Tour the United States and travel the countries of the world each week with the River Houses. Our Sunday States & Countries posts will point the way.
Many homeschoolers like to review the U.S. states and the nations of the world each year, and our recommended homeschool reference library (riverhouses.org/books) includes a current world almanac, a world atlas, and a history encyclopedia that make these reviews fun and easy. Our annual review begins at the start of the River Houses year in September and goes through the states in the traditional order of admission to the Union (almanac page 429), so this week’s state is:
πΊπΈ Virginia State Bird and FlowerVIRGINIA (the 10th state, 25 June 1788) β The Old Dominion. Capital: Richmond. Virginia can be found on page 588 in your almanac and on plates 43 and 142 in your atlas. Name origin: “Named by Sir Walter Raleigh, who outfitted an expedition in 1584, in honor of Englandβs Queen Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen” (almanac page 430). State bird: Northern Cardinal (bird guide page 522). Website:www.virginia.gov.
β‘β Little lessons: You can teach a hundred little lessons with our state-of-the-week, using your reference library (riverhouses.org/books) as a starting point. Find the location of the state capital in your atlas each week. Look up the state bird in your bird guide. Read the almanac’s one-paragraph history aloud each week. Using each state’s official website (above), find and copy the preamble to that state’s constitution into a commonplace book over the course of the year. Practice math skills by graphing each state’s population and area. Look up the famous state residents listed in your almanac either online or at your local library. The possibilities are endless and they can be easily adapted to each student’s age and interests. Pick a simple pattern to follow for just a few minutes each week and your little lesson is done. By the end of the year, without even realizing it, your students will have absorbed a wealth of new geographical and historical information, as well as a host of valuable reading and research skills. π
We go through the countries of the world in alphabetical order, so this week’s countries, with their official websites, are:
π¨π΄ COLOMBIA in northern South America. Population: 48,168,996. Capital: BogotΓ‘. Government: Presidential republic. Website:www.gov.co (in Spanish).
π°π² THE COMOROS off the east coast of Africa. Population: 821,164. Capital: Moroni. Government: Federal presidential republic. Website:beit-salam.km (in French).
π¨π¬ THE CONGO REPUBLIC in central Africa. Population: 5,062,021. Capital: Brazzaville. Government: Presidential republic. Website:www.presidence.cg/accueil (in French).
These all appear in your current almanac, atlas, and history encyclopedia as well (riverhouses.org/books). The almanac, for example, has profiles of the nations of the world on pages 745β852; the endpapers of the atlas are index maps that will show you where each of the individual national and regional maps can be found; the history encyclopedia includes individual national histories on pages 489β599; and you can find additional illustrations, flags, and other mentions through the indexes in each of these volumes.
What grand geographical discoveries have you made in your homeschool this week? π
β‘β Read and think critically: The country links above go to official websites, which are not always in English and which may well be propagandistic in one way or another, thus offering older students a good opportunity to exercise their critical reading and thinking skills. π
β‘β Come, here’s the map: Teaching your students to be fluent with high-quality maps β not just basically competent, but fluent β is one of the best educational gifts you can give them. Why not look up any one of our selected states or countries each week in your recommended homeschool atlas (riverhouses.org/books) and show your students how to locate rivers, lakes, marshes, water depths, mountains and their elevations, highway numbers, airports, oil fields, railroads, ruins, battle sites, small towns, big cities, regional capitals, national capitals, parks, deserts, glaciers, borders, grid references, lines of longitude and latitude, and much more. There is so much information packed into professional maps of this kind that a magnifying glass is always helpful, even for young folks with good eyesight. The endpapers of the atlas and the technical map-reading information on Plate 2 will guide you in your voyages of discovery. πΊ
β‘β Plan an imaginary vacation: Here’s a fun exercise for your students: take one of the countries that we list each week and write out a family travel plan. How would you get there? How much will it cost? Will you need a passport? Where will you stay? Will you have to exchange your currency? How do you say hello the local language? What cities and attractions and landmarks will you visit? What foods will you eat? How will you get around (car, train, boat, mule)? Make a simple worksheet with blank spaces for the answers, have your students do the research, and start planning your world tour. βοΈ π π π³ π π
Chilly rain, right on schedule, has stripped many of the leaves from the trees in my neighborhood this week, carpeting the ground in color. That’s why our homeschool poem-of-the-week for the first week of November each year is Robert Frost’s motivational meditation “AΒ Leaf-Treader”:
A Leaf-Treader
I have been treading on leaves all day until I am autumn-tired.
