![[The River Houses]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/arms-icon-100x100.png "The River Houses"){kind=icon}
“Bind me not to the pasture, chain me not to the plow, / Set me free to find my calling and I’ll return to you somehow.” (Our promising late May poem-of-the-week, from Marta Keen, for homeschool graduation season and the coming summer.)
🌍 🇸🇲 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Mount Titano and Historic San Marino
![[Flag of San Marino]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/flag-san-marino-150x113.png)
Pay a homeschool visit to a World Heritage Site from one of our countries-of-the-week and learn some great history and geography along the way. This week: Mount Titano and the Historic Center of San Marino.
🔎 HOMESCHOOL RESEARCH & NEWS – May 2024
![[Homeschool Research Icon]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/research-150x80.jpg)
Our May 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 three items this month, on homeschooling during the pandemic; homeschooling motivation; and Christian homeschool instructional design.
📏 ⏱ 🌡 HAPPY WORLD METROLOGY DAY!
On this day in 1875, the meter was adopted as an international standard of measurement. That makes today World Metrology Day! Why not invite your students to take a few scientific measurements in your homeschool this week.
🇨🇦 HOMESCHOOL MUSIC & HISTORY: “To find the hand of Franklin”
To understand a complex and beautiful piece of art or music, your students must first learn a great deal about the world — names, places, people, and events that may seem at first to be unrelated.
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 19 May 2024
![[Weekly Homeschool Almanac]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/calendar-2-150x85.jpg)
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: American philosophers, maritime mysteries, graduation poems, inimitable investigators, Swedish naturalists, tiny rivers, a toast to blissful days, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Colorado, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, and More
![[Colorado State Flag]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/flag-colorado-1964-150x100.png)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Colorado, Samoa, San Marino, São Tomé & Príncipe, and Saudi Arabia. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🖋 🌟 WONDERFUL WORDS: Hymn to the North Star
“A beauteous type of that unchanging good, / That bright eternal beacon, by whose ray / The voyager of time should shape his heedful way.” (An extra astronomical homeschool poem-of-the-week, from William Cullen Bryant, for Polaris, our Great Star for the month of May.)
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Bulbuls, Starlings, Waxwings, and 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.
🖋 🍃 WONDERFUL WORDS: Robert Frost’s “Birches”
“One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.” (Our youthful homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Robert Frost, for springtime play and growing up.)
🌎 🇱🇨 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Pitons in Saint Lucia
![[Flag of Saint Lucia]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/flag-saint-lucia-150x75.png)
Pay a homeschool visit to a World Heritage Site from one of our countries-of-the-week and learn some great history and geography along the way. This week: the Pitons Management Area in Saint Lucia.
📚 🦉 LIBRARY LESSONS: The Macaulay Library of Natural History
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 ASTRONOMY: Skylab, America’s First Space Station
Do you have a future astronaut in your homeschool? Then why not take a few minutes this week to learn about Skylab, America’s first space station, launched on this day in 1973.
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 12 May 2024
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Mother’s Days, space stations, horse races, dendrological poems, nautical mysteries, ancient instruments, Caribbean rivers, a toast to every mom, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Nebraska, Rwanda, Saint Vincent, and More
![[Nebraska State Flag]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/flag-nebraska-1963-150x90.png)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Nebraska, Rwanda, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent & the Grenadines. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Polaris and Ursa Minor for May
![[Ursa Minor Star Chart]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/polaris-ursa-minor-chart-135x150.png)
Make the acquaintance of the pole star Polaris in the constellation Ursa Minor this month, one of the most important stars in the northern hemisphere sky, and make it your homeschool friend and sky-mark for life.
🚂 AMERICAN ICON: The Golden Spike of 1869
Teach a little homeschool history lesson today on the anniversary of the completion of the North American transcontinental railroad in 1869.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Mockingbirds, Catbirds, and 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.
🖋 🪺 WONDERFUL WORDS: Anne Bradstreet for Mother’s Day
“Great was my pain when I you bred, / Great was my care when I you fed. / Long did I keep you soft and warm / And with my wings kept off all harm.” (Our ornithological homeschool poem-of-the-week, from the early American poet Anne Bradstreet, for Mother’s Day, the second Sunday in May.)
🌍 🇵🇹 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Historic Elvas Fortifications in Portugal
![[Flag of Portugal]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/flag-portugal-150x100.png)
Pay a homeschool visit to a World Heritage Site from one of our countries-of-the-week and learn some great history and geography along the way. This week: the Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications in Portugal.
📚 LEARNING THE LIBRARY: The Artistic 700s
![[Dewey Decimal Classes]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/dewey-decimal-classes-2-150x90.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.
🐦 WHAT BIRDS ARE MIGRATING Through Your Neighborhood?
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).
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 5 May 2024
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Migrating birds, golden spikes, American explorers, marvelous musicians, mocking birds, Russian rivers, a toast to the early bird, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Nevada, Portugal, Russia, and More
![[Nevada State Flag]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/flag-nevada-1991-150x100.png)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Nevada, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, and Russia. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for May
![[Homeschool Astronomy]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/emoji-telescope-large-150x150.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 May.
🦅 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.
📸 PHOTO CHALLENGE for May: “Waves” and “Pets”
![[Homeschool Photography Icon]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/emoji-camera-flash-2-150x143.png)
Calling all homeschool photographers! The Wikimedia Commons Photo Challenge is a great way for enthusiastic homeschool photography students to develop their skills and gain some recognition for their work. This month’s themes are “Waves” and “Pets.” Take a look!
