![[The River Houses]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/arms-icon-100x100.png "The River Houses"){kind=icon}
![[Equinoxes & Solstices]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/equinox-solstice-150x100.png)
Winter is here! If you’re in the northern hemisphere, that is. If you’re in the southern hemisphere, summer is here! Happy December solstice to homeschoolers everywhere!
📡 🎅 🦌 HOMESCHOOL HOLIDAYS: NORAD’s Santa Tracker is Up!
Want to know when Santa will deliver your Christmas presents? Don’t ask Amazon, ask the North American Air Defense Command! (And maybe even learn a little world geography along the way.)
🦅 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).
🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: I Wonder as I Wander
![[Holiday Music]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/holiday-music-150x100.jpg)
Introduce your homeschool students to an American folk tune that has now become an internationally famous Christmas carol, and invite them to think about how a single piece of music can sound very different under different vocal and instrumental arrangements.
🎵 🎄 A CHRISTMAS EVE INVITATION: Carols from King’s College
The beautiful Festival of Lessons and Carols from King’s College at Cambridge University is broadcast every year on Christmas Eve to millions of people around the world. You and your homeschool students can join them.
🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Shiloh National Military Park in Tennessee
![[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: Shiloh National Military Park in Tennessee.
🔎 HOMESCHOOL RESEARCH & NEWS for December
![[Homeschool Research Icon]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/research-150x80.jpg)
Our December roundup of some recent academic research and news about home education in the United States and around the world, with links to sources. We have four items this month, on online homeschooling; homeschooling in India; homeschool politics in Brazil; and homeschooling in the Philippines.
🎵 MARVELOUS MUSIC: It’s Beethoven’s Birthday!
Take a few minutes out of your homeschool schedule today to celebrate an annual international musical milestone, to wit, Beethoven’s Birthday!
🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Christmas with William Billings
“Methinks I see an heavenly host / Of angels on the wing; / Methinks I hear their cheerful notes, / So merrily they sing.” (Discover what Christmas sounded like at the time of the American Revolution.)
🖋 🍂 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.)
🌕 HOMESCHOOL CITIZEN-SCIENCE PROJECTS for December
Our December full-moon report on the many “citizen-science” projects around the world that you and your students can participate in from the comfort of your little home academy. Pick one and get started today!
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 15 December 2024
![[Weekly Homeschool Almanac]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/calendar-generic-150x88.png)
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Christmas carols, winter solstices, tea parties, student projects, American authors, phamous physicists, Gabonese rivers, a toast to warm hearts, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Tennessee, France, Georgia, and More
![[Tennessee State Bird & Flower]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/tennessee-stamp-1982a-100x150.png)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Tennessee, France, Gabon, The Gambia, and Georgia. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: O Little Town of Bethlehem
![[Christmas Stamp 2014]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/star-magi-stamp-2014-111x150.jpg)
Invite your students to listen to a number of different performances of this popular American carol in a variety of different styles this week, and help them think through their preferences. It’s a great way to encourage their intellectual and artistic development.
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Aldebaran and Taurus for December
![[Taurus Star Chart]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/taurus-iau-chart-150x142.png)
Make the acquaintance of the ancient red giant Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus the Bull this month — one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere sky — and make it your homeschool friend for life.
🦅 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).
🌠 HOMESCHOOL ASTRONOMY: Geminid Meteors for December
Point your homeschool students to the constellation Gemini this month for the annual Geminid meteor shower, the debris-trail left behind by asteroid 3200 Phaethon.
🎵 🚋 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Walla Walla, Wash., an’ Kalamazoo!
“Antelope cantaloupe, ’lope with you!” (A happy family sing-a-long from Walt Kelly, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.)
🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park
For America’s 250th anniversary, discover the history and landscape of the United States. This week: Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in Kentucky.
🎵 📚 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.
🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Introducing Vince Guaraldi
![[Charlie Brown Stamp 2015]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/charlie-brown-christmas-stamp-2015-150x119.jpg)
The American jazz musician Vince Guaraldi (1928–1976) wrote some of the best-loved Christmas music of our time. Why not introduce your homeschool students to his wonderful work this month.
🖋 📖 WONDERFUL WORDS: Happy Birthday to Emily Dickinson!
![[Emily Dickinson]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dickinson-stamp-1971-96x150.jpg)
“He ate and drank the precious Words — / His Spirit grew robust.” (Our literary homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Emily Dickinson, for her upcoming birthday.)
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 8 December 2024
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Geminid meteors, holiday music, kaleidoscopic inventions, Nobel laureates, wireless transmissions, halcyon days, Fijian rivers, a toast to harmony, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Kentucky, Eswatini, Finland, and More
![[Kentucky State Bird & Flower]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/kentucky-stamp-1982a-100x150.png)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Kentucky, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, and Finland. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: What Sweeter Music
“Dark and dull night, fly hence away, / And give the honor to this day, / That sees December turned to May.” (A modern Christmas masterpiece, with ancient words by Robert Herrick and new music by John Rutter, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.)
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for December
![[Homeschool Astronomy]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/emoji-telescope.png)
Our homeschool review of the educational wonders that you and your students can watch for in the northern hemisphere night sky during the month of December.
🦅 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.