God knows all the color and form of leaves I have trodden on and mired.
Perhaps I have put forth too much strength and been too fierce from fear.
I have safely trodden underfoot the leaves of another year.
All summer long they were overhead, more lifted up than I.
To come to their final place in earth they had to pass me by.
All summer long I thought I heard them threatening under their breath.
And when they came it seemed with a will to carry me with them to death.
They spoke to the fugitive in my heart as if it were leaf to leaf.
They tapped at my eyelids and touched my lips with an invitation to grief.
But it was no reason I had to go because they had to go.
Now up, my knee, to keep on top of another year of snow.
When you introduce your students to a new poem, especially one in a traditional form, take your time, and don’t worry about “getting” everything right away. AΒ good poem is a friend for life, and as with any friend, it takes several meetings to get acquainted.
A leaf-treader. (“God knows all the color and form of leaves I have trodden on.”)
Before you even start to think about “meaning,” take a look at the poem’s structure. “AΒ Leaf-Treader” is interesting because it doesn’t seem to have a regular meter, at least not as far as I can see. (Perhaps you can discover one.) Nevertheless, it has a number of distinctive structural features. First, it has relatively long lines, each in the 15β18 syllable range. (A poem in a conventional meter like iambic tetrameter or pentameter will have only eight or ten syllables per line.) Second, each line is a complete sentence. That’s quite unusual: in most English poetry, the sentences regularly run over the line-ends, and sometimes continue on for several lines. When each line is a complete sentence, it creates a very strong “stop” at the end of each line. Third, Frost uses a very heavy rhyme-scheme with exact rhymes that you can’t miss: tiredβmired fearβyear, and so on. I make the whole out to be AABB CCDD EEFF. So even though “AΒ Leaf-Treader” isn’t metrical, it’s still very poetical (artful).
As for what the poem is about β you and your students can have a fine open-ended discussion about that without worrying about reaching any specific conclusion. Can you picture the narrator? What has he been doing? Is he standing, walking, sitting? (My answer: he’s kneeling. Can you tell why?) One theme in the poem is how the seasons flip the world upside down each year: what was over-head is now under-foot. And from the leaf-enriched soil below, new leaves above will next year grow. Another theme is mortality: the leaves are all dying and going down to death; must I now die with them? The narrator’s self-encouraging answer, to borrow from the character Aragorn in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, is “Not this day!” (“Up, my knee”; in other words, “IΒ bid you stand!”)
How many colors and forms of leaves will you tread upon in your homeschool this week? π
β‘β Up, my knee: If a special line or turn of phrase happens to strike you in one of our weekly poems, just copy it onto your homeschool bulletin board for a few days and invite your students to speak it aloud β that’s all it takes to begin a new poetical friendship and learn a few lovely words that will stay with you for life. π
β‘β Explore more: The website of the Poetry Foundation includes biographical notes and examples of the work of many important poets (including Robert Frost) that are suitable for high school students and homeschool teachers. π
On the first Saturday of every month we post educational skywatching notes for the homeschool month ahead. This month, a very special and rare astronomical event will take place on Monday the 11th: a transit of the planet Mercury across the face of the sun. It should be visible all that morning across most of North and South America (and the next one will not occur for another thirteen years). Here are some advance details that will help you plan your homeschool viewing:
One of the easiest things you and your students can do each month is print out your own copy of the current two-page Evening Sky Map and monthly sky calendar available from skymaps.com:
Each map includes a constellation chart for the month as well as a schedule of upcoming astronomical events. (Monthly maps for the southern hemisphere and the equatorial regions are also available.)
The best stargazing nights in November will be toward the beginning and the end of the month: the moon will be full (and the dimmer stars less visible) on the 12th. As always, you can look up the moon’s phases in your River Houses almanac (riverhouses.org/books) and also at the excellent timeanddate.com website.
November is the third month of Cygnus Term, the first of the four terms (quarters) that make up the River Houses year. Our Great Star for the month of November is Algol (beta Persei), “the Demon Star,” which we’ll be writing about next week. Print your own River Houses Star Calendar (riverhouses.org/calendars) and follow along with us through the year as we learn about twelve of the high lights of the northern hemisphere night sky.
