![[The River Houses]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/arms-icon-100x100.png "The River Houses"){kind=icon}
![[Homeschool American Heritage]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/america-250-150x120.jpg)
For America’s 250th anniversary, discover the history and landscape of the United States. This week: Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas.
🏞 Homeschool Natural History: Little Lessons for the Whole Year
The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying.
Great homeschool teaching tips and easy little lessons on birds and natural history from the River Houses Homeschool Network. Print your own homeschool calendars and planners on the River Houses calendar page, and subscribe to our free homeschool newsletter to get posts like these delivered right to your mailbox every week! 📫
❡ Homeschool birds: This Homeschool Natural History collection includes our regular Friday Bird Families posts that introduce you and your students to the birds of North America, as well as our special May posts for our annual Bird Migration Month. 🦅
🖋 🌸 WONDERFUL WORDS: Loveliest of Trees
“And since to look at things in bloom / Fifty springs are little room, / About the woodlands I will go / To see the cherry hung with snow.” (Our flowery homeschool poem-of-the-week, from A.E. Housman, for the loveliest of trees.)
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Nuthatches, Creepers, & Wrens
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/birds-nuthatches-150x99.png)
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 small and friendly Nuthatches, Creepers, and Wrens.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Chickadees, Titmice, & Allies
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/birds-chickadees-150x99.jpg)
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 friendly and familiar Chickadees, Titmice, and their allies.
🐦 HOMESCHOOL NATURE NOTES: Watching Bird Migration with BirdCast
Introduce your young homeschool scientists to the wonderful BirdCast website. Track the birds that are migrating across the United States every night.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Larks and Swallows
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/birds-larks-150x94.png)
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 terrestrial Larks and the aerial Swallows.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Crows and Jays (Part II)
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/birds-crows-ii-150x104.png)
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 garrulous and gregarious Crows and Jays (Part II).
🌸 HOMESCHOOL HOLIDAYS: Visit the Cherry Blossoms in Washington, D.C.
On March 27th in 1912, the city of Tokyo presented a gift of 3000 cherry trees to the United States to line the banks of the Potomac River and other sites in Washington, D.C., where they and their successors may still be seen today.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Crows and Jays (Part I)
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/birds-crows-i-150x99.png)
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 Crows and Jays (Part I), garrulous residents of town and country.
🐦 HOMESCHOOL NATURE NOTES: The Great Backyard Bird Count in Review
![[Great Backyard Bird Count]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/gbbc-poster-2025-115x150.jpg)
Last month’s Great Backyard Bird Count has entered the history books. More than 800,000 people from around the world participated! Were you and your homeschoolers among them?
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Shrikes and Vireos
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/birds-shrikes-150x99.png)
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 predatory Shrikes and the plain but voluble Vireos.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Tyrant Flycatchers and Becards
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/birds-tyrannids-150x99.png)
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 Tyrant Flycatchers and the Becards.
🦜 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Parrots
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/birds-parrots-150x108.png)
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 Old World Parrots and the African and New World Parrots.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Caracaras and Falcons
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/birds-caracaras-150x100.png)
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 predatory and fast-flying Falcons and Caracaras.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Woodpeckers
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/birds-woodpeckers-150x100.png)
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 Woodpeckers!
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Trogons and Kingfishers
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/birds-trogons-150x107.png)
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 tropical Trogons and the piscivorous Kingfishers.
🐦 NATURE NOTES: Join the Great Backyard Bird Count!
Get your homeschool naturalists involved in the Great Backyard Bird Count, an annual international survey that will let you and your students make a real contribution to science. It’s one of the best educational nature activities your can do all year.
🦉 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Barn Owls and Typical Owls
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/birds-owls-150x95.png)
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 Barn Owls and the Typical Owls.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Vultures, Ospreys, Hawks, Kites, & Eagles
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/birds-vultures-150x99.png)
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: New World Vultures, Ospreys, Hawks, Kites, and Eagles.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Herons, Bitterns, Ibises, & Spoonbills
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/birds-herons-150x105.png)
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 Herons, Bitterns, Ibises, and Spoonbills, all long-legged wading birds.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Storks, Frigatebirds, Gannets, Pelicans, & More
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/birds-storks-150x98.png)
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 Storks, Frigatebirds, Boobies, Gannets, Cormorants, Darters, and Pelicans.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Shearwaters, Petrels, & Storm-Petrels
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/birds-shearwaters-petrels-150x92.png)
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 Shearwaters, Petrels, and Storm-Petrels, birds of the open ocean.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Tropicbirds, Loons, & Albatrosses
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/birds-tropicbirds-150x90.png)
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 water-loving Tropicbirds, Loons, and Albatrosses.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Gulls, Terns, & Skimmers (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 strong-flying Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers (Part II).
🖋 🍂 WONDERFUL WORDS: The End of a Season
“The leaves are all dead on the ground, / Save those that the oak is keeping / To ravel them one by one / And let them go scraping and creeping / Out over the crusted snow, / When others are sleeping.” (Our pensive homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Robert Frost, for the end of fall.)
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Gulls, Terns, & Skimmers (Part I)
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/birds-gulls-i-150x89.png)
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 strong-flying Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers (Part I).
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Skuas, Jaegers, Auks, Murres, & Puffins
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/birds-skuas-150x97.png)
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.
