![[The River Houses]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/arms-icon-100x100.png "The River Houses"){kind=icon}
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.
📚 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. 📫
❡ Discovering Dewey: This Homeschool Books & Libraries collection also includes our special series of monthly Learning the Library posts that introduce your students to the Dewey Decimal System. 📚
❡ Gotta find ’em 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. 📚
📚 LEARNING THE LIBRARY: The Artistic 700s
![[Dewey Decimal System]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/dewey-decimal-classes-150x79.jpg)
Explore your local library and the whole universe of knowledge with our homeschool tour of the Dewey Decimal System. This month: the Artistic 700s.
📚 🌼 WONDERFUL WORDS: May and the Poets
“Come, ye rains, then if ye will, / May’s at home, and with me still; / But come rather, thou, good weather, / And find us in the fields together.” (Our literary homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Leigh Hunt, for the merry month of May.)
🎂 🎭 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.
📚 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!
🖋 🕊 WONDERFUL WORDS: George Herbert’s “Easter Wings”
“O let me rise / As larks, harmoniously, / And sing this day thy victories: / Then shall the fall further the flight in me.” (A special soaring homeschool poem-of-the-week, from George Herbert, for Easter.)
📚 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. A ready-made lesson plan from the Library of Congress will help you.
📚 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.
📜 HOMESCHOOL LIBRARY LESSONS: A Free Course on the Book of Kells
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.
📚 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.
🎉 📖 WONDERFUL WORDS: Happy Dord Day!
“Lexicógrapher. n.s. [λεξικὸν and γράφω; lexicographe, French.] A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words.” (A humorous homeschool holiday, for all lovers of words and dictionaries.)
🇺🇸 PRESIDENTIAL ADVICE: “Drink not nor talk with your mouth full”
![[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 ’tis better to be alone than in bad Company.” (The future President Washington has some advice for your homeschool students.)
☀️ 🌍 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.
🇺🇸 🦋 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).
📚 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.
🖋 ❤️ WONDERFUL WORDS: “Unwind the solemn twine, and tie my Valentine!”
![[Emily Dickinson]](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.)
📚 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.
🖍 HOMESCHOOL ARTS: Color Our Collections Week!
![[Color Our Collections]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Color_Our_Collections_web-scaled-150x103.jpeg)
Download a whole year’s worth of free educational coloring booklets from libraries and museums all around the world. It’s one of the best educational art opportunities you can find for your homeschool.
📚 LEARNING THE LIBRARY: The Social 300s
Explore your local library and the whole universe of knowledge with our homeschool tour of the Dewey Decimal System. This month: the Social 300s.
🇺🇸 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.
🎵 📚 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Olden Times and Ancient Rhymes
What did Christmas in America sound like a hundred years ago? The National Jukebox at the Library of Congress has the answer for you and your homeschool students.
📚 LEARNING THE LIBRARY: The Religious 200s
Explore your local library and the whole universe of knowledge with our homeschool tour of the Dewey Decimal system. This month: the Religious 200s.
📚 HOMESCHOOL BOOKS: A New World Almanac for 2025
![[2025 World Almanac]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/world-almanac-2025-101x150.jpg)
The annual World Almanac and Book of Facts is a one-volume desk encyclopedia that every homeschooling family should have.
📖 🦦 LOUISA MAY ALCOTT Gets a Visit From Horace the Otter
![[Alcott Stamp 1993]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/alcott-stamp-1993-118x150.jpg)
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.
🦃 THANKSGIVING at the LIBRARY: Franklin Roosevelt Talks Turkey
President Franklin Roosevelt offers a stern admonition on how to prepare your turkey. (Oh, the things you can find in the library!)
📚 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.