What celestial observations will you and your students be making in your homeschool this month? π
β‘β And all dishevelled wandering stars: Teaching your students to recognize the constellations is one of the simplest and most enduring gifts you can give them. Our recommended backyard star guide and homeschool world atlas (riverhouses.org/books) both contain charts of the constellations that will help you learn your way around the heavens. Find a dark-sky spot near you this month and spend some quality homeschool time beneath the starry vault. π
Every Friday we invite you and your homeschool students to learn about a different group of North American birds in your recommended bird guide (riverhouses.org/books). It’s a great way to add a few minutes of informal science, geography, natural history, and imagination to your homeschool schedule throughout the year.
This week’s birds (three different families) are the Limpkins (pages 104β105), the Rails, Gallinules, and Coots (pages 106β111), and the Cranes (pages 112β113).
[See attached blog post for images and sounds]
If you’re teaching younger children, the way to use these posts is just to treat your bird guide as aΒ picture book and spend aΒ few minutes each week looking at all the interesting birds they may see one day. With that, your little lesson is done.
If you have older students, one of your objectives should be to help them become fluent with a technical reference book that’s packed with dense information. Here are the guide’s introductions to this week’s groups, written in the customary telegraphic style:
“LIMPKINS β Family Aramidae. Large, long-necked wading bird, named for its limping gait. Species: 1 World, 1 N.A. [North America]“
“RAILSΒ Β· GALLINULES Β· COOTS β Family Rallidae. These marsh birds have short tails and short, rounded wings. Most species are local and secretive. Some, especially the rails, are identified chiefly by call and habitat. Species: 141 World, 17 N.A.“
“CRANESΒ β Family Gruidae. Tall birds with long necks and legs. Tertials droop over the rump in a “bustle,” which helps distinguish cranes from herons. Cranes fly with their necks fully extended and circle in thermals like raptors. Courtship includes a frenzied, leaping dance. Species: 15 World, 3 N.A.“
When you’re training your young naturalists, teach them to ask and answer from their bird guide some of the first questions any naturalist would ask about aΒ new group β about the Rails, Gallinules, and Coots, for example. How many species? (141 worldwide.) Are there any near us? (17 species in North America, and the individual maps will give us more detail.) What are their distinctive features? (Marsh birds, short tails and wings, secretive, and so on.)
Pick a representative species or two to look at in detail each week and read the entry aloud, or have your students study it and then narrate it back to you, explaining all the information it contains. This week, for the Rail family, why not investigate the good old American Coot (page 110).
[See attached blog post for images and sounds]
All sorts of biological information is packed into the brief species descriptions in your bird guide β can your students tease it out? How big is the American Coot? (15.5 inches long.) What is its scientific name? (Fulica americana.) Will you be able to find this species where you live? At what times of year and in what habitat? (Study the range map and range description carefully to answer those questions, and see the book’s back flap for a map key.) Do the males and females look alike? The adults and juveniles? What song or call does this species make? How do you tell it apart from similar species? (The text and illustrations should answer all these questions.)
If you aren’t familiar with Coots, you’ll probably mistake them for ducks at a distance. But they’re anatomically quite different: rather dumpy in shape, with lobed (rather than webbed) feet, and with sharp beaks that are not at all like a duck’s flat bill. They do swim and feed in lakes and ponds like ducks, and often mix with them, but their all-black plumage and white beaks give them away. Since they occur across almost all of North America, they may be happily swimming in a pond near you and you just never noticed.
[See attached blog post for images and sounds]
For the Crane family, why not look at a famous American bird, the Whooping Crane (page 112), a notable success story in wildlife conservation.
[See attached blog post for images and sounds]
Once widespread across central North America, the entire population of Whooping Cranes had declined to just 23 individual birds in the 1940s. Fortunately, Whooping Cranes proved amenable to captive breeding, and through careful management their population has today been brought back up over 500 β far better than just a few decades ago, but still dangerously low for the survival of the species. (Imagine if there were only 500 human beings on the entire earth.)
In all these Friday Bird Families posts, our aim is not to present a specific set of facts to memorize. We hope instead to provide starting points that you and your students can branch away from in many different directions. We hope also to show how you can help your students develop the kind of careful skills in reading, observation, interpretation that they will need in all their future academic work.
