind=icon}
![[Apollo Moon Rover Stamp 1971]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/apollo-moon-rover-stamp-1971-150x95.jpg)
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!
๐ Homeschool Books & Libraries: Little Lessons for the Whole Year
I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons on books and libraries from the River Houses Homeschool Network. Print your own homeschool calendars and planners on our River Houses calendar page, and subscribe to our free homeschool newsletter to get posts like these delivered right to your mailbox every week.ย ๐ซ
โกโ Discovering Dewey: This Homeschool Books & Libraries collection includes our special series of monthly Learning the Library posts that introduce your students to the Dewey Decimal System.ย ๐
โกโ Gotta find โem all: Have you found all the libraries in your local area? There may be more than you realize, and the WorldCat Library Finder will help you discover them. Pick a convenient day and time and begin a regular pattern of visiting your favorite library on that day every week. It's one of the best ways to create a light structure for your homeschool year.ย ๐
๐ ๐๏ธ THOREAU’S BIRTHDAY and Homeschool Journaling
![[Thoreau Stamp]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/thoreau-stamp-2017-150x97.jpg)
“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.” (Happy birthday to the great American author Henry David Thoreau, born on this day in 1817. Check him out at your local library this week.)
๐ LEARNING THE LIBRARY: The Historical & Geographical 900s
![[Dewey Decimal Classes]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/dewey-decimal-classes-2-150x90.jpg)
Explore your local library and the whole universe of knowledge with our homeschool tour of the Dewey Decimal System. This month: the Historical & Geographical 900s.
๐ ๐บ๐ธ HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: Independence Day and the Declaration
![[Bicentennial Stamp]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/bicentennial-stamp-1974-150x97.jpg)
Be sure to add a visit to the National Archives and the Declaration of Independence itself (in person or online) to your homeschool Fourth of July calendar!
๐ ๐ SUMMER PROJECTS from the Library of Congress and National Archives
![[Library of Congress]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/library-of-congress-150x150.png)
Explore some of the educational projects that are available to your homeschool students this summer (or at any time of year) from the U.S. National Archives and the Library of Congress. They’re just the thing to help your students develop independent study skills for college or career.
๐บ HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARIES for Your Homeschool Summer
Twelve 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!)
๐ LEARNING THE LIBRARY: The Literary 800s
Explore your local library and the whole universe of knowledge with our homeschool tour of the Dewey Decimal System. This month: the Literary 800s.
๐ ๐ฆ HOMESCHOOL LIBRARY LESSONS: The Macaulay Library of Natural History
![[Palm Warbler]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/macaulay-library-150x99.png)
Invite your homeschool naturalists to explore the sights and sounds of birds all over the world through the online collections of the Macaulay Library at Cornell University.
๐ LEARNING THE LIBRARY: The Artistic 700s
Explore your local library and the whole universe of knowledge with our homeschool tour of the Dewey Decimal System. This month: the Artistic 700s.
๐๏ธย ๐ผ WONDERFUL WORDS: May and the Poets
“Come, ye rains, then if ye will,ย / Mayโs at home, and with me still;ย / But come rather, thou, good weather,ย / And find us in the fields together.” (Our literary homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Leigh Hunt, for the merry month of May.)
๐ ๐ญ HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WILL! (Shakespeare, That Is)
Happy birthday to the Bard! Celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday this week with some free teaching materials from Shakespeare’s birthplace itself.
๐บ๐ธ HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: Teaching the American Revolution
![[Lexington and Concord Stamp]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/lexington-concord-stamp-1975-150x120.png)
Explore an excellent collection of original documents and ready-made discussion questions on the American Revolution, all ready to go for you and your homeschool students.
๐ BOOKS & LIBRARIES: A Free Course on Classic Children’s Literature
![[Hillsdale College]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/hillsdale-college-logo-150x150.png){kind=logo}
If you’d like to teach some classic children’s literature in your homeschool and are wondering how to go about it, this free online course from Hillsdale College in Michigan could be just the thing for you!
๐ HOMESCHOOL LIBRARY LESSONS: Thomas Jefferson’s Book Collection
April 13th is Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, so why not spend some quality homeschool time this week learning about Jefferson’s famous library. Aย ready-made lesson plan from the Library of Congress will help you.
๐ LEARNING THE LIBRARY: The Technological 600s
Explore your local library and the whole universe of knowledge with our homeschool tour of the Dewey Decimal System. This month: the Technological 600s.
๐๏ธ ๐๏ธ WONDERFUL WORDS: George Herbert’s โEaster Wingsโ
“O let me riseย / As larks, harmoniously,ย / And sing this day thy victories:ย / Then shall the fall further the flight in me.” (A special soaring homeschool poem-of-the-week, from George Herbert, for Easter.)
๐ HOMESCHOOL LIBRARY LESSONS: A Free Course on the Book of Kells
![[Illuminations]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/illuminated-letter-e-135x150.png)
Here’s a treat for homeschool history and art students: a free course on one of the world’s most famous books, The Book of Kells, from Trinity College in Ireland.
๐ LEARNING THE LIBRARY: The Scientific 500s
Explore your local library and the whole universe of knowledge with our homeschool tour of the Dewey Decimal System. This month: the Scientific 500s.
๐ ๐ WONDERFUL WORDS: Happy Dord Day!
“Lexicรณgrapher. n.s. [ฮปฮตฮพฮนฮบแฝธฮฝ and ฮณฯฮฌฯฯ; lexicographe, French.] A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words.” (Aย humorous homeschool holiday, for all lovers of words and dictionaries.)
โ๏ธ ๐ HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE & HISTORY: Copernicus and His Revolutions
![[Heliocentric System]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/copernicus-150x137.jpg)
On Copernicus’ birthday, introduce your homeschool students to one of the most important books ever published: “On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres” (1543).
๐บ๐ธ PRESIDENTIAL ADVICE: โDrink not nor talk with your mouth fullโ
![[Washington Stamp 1932]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/washington-stamp-1932-133x150.jpeg)
“Associate yourself with Men of good Quality if you Esteem your own Reputation; for โtis better to be alone than in bad Company.” (The future President Washington has some advice for your homeschool students.)
๐ญ HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE & HISTORY: The Starry Messenger
![[Galileo Stamp]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/galileo-stamp-1983-150x112.jpg)
Remembering one of the great minds of history, the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei (1564โ1642), on the anniversary of his birth.
๐บ๐ธ ๐ฆ HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: Lincoln and Darwin (and Horace)
Our recommended homeschool history encyclopedia is just the thing you need on a notable anniversary like today: the birthday of both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin (in the same year, 1809).
๐ LEARNING THE LIBRARY: Dewey Detectives at Home
![[Magnifying Glass]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/magnifying-glass-emoji-right-150x150.png)
Did you know there are secret Dewey Decimal numbers hidden in the books on your very own bookshelves? It’s true! Here’s how you can send your homeschool students on a treasure hunt to find them.
๐๏ธ โค๏ธ WONDERFUL WORDS: โUnwind the solemn twine, and tie my Valentine!โ
![[Emily Dickinson Stamp]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dickinson-stamp-1971-96x150.jpg)
“Awake ye muses nine, sing me a strain divine!” (Our romantic homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Emily Dickinson, for Valentine Week.)
๐ LEARNING THE LIBRARY: The Linguistic 400s
Explore your local library and the whole universe of knowledge with our homeschool tour of the Dewey Decimal System. This month: the Linguistic 400s.
๐บ๐ธ LIBRARY LESSONS: The 119th Congress at the Library of Congress
If your homeschool students want to learn about the operations of the U.S. Congress, there’s no better place to look than on the website of the Library of Congress itself.