![[The River Houses]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/arms-icon-100x100.png "The River Houses"){kind=icon}
![[Maine State Bird & Flower]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/maine-stamp-1982-98x150.png)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Maine, Kiribati, North Korea, South Korea, and Kosovo. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🖋 ❄️ WONDERFUL WORDS: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep, / But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep, / And miles to go before I sleep.” (Our metrical homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Robert Frost, for wintry February — with a special lesson on rhyme-scheme mapping!)
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for February
![[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 February.
🗓 💕 💐 HAPPY HOMESCHOOL FEBRUARY from the River Houses!
![[Roman Calendar]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/roman-calendar-february-148x150.jpg)
Happy homeschool February! Here are some little lessons, teaching traditions, and wonderful educational opportunities you and your students can watch for this month.
🏡 WELCOME! (Pinned Post)
![[The River Houses]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/emoji-house-with-garden-150x150.png)
First time visitor? We post a wide range of easy-to-use educational ideas and “little lessons” that will enrich your homeschooling schedule all through the year. Please subscribe to our free homeschool newsletter! (It’s just one message a week with no spam.)
There’s a wealth of wonderful material here on our website — everything from homeschool astronomy to books and libraries to language and literature to geography, natural history, homeschool calendars, and more. The materials we’re developing are going to become the foundation for a new type of homeschool network made up of friendly local groups called “Houses” (just like in Harry Potter). Make yourself at home! 😊
🐦 NATURE NOTES: Join the Great Backyard Bird Count!
![[Great Backyard Bird Count]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/gbbc-poster-2025-115x150.jpg)
Get your homeschool naturalists involved in the Great Backyard Bird Count, an annual international survey that will let you and your students make a real contribution to science. It’s one of the best educational nature activities your can do all year.
🦉 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Barn Owls and Typical Owls
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/birds-owls-150x95.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 Barn Owls and the Typical Owls.
🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site
![[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: Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site in Alabama.
🖍 HOMESCHOOL ARTS: Color Our Collections Week!
![[Color Our Collections]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Color_Our_Collections_web-scaled-150x103.jpeg)
Download a whole year’s worth of free educational coloring booklets from libraries and museums all around the world. It’s one of the best educational art opportunities you can find for your homeschool.
🎵 HOMESCHOOL MUSIC: Happy Birthday Mozart!
Happy birthday to one of the greatest musical composers of all time, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born on this day in 1756 in Salzburg, Austria. Here are some little Mozart lessons that you can share with your homeschool music students this week.
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 26 January 2025
![[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: Classical composers, winter poems, groundhog days, wise birds, American voices, eponymous founders, Kenyan rivers, a toast to bravery, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Alabama, Japan, Kenya, and More
![[Alabama State Bird & Flower]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/alabama-stamp-1982b-97x150.png)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Alabama, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, and Kenya. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🖋 🌹 WONDERFUL WORDS: Happy Birthday to Robert Burns!
![[Robert Burns Stamp]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/burns-rose-stamp-1996-150x150.jpg)
“Till all the seas gang dry, my dear, / And the rocks melt wi’ the sun; / I will love thee still, my dear, / While the sands of life shall run.” (Happy birthday to Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland, born on this day in 1759.)
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Vultures, Ospreys, Hawks, Kites, & Eagles
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/birds-vultures-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: New World Vultures, Ospreys, Hawks, Kites, and Eagles.
🖋 🌊 HOMESCHOOL HISTORY & LITERATURE: Remembering Challenger
“I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, / And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.” (Our commemorative homeschool poem-of-the-week, from John Masefield, for the Challenger Seven of 1986.)
🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Chicago Portage National Historic Site
For America’s 250th anniversary, discover the history and landscape of the United States. This week: Chicago Portage National Historic Site in Illinois.
🔎 HOMESCHOOL RESEARCH & NEWS – January 2025
![[Homeschool Research Icon]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/research-150x80.jpg)
Our January 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 Islamic homeschooling; homeschool alumni in Czechia; Christian homeschooling; and homeschool science education.
🖋 ❄️ WONDERFUL WORDS: An Unexpected “Snow-Storm”
“All friends shut out, the housemates sit / Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed / In a tumultuous privacy of storm.” (An extra wintry homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Ralph Waldo Emerson, for unexpected blizzards.)
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 19 January 2025
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Tall ships, gold mines, great poets, hopeful dreams, Rocky Mountains, majestic birds, Israeli rivers, a toast to lucky labor, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Illinois, Ireland, Jamaica, and More
![[Illinois State Bird & Flower]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/illinois-stamp-1982a-101x150.png)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Illinois, Ireland, Israel, Italy, and Jamaica. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🚀 HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE: The Webb Telescope & Other NASA Missions
![[Webb Space Telescope]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/webb-telescope-logo-150x83.png){kind=logo}
Homeschool scientists can discover a world of wonder by keeping track of a NASA mission or two each month, including the James Webb Space Telescope as it explores the early universe.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Herons, Bitterns, Ibises, & Spoonbills
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/birds-herons-150x105.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 Herons, Bitterns, Ibises, and Spoonbills, all long-legged wading birds.
🖋 🇺🇸 WONDERFUL WORDS (and Music!): Lift Every Voice and Sing
“Let our rejoicing rise / High as the listening skies, / Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.” (Our patriotic homeschool poem-of-the-week, from James Weldon Johnson, for the Martin Luther King holiday.)
🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Vicksburg National Military Park
For America’s 250th anniversary, discover the history and landscape of the United States. This week: Vicksburg National Military Park in Mississippi.
🗓 🗡 HAPPY CROSS-QUARTER DAY of Orion 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 is the cross-quarter day of Orion Term, our winter term in the River Houses. How are things going in your homeschool?
🌕 HOMESCHOOL CITIZEN-SCIENCE PROJECTS for January
Our January 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!
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 12 January 2025
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Cross-quarter days, patriotic songs, American originals, student projects, imperial accessions, first fleets, Iraqi rivers, a toast to freedom, and more!
