![[The River Houses]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/arms-icon-100x100.png "The River Houses"){kind=icon}
Introduce your homescholars (in just five minutes) to one of the world’s most famous pieces of classical music, from George Frideric Handel, for our Homeschool Holiday Music Month.
🖋 🎅 WONDERFUL WORDS: ’Twas the Night Before Christmas
“The children were nestled all snug in their beds; / While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.” (Our festive homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Clement Clarke Moore, for Christmas Eve of course!)
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Tropicbirds, Loons, & Albatrosses
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/birds-tropicbirds-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 water-loving Tropicbirds, Loons, and Albatrosses.
🎵 ❄️ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: In the Bleak Midwinter
“Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; / Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, / In the bleak midwinter, long ago.” (A frosty carol from Christina Rossetti and Gustav Holst, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month and the winter solstice.)
🗓 ⛄️ WINTER IS HERE! (Astronomically Speaking)
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!
🌍 🇫🇷 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Chartres Cathedral in France
![[Flag of France]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/flag-france-150x100.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: Chartres Cathedral in France.
🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: I Wonder as I Wander
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.
🔎 HOMESCHOOL RESEARCH & NEWS – December 2023
![[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 school psychology; black rural homeschooling; homeschooling in Indonesia; and homeschooling in India.
🎵 🎄 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.
📡 🎅 🦌 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.)
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 17 December 2023
![[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: Christmas carols, Santa trackers, winter solstices, earth rises, perspicacious pamphlets, Gambian rivers, a toast to warm hearts, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Tennessee, France, Georgia, and More
![[Tennessee State Flag]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/flag-tennessee-1905-150x90.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!
🎵 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.)
🦅 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: 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.
🌠 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.
🌍 🇪🇹 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Ancient Aksum in Ethiopia
![[Flag of Ethiopia]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/flag-ethiopia-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 Ancient City of Aksum in Ethiopia.
🎵 🚋 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.)
🎵 📚 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.
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 10 December 2023
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, Eswatinian rivers, a toast to peace, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Kentucky, Eswatini, Finland, and More
![[Kentucky State Flag]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/flag-kentucky-1918-150x79.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: 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.
🌟 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.
🖋 📖 WONDERFUL WORDS: Happy Birthday to Emily Dickinson!
“He ate and drank the precious Words — / His Spirit grew robust.” (Our literary homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Emily Dickinson, for her birthday.)
🦅 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).
