![[The River Houses]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/arms-icon-100x100.png "The River Houses"){kind=icon}
![[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: Bird counts, Valentine’s Days, amazing meteors, great artists, great scientists, great poems, national parks, Latvian rivers, a toast to love, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Missouri, Kuwait, Latvia, and More
![[Missouri State Bird & Flower]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/missouri-stamp-1982a-100x150.png)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Missouri, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, and Latvia. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🖋 ❤️ WONDERFUL WORDS: “Unwind the solemn twine, and tie my Valentine!”
![[Emily Dickinson]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dickinson-stamp-1971-96x150.jpg)
“Awake ye muses nine, sing me a strain divine!” (Our romantic homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Emily Dickinson, for Valentine Week.)
🗓 ⚗️ HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE: Happy Birthday, Dmitri! (Mendeleev, that is)
The father of the Periodic Table of the Elements, the great Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, was born on this day in 1834 near Tobolsk, Siberia. Here are some clever educational ways to remember him in your homeschool.
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Betelgeuse and Orion for February
![[Orion Star Chart]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/orion-chart-121x150.png)
Make the acquaintance of the red giant Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion the Hunter this month — a strange, irregular, enormous variable star — and make it your homeschool friend for life.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Trogons and Kingfishers
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/birds-trogons-150x107.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 tropical Trogons and the piscivorous Kingfishers.
📸 PHOTO CHALLENGE for February: “Absence” and “Healthy Living”
![[Homeschool Photography Icon]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/camera-flash-emoji-150x150.png)
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 “Absence” and “Healthy Living.” Take a look!
🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Saint Croix Island International 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: Saint Croix Island International Historic Site in Maine.
📚 LEARNING THE LIBRARY: The Linguistic 400s
![[Dewey Decimal System]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/dewey-decimal-classes-150x79.jpg)
Explore your local library and the whole universe of knowledge with our homeschool tour of the Dewey Decimal System. This month: the Linguistic 400s.
⏚ 🐖 HOMESCHOOL HOLIDAYS: Happy Groundhog Day!
![[Woodchuck Stamp 1987]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/woodchuck-groundhog-stamp-1987-96x150.jpg)
Happy mid-point of astronomical winter to northern-hemisphere homeschoolers everywhere! In other words, Happy Groundhog Day!
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 2 February 2025
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Coloring books, bird counts, welcome strangers, Valentine poems, Dewey decimals, integrated circuits. Kosovan rivers, a toast to winter, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Maine, Kiribati, Kosovo, and More
![[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.
🐦 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
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
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.