What ornithological discoveries have you made in your homeschool this week?Β π
β‘β Homeschool birds: We think bird study is one of the best subjects you can take up in a homeschool environment. It’s suitable for all ages, it can be made as elementary or as advanced as you wish, and birds can be found just about anywhere at any season of the year. Why not track your own homeschool bird observations on the free eBird website sponsored by Cornell University. It’s a great way to learn more about what’s in your local area and about how bird populations change from season to season.Β π¦
β‘β Vade mecum: The front matter in your bird guide (riverhouses.org/books) (pages 6β13) explains a littleΒ bit about basic bird biology and about some of the technical terminology used throughout the book β why not have your students study it asΒ a special project. Have them note particularly the diagrams showing the parts ofΒ a bird (pages 10β11) so they’ll be able to tell primaries from secondaries and flanks from lores. π¦
β‘β Words for birds: You may not think of your homeschool dictionary (riverhouses.org/books) asΒ a nature reference, but aΒ comprehensive dictionary will also define many of the standard scientific terms you will encounter in biology and natural history, although it will not generally contain the proper names of species or other taxonomic groups that aren’t part of ordinary English. (In other words, you’ll find “flamingo” but not Phoenicopterus, the flamingo genus.) One of the most important things students should be taught to look for in the dictionary is the information on word origins: knowing the roots of scientific terms makes it much easier to understand them and remember their meaning.Β π
β‘β Come, here’s the map: Natural history and geography are deeply interconnected. One of the first questions you should teach your students to ask about any kind of animal or plant is, “What is its range? Where (in the world) does it occur?” Our recommended homeschool reference library (riverhouses.org/books) includes an excellent world atlas that will help your students appreciate many aspects of biogeography β the science of the geographical distribution of living things.Β π
Happy November to all our readers and friends! Here are some things to look for in the homeschool month ahead.
There’s a special astronomical event coming up on the 11th of this month that you won’t want to miss: aΒ transit of Mercury across the face of the sun. We’ll have more to say about it as the date approaches. βΏπ
November with 30 days is the last month of Cygnus Term, our fall term in the River Houses. Cygnus Term runs from from September through November. Visit our main calendar page (riverhouses.org/calendars) and print out some of our simple educational calendars β they’ll help you create a light and easy structure for your homeschool year. π
The month of November is so named because it was the ninth month (Latin novem, “nine”) of the ancient Roman calendar, which considered the spring equinox in March to be the beginning of the year. (That’s why the previous month was October, “Eighth,” and the next month is December, “Tenth.”) You can learn more about different kinds of modern and historical calendars on pages 358β364 in your River Houses almanac (riverhouses.org/books). π
Health tips for November, courtesy of Richard Saunders’ Apollo Anglicanus (1665): “InΒ this Moneth Melancholy much increaseth…. Cinnamon and Ginger drunk often this Moneth give health, and are commendable, and beware you do not go too early forth of doors this Moneth because of Foggs and Mists, which greatly offend the Head and Stomack, but let the Sun have first some power on the Horizon.” β οΈ
November predictions:
“If there’s ice in November to bear a duck
there’ll be nothing after but sludge and muck.“
Our Sunday states-of-the-week for November will be Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island, and our countries will run from Colombia to Egypt. Print your own River Houses States & Countries Calendar and tour the whole world with us from Alaska to Wyoming and from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. πΊπΈ π
We’ll have homeschool poems this month from Robert Frost (for autumn leaves), Laurence Binyon (for Veterans Day), A.E. Housman (for the Leonid meteors), and Rowena Bastin Bennett (for Thanksgiving). Print your own River Houses Poetry Calendar and join us as we visit with forty-eight of our favorite friends over the course of the year. βοΈ
Our Friday Bird Families this month will include the Limpkins, Rails, Gallinules, Coots, and Cranes; the Stilts, Avocets, and Oystercatchers; the Lapwings, Plovers, and Jacanas; and the Sandpipers. (So many wonderful names, yes?) Print your own copy of our River Houses Calendar of American Birds, get out your copy of our recommended homeschool bird guide, and follow the flyways with us. π¦
Our monthly Great Star for November is Algol (beta Persei), which we’ll be writing about next week. Print your own River Houses Star Calendar and join us as we visit twelve high lights of the northern hemisphere night sky and make them friends for life. π
And our monthly Dewey Decimal class for November is the Philosophical 100s. Follow along on the first Tuesday of each month and help your students learn the whole library over the course of the year! π
We have two mascots here at the River Houses: Horace the River Otter and Cheryl the Belted Kingfisher. Cheryl hasn’t taken form yet, but Horace has, and he’s proved to be an adventurous otter indeed.
