![[The River Houses]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/arms-icon-100x100.png "The River Houses"){kind=icon}
![[U.S. National Archives]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/national-archives-logo-150x135.png){kind=logo}
The National Archives in Washington has a wealth of free teaching materials available that are ideal for homeschoolers. Why not pay them a visit this week to celebrate the signing of the U.S. Constitution on 17 September 1787.
🌕 HOMESCHOOL CITIZEN-SCIENCE PROJECTS for September
Our September 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 — it’s a great way to begin the new homeschool year!
🔎 HOMESCHOOL RESEARCH & NEWS – September 2024
![[Homeschool Research Icon]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/research-150x80.jpg)
Our September 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 research itself; homeschooling demographics; and homeschooling during COVID.
🖋 🦋 WONDERFUL WORDS: The Tuft of Flowers
“‘Men work together,’ I told him from the heart, / ‘Whether they work together or apart.’” (Our encouraging homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Robert Frost, for late-summer mowing, the Monarch butterfly migration, and all of us working together, whether we work together or apart.)
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 15 September 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: Lunar eclipses, Constitution days, autumnal equinoxes, legendary lexicographers, flying fish, American spies, Bahamian rivers, a toast to rhoticity, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: New Jersey, Australia, the Bahamas, and More
![[New Jersey State Bird & Flower]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/new-jersey-stamp-1982-97x150.jpg)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: New Jersey, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, and the Bahamas. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Deneb for September and the New Homeschool Year
![[Cygnus Star Chart]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/cygnus-chart-term-122x150.png)
Get the new homeschool year off to a stellar start by making a new friend this month: the giant star Deneb in the constellation Cygnus the Swan, one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere night sky.
🦢 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).
⚔️ HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: Marathon, 490 B.C.
![[Battle of Marathon]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/battle-of-marathon-stamp-2010-150x107.jpg)
The Battle of Marathon, fought on the eastern coast of mainland Greece in 490 B.C., was one of the most consequential battles in the history of the Western world. It’s an event every homeschool student should know.
🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Independence National Historical Park
![[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: Independence National Historical Park in Pennsylvania.
📚 LIBRARY LESSONS: Discovering Local Libraries With WorldCat
Have you found all the libraries in your local area that might be able to support you in your homeschooling? There may be more than you realize, and the WorldCat Library Finder will help you and your students locate them.
🇺🇸 HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: Remembering 9/11
On the anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001, why not invite your homeschool students to contemplate the Star-Spangled Banner, in Baltimore, New York, and London.
🖋 🍁 WONDERFUL WORDS: Song at the Beginning of Autumn
“But I am carried back against / My will into a childhood where / Autumn is bonfires, marbles, smoke; / I lean against my window fenced / From evocations in the air. / When I said autumn, autumn broke.” (Our transitional homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Elizabeth Jennings, for the coming fall.)
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 8 September 2024
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Star-spangled banners, ancient armies, Kentucky colonels, children’s authors, migrating monarchs, Armenian rivers, a toast to bravery and freedom, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Pennsylvania, Angola, Armenia, and More
![[Pennsylvania State Bird & Flower]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/pennsylvania-stamp-1982-98x150.jpg)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Pennsylvania, Angola, Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, and Armenia. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for September
![[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 September.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Getting to Know Your Bird Guide
![[Birds of North America]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ng-birds-7-101x150.jpg)
Introducing our year-long homeschool tour of the birds of North America — come follow the flyways with us from coast to coast! This week, for the start of the new homeschool year: getting to know your bird guide.
📸 PHOTO CHALLENGE for September: “Roof” and “Accessibility”
![[Homeschool Photography Icon]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/camera-flash-emoji-150x150.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 (to begin the new homeschool year) are “Roof” and “Accessibility.” Take a look!
🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: First State National Historical Park
For America’s 250th anniversary, discover the history and landscape of the United States. This week: First State National Historical Park in Delaware.
📚 LEARNING THE LIBRARY: A Dewey Decimal Introduction (To Begin the Year)
![[Dewey Decimal System]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/dewey-decimal-classes-150x79.jpg)
Teaching your students to use the library independently is one of the best educational gifts you can give them. Join us this week as we begin our year-long homeschool tour of the Dewey Decimal system.
🖋 🏡 “A HANDSOME HOUSE to lodge a friend” (For the New Homeschool Year)
“I’ve often wished that I had clear, / For life, six hundred pounds a year, / A handsome house to lodge a friend, / A river at my garden’s end.” (Introducing our first homeschool poem-of-the-week for the new school year, from Horace via Jonathan Swift — and it’s our official River Houses motto, too!)
🗓 🎉 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 1 September 2024
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: New Years, new terms, labor days, Horatian poems, bird guides, peace treaties, celebrated circumnavigations, Albanian rivers, a toast to free rivers, and more to begin this wonderful homeschool year!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Delaware, Afghanistan, Andorra, & More (A New Year!)
![[Delaware State Bird & Flower]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/delaware-stamp-1982-96x150.jpg)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. We begin this brand new homeschool year with Delaware, Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, and Andorra. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🗓 📓 ✏️ HAPPY HOMESCHOOL SEPTEMBER from the River Houses!
Happy homeschool September and happy new homeschool year! Here are some little lessons, teaching traditions, and wonderful educational opportunities you and your students can watch for this month.
🗓 🦢 CYGNUS TERM and the New River Houses Homeschool Year
![[Cygnus Constellation Chart (1822)]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/cygnus-jamieson-1822-150x124.jpg)
We divide the homeschool year into four three-month terms in the River Houses. Today is the first day of Cygnus Term, our fall term, named for the Great Swan of the Heavens. Cygnus Term runs from September through November.
🏡 🎉 A NEW HOMESCHOOL YEAR BEGINS: Let the River Run!
Welcome to a beautiful brand new homeschool year in the River Houses! Let all the dreamers wake the nation.
🌬 THE RIVER and the World
As the 2023–2024 homeschool year comes to an end, we offer one final toast to students all around the world who are embarking on new voyages: “Fair winds and following seas.” 🥂
A new River Houses homeschool year begins tomorrow, September 1st, the first day of Cygnus Term 2024–2025.
