![[The River Houses]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/arms-icon-100x100.png "The River Houses"){kind=icon}
“Come, ye rains, then if ye will, / May’s at home, and with me still; / But come rather, thou, good weather, / And find us in the fields together.” (Our literary homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Leigh Hunt, for the merry month of May.)
🌎 🇵🇾 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Historic Jesuit Missions of Paraguay
![[Flag of Paraguay]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/flag-paraguay-150x83.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 Historic Jesuit Missions of La Santísima Trinidad de Paraná and Jesús de Tavarangue in Paraguay.
🗓 🐦 🎓 HAPPY HOMESCHOOL MAY from the River Houses!
Happy homeschool May! Here are some little lessons, teaching traditions, and wonderful educational opportunities you and your students can watch for this month.
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 28 April 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: Migration months, precise predictions, presidential proclamations, celebrated composers, Philippine rivers, a toast to all farmers, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: West Virginia, Paraguay, Poland, and More
![[West Virginia State Flag]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/flag-west-virginia-1929-150x79.png)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: West Virginia, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, and Poland. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🌳 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: 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.
🌏 🇵🇬 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Kuk Agricultural Site in Papua New Guinea
![[Flag of Papua New Guinea]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/flag-papua-new-guinea-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: the Kuk Early Agricultural Site in Papua New Guinea.
🎂 🎭 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WILL! (Shakespeare, That Is)
Happy birthday to the Bard! Celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday this week with some free teaching materials from Shakespeare’s birthplace itself.
🌕 HOMESCHOOL “CITIZEN SCIENCE” PROJECTS for April
Our April 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!
🖋 🌸 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.)
🎵 HOMESCHOOL MUSIC: Relax With Randall Thompson’s “Alleluia”
Feeling cooped up and stressed out? Calm your homeschool down with the peaceful “Alleluia” of American composer Randall Thompson, born on this day in 1899.
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 21 April 2024
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Shakespearean birthdays, Arbor Days, falling stars, Trojan wars, Roman kings, avian artists, Panamanian rivers, a toast to good fortune, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Kansas, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, and More
![[Kansas State Flag]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/flag-kansas-1961-150x90.png)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Kansas, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, and Papua New Guinea. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🇺🇸 AMERICAN ICON: The Concord Minute Man
Teach your homeschool students to recognize one of the most famous artistic symbols of the American Revolution this week: Daniel Chester French’s “Minute Man” (1874).
🦅 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.
🇺🇸 HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: Teaching the American Revolution
Explore an excellent collection of original documents and ready-made discussion questions on the American Revolution, all ready to go for you and your homeschool students.
🌍 🇳🇴 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Prehistoric Rock Art of Alta in Norway
![[Flag of Norway]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/flag-norway-150x109.jpg)
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 Prehistoric Rock Art of Alta in Norway.
🇺🇸 🏇 WONDERFUL WORDS: “The fate of a nation was riding that night”
“A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, / And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark / Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet: / That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light, / The fate of a nation was riding that night.” (An extra equestrian homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Longfellow, for the beginning of the American Revolution in 1775.)
🔎 HOMESCHOOL RESEARCH & NEWS – April 2024
![[Homeschool Research Icon]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/research-150x80.jpg)
Our April 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 in Vietnam; homeschooling in the United Arab Emirates; and homeschool support in Canada.
🖋 🇺🇸 WONDERFUL WORDS: “Here once the embattled farmers stood”
“By the rude bridge that arched the flood, / Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, / Here once the embattled farmers stood / And fired the shot heard round the world.” (Our patriotic homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Ralph Waldo Emerson, for the beginning of the American Revolution in 1775.)
🗓 🦁 HAPPY CROSS-QUARTER DAY of Leo Term
We divide the homeschool year into four three-month terms, and the midpoint of each term (following old calendrical tradition) is called the “cross-quarter day.” Today, April 15th, is the cross-quarter day of Leo Term, our spring term in the River Houses. How are things going in your homeschool?
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 14 April 2024
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: American revolutions, cross-quarter days, marvelous messengers, polymathic painters, patriotic poems, agile birds, historic rivers, a toast to heroes, & more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Oregon, Nigeria, Oman, and More
![[Oregon State Flag]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/flag-oregon-1925-150x90.png)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Oregon, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, and Oman. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Regulus and Leo for April
![[Leo Star Chart]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/leo-regulus-chart-122x150.png)
Make the acquaintance of “the little king” Regulus in the constellation Leo the Lion this month, one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere night sky, and make it your homeschool friend for life.
🐦 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.