This week, Horace and all his riverside friends wish you and your family a Happy Halloween β and a big haul of goodies for all homeschool trick-or-treaters! π¬ππ«
Happy homeschool Halloween from Horace the Otter and all his friends at the River Houses!
What spooky Halloween plans do you have for your homeschool this week? π
Rhino in Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park, Central African Republic. (Image: worldatlas.com.)
World Heritage Sites are not only places of historical importance in human culture, they are also places of exceptional biological and scientific value:
“With an area of 1,740,000 ha, Manovo-Gounda St Floris is the largest park in the Central African savannas. Straddling the two ecological zones, Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park owes its importance to its rich flora and fauna. It is home to many endangered species including the black rhino, elephant, hippopotamus and red-fronted gazelle as well as large concentrations of herbivores.
“This Park is an interesting example of a “crossroads” where the species from savanna communities of East and West Africa, as well as those of the forest communities of the South, cross paths. The Park is a valuable area for the study of environmental changes occurring throughout the Sahel and Sudan under pressure from drought and overgrazing.“ (UNESCO World Heritage Centre #475)
Sadly, extensive poaching and violence in the region has led this important park to be included on the current list of World Heritage Sites in Danger.
World Heritage Sites are cultural or natural landmarks of international significance, selected for recognition by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. More than 1000 such sites have been recognized in over 160 countries, and we post one every Wednesday, drawn from one of our homeschool countries-of-the-week. You can find a complete list online at the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and in Wikipedia.
What world treasures will you be exploring in your homeschool this week? π
β‘β Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses almanac, atlas, and history encyclopedia (riverhouses.org/books) for more information about any of our countries-of-the-week. The almanac has profiles of all the nations of the world on pages 745β852; the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found; the history encyclopedia includes national histories on pages 489β599; and you can find additional illustrations, flags, and other mentions through the indexes in each of these volumes. For an ideal little lesson, just write the name of the Weekly World Heritage Site on your homeschool bulletin board, find its location in your atlas, read the WHC’s one-paragraph description aloud, look at a picture or two, and you’re done. Over the course of the year, without even realizing it, your students will absorb a wealth of new historical, geographical, and cultural information. π¨π«
Quick Freshes are our regular Sunday notes on the homeschool week ahead. Pick one or two (or more) of the items below each week and use them to enrich your homeschooling schedule! Visit our River Houses calendar page (riverhouses.org/calendars) and print your own homeschool calendars for the entire year.
π TODAY, Sunday (27 October 2019) β Today is the 300th (!) day of 2019; there are 65 days remaining in the year. Learn more about different kinds of modern and historical calendars on pages 358β364 in your River Houses almanac (riverhouses.org/books). π On this day in the year 312, the armies of rival Roman emperors Constantine and Maxentius fought one another in the Battle of Milvian Bridge north of Rome. βοΈ Tradition says that Constantine secured victory after having a vision of the Christian cross the night before, leading to his conversion and the eventual adoption of Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire. βοΈ Today is also the birthday of the mellifluous Welsh poet and playwright Dylan Thomas (1914β1953). π
Monday (28 October 2019) β The great Dutch Renaissance philosopher Erasmus of Rotterdam was born on this day in 1466. π On this day in 1886, President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. π½ And today is the birthday of the American medical researcher Jonas Salk (1914β1995), developer of the polio vaccine. π
Tuesday (29 October 2019) β On this day (or night) in 1964, three men broke into the American Museum of Natural History in New York and executed the largest jewel theft in American history, netting more than $400,000 worth of gems. The thieves were soon caught and most of the gems were recovered, including the Star of India, one of the world’s largest sapphires, which had been hidden in a bus station locker in Miami. π
Wednesday (30 October 2019) β Today is the birthday of the American modernist poet Ezra Pound (1885β1972). π On this day in 1938, Orson Welles broadcast his famous radio version of H.G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds,” leading many people across the country to believe that a Martian invasion of the earth had begun. π½
Thursday (31 October 2019) β Happy Halloween! ππ»π¦ The Protestant Reformation began on this day in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany. π Today is the birthday of the great English poet John Keats (1795β1821). π And it’s also the birthday of Juliette Gordon Low (1860β1927), founder of the Girl Scouts of America. π§πΌ
Saturday (2 November 2019) β Today is the birthday of the American frontiersman and folk-hero Daniel Boone (1734β1820). π» And since this is the first Saturday of the month, we’ll post our regular monthly preview today of some of the astronomical events you and your students can watch for over the next few weeks. π
Sunday (3 November 2019) β Today is the birthday of the great Italian artist and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini (1500β1571). π¨ And on this day in 1534, the English Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, declaring King Henry VIII (rather than the Pope) to be the head of the English church. π
π₯ OUR WEEKLY TOAST is an old Halloween wish, for all the cheerful young trick-or-treaters who will be out on the town this week:
May witches, fays, and grinning cats,
Owls and sprites and sable bats,
Have good cheer on Hallowe’en,
And add enchantment to the scene,
With revels wild and free.
