![[The River Houses]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/arms-icon-100x100.png "The River Houses"){kind=icon}
![[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!
🏞 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. 🦅
🦅 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!
![[Great Backyard Bird Count]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/gbbc-poster-2025-115x150.jpg)
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.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Sandpipers (Part II)
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/birds-sandpipers-ii-150x88.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 long-legged Sandpipers (Part II), familiar shorebirds all around the world.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Sandpipers (Part I)
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/birds-sandpipers-i-150x85.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 long-legged Sandpipers (Part I), familiar shorebirds all around the world.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Lapwings, Plovers, & Jacanas
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/birds-lapwings-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 leggy Lapwings, Plovers, and Jacanas.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Stilts, Avocets, & Oystercatchers
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/birds-stilts-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 long-legged Stilts, Avocets, and Oystercatchers.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Limpkins, Rails, Gallinules, Coots, & Cranes
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/birds-limpkins-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 Limpkins, Rails, Gallinules, Coots, and Cranes.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Swifts and Hummingbirds
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/birds-swifts-150x96.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 Swifts and Hummingbirds, aerial acrobats all.
🐦 HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE: Feed the Birds! (And Join Project FeederWatch!)
Setting up a bird feeder is one of the simplest and most educational homeschool activities you can do at any time of year. And by tracking the birds you see at your backyard feeder your students can make a real contribution to science through Project FeederWatch.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Cuckoos, Roadrunners, Anis, & Goatsuckers
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/birds-cuckoos-150x111.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 Cuckoos, Roadrunners, Anis, and Goatsuckers. (All birds with strange names!)
⛏ HOMESCHOOL BOOKS & NATURAL HISTORY: National Fossil Day!
For National Fossil Day, why not explore a big collection of rare and beautiful books on paleontology made available by the Smithsonian Institution and the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
🕊️ FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Pigeons and Doves
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/birds-pigeons-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 familiar Pigeons and Doves.
🦩 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Grebes and Flamingos
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/birds-grebes-150x113.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 short-legged Grebes and the long-legged Flamingos.
🦃 🐓 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: “Gallinaceous” Birds
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/birds-quail-150x96.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 chicken-like “Gallinaceous” birds, including New World Quail, Curassows, Guans, Partridges, Grouse, Turkeys, and Old World Quail.
🦆 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Ducks, Geese, & Swans (Part II)
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/birds-ducks-ii-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 familiar Ducks, Geese, and Swans (Part II).
🦢 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Ducks, Geese, & Swans (Part I)
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/birds-ducks-i-150x91.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 familiar Ducks, Geese, and Swans (Part I).
