“Antelope cantaloupe, ’lope with you!” (A happy homeschool family sing-a-long from Walt Kelly, for Holiday Music Month.)
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 11 December 2022
Great homeschool teaching tips and little lessons for the week ahead, including: New almanacs, holiday music, first flights, last moonwalks, halcyon days, pensive poems, Finnish rivers, a toast to peace, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Kentucky, Eswatini, Finland, and More
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.
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Aldebaran and Taurus for December
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.
🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Introducing Vince Guaraldi
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.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers (Part I)
Come along on our homeschool tour of North American bird families and pick up some great science and natural history teaching tips along the way. This week: the strong-flying Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers (Part I).
🖋 📖 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.)
🌕 HOMESCHOOL “CITIZEN SCIENCE” PROJECTS for December
Our December full-moon report on the real “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!
🌎 🇸🇻 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Joya de Cerén in El Salvador
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 Joya de Cerén Archaeological Site in El Salvador.
🎵 🎄 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.)
📚 LEARNING THE LIBRARY: The Religious 200s
Explore your local library and the whole universe of knowledge with our annual homeschool tour of the Dewey Decimal System. This month: The Religious 200s.
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 4 December 2022
Great homeschool teaching tips and little lessons for the week ahead, including: Martian occultations, holiday music, Revolutionary engineers, visionary inventors, national parks, Nobel laureates, Estonian rivers, a toast to music, and more!
🌍 🇪🇬 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Wadi al-Hitan (Whale Valley) in Egypt
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: Wadi al-Hitan (Whale Valley) in Egypt.
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 27 November 2022
Great homeschool teaching tips and little lessons for the week ahead, including: Winter terms, holiday music, famous novelists, Alabama meteorites, oceanic birds, memorial poems, Egyptian rivers, a toast to the chase, and more!
🌞 🌏 🌕 WONDERFUL WORDS: “The stellar gauge of earthly show”
“Is such the stellar gauge of earthly show, / Nation at war with nation, brains that teem, / Heroes, and women fairer than the skies?” (An extra astronomical homeschool poem-of-the-week, a sonnet-masterpiece from Thomas Hardy, for this week’s lunar eclipse.)
🌞 🌏 🌕 LUNAR ECLIPSE Monday–Tuesday Night (7–8 November 2022)
Invite your young homeschool astronomers to view the total lunar eclipse coming up on Monday–Tuesday night (7–8 November 2022).