β‘β Toasts can be a fun educational tradition for your family table. We offer one each week β you can take it up, or make up one of your own (“To North American dinosaurs!”), or invite a different person to come up with one for each meal (“To variety in toasting!”). What will you toast this week? π₯
π EVERYTHING FLOWS: The landlocked Central African Republic is one of our countries-of-the-week, so our Weekly World River is the Mbomou River, which flows along the border between the Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of the Congo. You can chart its course in your recommended homeschool atlas (riverhouses.org/books), and you can read more about it in the Mbomou River entry in Wikipedia or perhaps on your next visit to your local library.
Fishermen beside the Mbomou River along the border between the Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Image: Wikimedia Commons.)
β‘β Let the river run: Why not do a homeschool study of world rivers over the course of the year? Take the one we select each week (above), or start with the river lists in your almanac (pages 691β693), and make it a project to look them all up in your atlas, or in a handy encyclopedia either online or on a weekly visit to your local library. A whole world of geographical learning awaits you. π
What do you have planned for your homeschool this week? π
Tour the United States and travel the countries of the world each week with the River Houses. Our Sunday States & Countries posts will point the way.
Many homeschoolers like to review the U.S. states and the nations of the world each year, and our recommended homeschool reference library (riverhouses.org/books) includes a current world almanac, a world atlas, and a history encyclopedia that make these reviews fun and easy. Our annual review begins at the start of the River Houses year in September and goes through the states in the traditional order of admission to the Union (almanac page 429), so this week’s state is:
πΊπΈ New Hampshire State Bird and FlowerNEW HAMPSHIRE (the 9th state, 21 June 1788) β The Granite State. Capital: Concord. New Hampshire can be found on page 578 in your almanac and on plates 44 and 142 in your atlas. Name origin: “Named by Capt. John Mason of Plymouth Council, in 1629, for his home county in England” (almanac page 430). State bird: Purple Finch (bird guide page 438). Website:www.nh.gov.
β‘β Little lessons: You can teach a hundred little lessons with our state-of-the-week, using your reference library (riverhouses.org/books) as a starting point. Find the location of the state capital in your atlas each week. Look up the state bird in your bird guide. Read the almanac’s one-paragraph history aloud each week. Using each state’s official website (above), find and copy the preamble to that state’s constitution into a commonplace book over the course of the year. Practice math skills by graphing each state’s population and area. Look up the famous state residents listed in your almanac either online or at your local library. The possibilities are endless and they can be easily adapted to each student’s age and interests. Pick a simple pattern to follow for just a few minutes each week and your little lesson is done. By the end of the year, without even realizing it, your students will have absorbed a wealth of new geographical and historical information, as well as a host of valuable reading and research skills. π
π¨π± CHILE in South America. Population: 17,925,262. Capital: Santiago. Government: Presidential republic. Website:www.gob.cl (in Spanish and English).
π¨π³ CHINA in eastern Asia. Population: 1,384,688,986. Capital: Beijing. Government: Communist Partyβled state. Website:www.gov.cn (in English and Chinese).
These all appear in your current almanac, atlas, and history encyclopedia as well (riverhouses.org/books). The almanac, for example, has profiles of the nations of the world on pages 745β852; the endpapers of the atlas are index maps that will show you where each of the individual national and regional maps can be found; the history encyclopedia includes individual national histories on pages 489β599; and you can find additional illustrations, flags, and other mentions through the indexes in each of these volumes.
