The River Houses Homeschool Network

🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Mississippi, India, Iraq, and More

18 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Mississippi, India, Indonesia, Iran, and Iraq. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!

🖊️ ❄️ WONDERFUL WORDS: An Unexpected “Snow-Storm”

17 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

“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.)

🚀 HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE: The Webb Telescope & Other NASA Missions

17 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

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

16 January 2026 by Horace the Otter 🦦

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

15 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

“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: Indiana Dunes National Park

14 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

For America’s 250th anniversary, discover the history and landscape of the United States with your homeschool students. This week: Indiana Dunes National Park in Indiana.

🗓️ 🗡️ HAPPY CROSS-QUARTER DAY of Orion Term

14 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

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?

🗓️ QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 11 January 2026

11 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Cross-quarter days, patriotic songs, American originals, imperial accessions, first fleets, leggy birds, Haitian rivers, a toast to freedom, and more!

🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Indiana, Haiti, Iceland, and More

11 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Indiana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, and Iceland. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!

🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Capella and Auriga for January

10 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

Make the acquaintance of Capella in the constellation Auriga the Charioteer this month — a nearby four-star system and one of the brightest lights in the northern hemisphere night sky — and make it your homeschool friend for life.

🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Storks, Frigatebirds, Gannets, Pelicans, & More

9 January 2026 by Horace the Otter 🦦

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 Storks, Frigatebirds, Boobies, Gannets, Cormorants, Darters, and Pelicans.

🖊️ ⛸️ WONDERFUL WORDS: A Winter Poem for Homeschool Dads

8 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

“She thinks she’ll never / be so happy, for who else will find her graceful, / find her perfect, skate with her / in circles outside the emptied rink forever?” (Our paternal homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Gail Mazur, for all homeschool fathers.)

🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Poverty Point National Monument

7 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

For America’s 250th anniversary, discover the history and landscape of the United States with your homeschool students. This week: Poverty Point National Monument in Louisiana.

📚 LEARNING THE LIBRARY: The Social 300s

6 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

Explore your local library and the whole universe of knowledge with our homeschool tour of the Dewey Decimal System. This month: the Social 300s.

🎵 🎭 TWELFTH NIGHT and the End of Homeschool Holiday Music Month

5 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

“Long long ago the world begun, / With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain. / But that’s all one, our play is done, / And we’ll strive to please you every day.” (Shakespeare helps us bring the Christmas Season, and our own Homeschool Holiday Music Month, to a close.)

🎵 🎄 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: And a Partridge in a 🍐🌳

5 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

One of the deepest purposes of a liberal education is to enable people to get jokes. David Chase’s brilliant arrangement of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” illustrates that happy principle for us as we approach the end of our Homeschool Holiday Music Month.

🗓️ QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 4 January 2025 2026!

4 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Twelfth nights, Galilean moons, Dewey decimals, consequential crossings, notable naturalists, paternal poems, Guyanan rivers, a toast to new joys, and more!

🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Louisiana, Guatemala, Guyana, and More

4 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Louisiana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Guyana. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!

🎵 🌟 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Star in the East

3 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

For Homeschool Holiday Music Month, introduce your students to the early American tradition of shape-note music by way of the beautiful carol “Star in the East,” first published in the Southern Harmony collection in 1835.

🌕 HOMESCHOOL CITIZEN-SCIENCE PROJECTS for January

3 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

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!

🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for January

3 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

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 January.

📸 PHOTO CHALLENGE for January: “Peace” and “Brutalist Architecture”

2 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

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 are “Peace” and “Brutalist Architecture.” Take a look!

🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Shearwaters, Petrels, & Storm-Petrels

2 January 2026 by Horace the Otter 🦦

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 Shearwaters, Petrels, and Storm-Petrels, birds of the open ocean.

🎵 🎉 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: The Old Year Now Away is Fled

1 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

“Let’s merry be this day, / And let us now both sport and play, / Hang grief, cast care away, / God send you a happy new year!” (An ancient new-year carol sung to the tune “Greensleeves,” from the great countertenor Alfred Deller, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.)

🖊️ ❄️ WONDERFUL WORDS: “What so soon will wake and grow”

1 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

“They could not grasp it if they knew, / What so soon will wake and grow / Utterly unlike the snow.” (Our hopeful homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Philip Larkin, for all things born in January.)

🗓️ 🎉 ❄️ HAPPY HOMESCHOOL JANUARY from the River Houses!

1 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

Happy January and Happy New Year! Here’s our monthly review of all the wonderful educational opportunities, little lessons, and teaching traditions you can look for in the homeschool month ahead.

🏡 WELCOME! (Pinned Post)

1 January 2026 by Bob O'Hara

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 the River Houses 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! 😊