![[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/2022/07/birds-emberizids-i-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 diverse and ubiquitous Emberizid Sparrows (Part I).
🏞️ 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: Tropical Tanagers and the Western Spindalis
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/birds-tanagers-150x101.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 Tanagers and the peculiar Western Spindalis.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Wood-Warblers (Part II)
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/birds-warblers-ii-150x84.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 tiny and colorful Wood-Warblers (Part II).
🖊️ 🚂 WONDERFUL WORDS: “It was late June”
![[Blackbird Stamp 1966]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/blackbird-stamp-uk-1966-150x90.jpg)
“And for that minute a blackbird sang / Close by, and round him, mistier, / Farther and farther, all the birds / Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.” (Our timely homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Edward Thomas, for late June and the birds of summer.)
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Wood-Warblers (Part I)
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/birds-warblers-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 tiny and colorful Wood-Warblers (Part I).
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Finches, Longspurs, and Snow Buntings
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/birds-fringillids-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 small and familiar Fringillid Finches, and the Longspurs and Snow Buntings.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Wagtails and Pipits
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/birds-wagtails-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 ground-loving Wagtails and Pipits.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Indigobirds, Old World Sparrows, & Allies
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/birds-indigobirds-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 Indigobirds and Whydahs, the Weavers, the Estrildid Finches, and the Old World Sparrows.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Bulbuls, Starlings, Waxwings, & Allies
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/birds-bulbuls-150x112.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 Bulbuls, Starlings, Waxwings, Silky-Flycatchers, Olive Warblers, and Accentors.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Mockingbirds, Catbirds, & Thrashers
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/birds-mockingbirds-150x86.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 loquacious Mockingbirds, Catbirds, and Thrashers.
📚 🦉 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.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Thrushes
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/birds-thrushes-150x112.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 melodious Thrushes.
🐦 WHAT BIRDS ARE MIGRATING Through Your Neighborhood?
![[Meadowlark]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ebird-western-meadowlark-150x73.jpg)
May is Bird Migration Month in the River Houses. Here’s how you can find out what birds are migrating though your homeschool neighborhood this month (or any month of the year).
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Sylviid Warblers and Allies
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/birds-sylviids-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 Sylviid Warblers, Leaf Warblers, Grasshopper-Warblers, and Old World Flycatchers and Chats.
🌳 HOMESCHOOL HOLIDAYS: Happy Arbor Day Weekend!
![[Arbor Day Stamp 1932]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/arbor-day-stamp-1932-130x150.jpg)
It’s National Arbor Day! Why not celebrate this delightful dendrological occasion by planting a tree in honor of your homeschool this week.
🐦 HOMESCHOOL NATURE NOTES: MAY is Bird Migration Month!
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/peak-us-migration-dates-150x91.jpeg)
Bird migration is one of the world’s most wonderful natural phenomena. Don’t miss the chance to teach your homeschool students about it, during May and all through the year.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Gnatcatchers, Dippers, & Kinglets
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/birds-gnatcatchers-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 tiny Gnatcatchers, Dippers, and Kinglets.
🖊️ 🌸 WONDERFUL WORDS: Loveliest of Trees
![[Cherry Blossoms]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/cherry-150x99.jpg)
“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.
🐦 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: 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.
🦅 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.
![[Cherry Blossom Stamp]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/cherry-blossom-stamp-2012-150x100.jpg)
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/2026/01/Cardinal_2026-116x150.jpeg)
Last month’s Great Backyard Bird Count has entered the history books. More than a million 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.