What grand geographical discoveries have you made in your homeschool this week? π
β‘β Read and think critically: The country links above go to official websites, which are not always in English and which may well be propagandistic in one way or another, thus offering older students a good opportunity to exercise their critical reading and thinking skills. π΅
β‘β Come, here’s the map: Teaching your students to be fluent with high-quality maps β not just basically competent, but fluent β is one of the best educational gifts you can give them. Why not look up any one of our selected states or countries each week in your recommended homeschool atlas (riverhouses.org/books) and show your students how to locate rivers, lakes, marshes, water depths, mountains and their elevations, highway numbers, airports, oil fields, railroads, ruins, battle sites, small towns, big cities, regional capitals, national capitals, parks, deserts, glaciers, borders, grid references, lines of longitude and latitude, and much more. There is so much information packed into professional maps of this kind that a magnifying glass is always helpful, even for young folks with good eyesight. The endpapers of the atlas and the technical map-reading information on Plate 2 will guide you in your voyages of discovery. πΊ
β‘β Plan an imaginary vacation: Here’s a fun exercise for your students: take one of the countries that we list each week and write out a family travel plan. How would you get there? How much will it cost? Will you need a passport? Where will you stay? Will you have to exchange your currency? How do you say hello the local language? What cities and attractions and landmarks will you visit? What foods will you eat? How will you get around (car, train, boat, mule)? Make a simple worksheet with blank spaces for the answers, have your students do the research, and start planning your world tour. βοΈ π π π³ π π
October 25th is the anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. That clash between the French army and the soldiers of King Henry V of England would be little remembered today had not Shakespeare immortalized it in one of the most famous speeches in all of English literature, a speech every young homescholar should know.
First Folio edition of Shakespeare’s Henry V (1623). (Image: Folger Library.)
It’s called the St. Crispin’s Day Speech because October 25th happens to be, on the church calendar, the feast day of two early Christian saints, the brothers Crispin and Crispinian, the patrons of cobblers and leather-workers. In 1415, King Henry rallied his men against “fearful odds” by declaring that the feast day of Saints Crispin and Crispinian would never again pass, “from this day to the ending of the world, but we in it shall be rememberΓ¨d.”
Here in the River Houses we fulfill King Henry’s prophecy every year β and you and your students can too, joining a tradition that is centuries old. Here’s one famous demonstration of how to do it:
β’
But I really think this fine young man’s example is even more impressive:
β’
So on this St. Crispin’s Day 2019, the 604th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, break out your homeschool copy of Henry V, turn to Act IV, Scene iii, and read along:
WESTMORLAND. O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!
KING. What’s he that wishes so?
My cousin, Westmorland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmorland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say “These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.”
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words β
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester β
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be rememberΓ¨d β
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
What oratorical discoveries have you made in your homeschool this week? π
β‘ They call it Agincourt: Where was this memorable speech first spoken in its original form? Why not send your students to your homeschool atlas (riverhouses.org/books) to find out! There’s a trick to this search, however: you have to know that our modern atlas uses the modern French spelling Azincourt for the location. Once you know that, just turn to index page 9 to find the name, and that entry will point you to atlas plate 63, section H10. Incroyable! π
Every Friday we invite you and your homeschool students to learn about a different group of North American birds in your recommended bird guide (riverhouses.org/books). It’s a great way to add a few minutes of informal science, geography, natural history, and imagination to your homeschool schedule throughout the year.
This week’s birds (two different families) are the Swifts (pages 88β91) and the Hummingbirds (pages 92β105).
[See attached blog post for images and sounds]
If you’re teaching younger children, the way to use these posts is just to treat your bird guide as aΒ picture book and spend aΒ few minutes each week looking at all the interesting birds they may see one day. With that, your little lesson is done.
If you have older students, one of your objectives should be to help them become fluent with a technical reference book that’s packed with dense information. Here are the guide’s introductions to this week’s bird groups, written in the customary telegraphic style:
“SWIFTS β Family Apodidae. These fast-flying birds spend the day aloft. Long wings bend closer to the body than on similar swallows. Species: 100 World, 9 N.A. [North America]“
“HUMMINGBIRDS β Family Trochilidae. These birds hover at flowers to sip nectar with needlelike bills. Adult males distinctive; others often identified to species by calls and subtle plumage and structural differences. Males’ iridescent throat feathers (gorget) look black in poor light. Species: 340 World, 24 N.A.“
When you’re training young naturalists, teach them to ask and answer from their bird guide some of the first questions any naturalist would ask about aΒ new group β about the Hummingbirds, for example. How many species? (340 worldwide.) Are there any near us? (24 species in North America, and the individual maps will give us more detail.) If only 24 of 340 are in North America, where are the rest? (In Central and South America, world hummingbird headquarters!) What are their distinctive features? (Tiny nectar-feeders; males often have iridescent throats; and so on.) (And “gorget” is certainly a wonderful word, isn’t it β be sure to send someone to your homeschool dictionary to look that one up.) π
Pick a representative species or two to look at in detail each week and read the entry aloud, or have your students study it and then narrate it back to you, explaining all the information it contains. This week, for the Hummingbird family, why not investigate the Rufous Hummingbird if you’re in the West (page 102), or the Ruby-throated Hummingbird if you’re in the East (page 96).
[See attached blog post for images and sounds]
[See attached blog post for images and sounds]
All sorts of biological information is packed into the brief species descriptions in your bird guide β can your students tease it out? How big is the Rufous Hummingbird? (Only 3.5 inches long β the hummingbirds as a group are the smallest birds in the world) What is its scientific name? (Selasphorus rufus.) Will you be able to find this species where you live? At what times of year and in what habitat? (Study the range map and range description carefully to answer those questions, and see the book’s back flap for a map key.) Do the males and females look alike? The adults and juveniles? What song or call does this species make? How do you tell it apart from similar species? (The text and illustrations should answer all these questions.)
For the Swift family, why not look at either the White-throated Swift (page 88), common in the West, or the Chimney Swift (also page 88), common in the East.
[See attached blog post for images and sounds]
[See attached blog post for images and sounds]
The Swifts are masters of the air, and the group includes some of the fastest birds in the world. They are all feeders on “aerial plankton” β flying and floating insects that they catch in flight. Some species are known to reach exceptional altitudes β as high as 10,000 feet β and most of our North American temperate-zone species are highly migratory.
You can do little ten-minute lessons of this kind with any of the species in your bird guide that catch your interest. Pick a species that is near you, or one that looks striking, or one that has a strange name, and explore.
In all these Friday Bird Families posts, our aim is not to present a specific set of facts to memorize. We hope instead to provide starting points that you and your students can branch away from in many different directions. We hope also to show how you can help your students develop the kind of careful skills in reading, observation, interpretation that they will need in all their future academic work.
What ornithological discoveries have you made in your homeschool this week?Β π
β‘β Homeschool birds: We think bird study is one of the best subjects you can take up in a homeschool environment. It’s suitable for all ages, it can be made as elementary or as advanced as you wish, and birds can be found just about anywhere at any season of the year. Why not track your own homeschool bird observations on the free eBird website sponsored by Cornell University. It’s a great way to learn more about what’s in your local area and about how bird populations change from season to season.Β π¦
β‘β Vade mecum: The front matter in your bird guide (riverhouses.org/books) explains a littleΒ bit about basic bird biology and about some of the technical terminology used throughout the book β why not have your students study it asΒ a special project. Have them note particularly the diagrams showing the parts ofΒ a bird (pages 10β11) so they’ll be able to tell primaries from secondaries and flanks from lores. π¦
β‘β Words for birds: You may not think of your homeschool dictionary (riverhouses.org/books) asΒ a nature reference, but aΒ comprehensive dictionary will also define many of the standard scientific terms you will encounter in biology and natural history, although it will not generally contain the proper names of species or other taxonomic groups that aren’t part of ordinary English. (In other words, you’ll find “flamingo” but not Phoenicopterus, the flamingo genus.) One of the most important things students should learn to look for in the dictionary is the information on word origins: knowing the roots of scientific terms makes it much easier to understand and remember their meaning.Β π
β‘β Come, here’s the map: Natural history and geography are deeply interconnected. One of the first questions you should teach your students to ask about any kind of animal or plant is, “What is its range? Where (in the world) does it occur?” Our recommended homeschool reference library (riverhouses.org/books) includes an excellent world atlas that will help your students appreciate many aspects of biogeography β the science of the geographical distribution of living things.Β π
Invite your students to become part of a centuries-old tradition today. It will only take a few minutes, and it will be theirs to the ending of the world.
At your evening feast, on this vigil, raise your glass and offer the most famous toast in English literature: “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.” π»
“Then shall our names, familiar in their mouths as household words β Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester β be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.”
That’s the only anniversary you need to mark in your homeschool this week.Β π
![[Horace the Otter, among the leaves]](https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/client/q_glossy,ret_img,w_1024/https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/horace-leaf-treader-1024x616.jpg)
Happy November to all our readers and friends! Here are some things to look for in the homeschool month ahead.
