![[The River Houses]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/arms-icon-100x100.png "The River Houses"){kind=icon}
![[Vermont State Bird & Flower]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/vermont-stamp-1982a-96x150.png)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Vermont, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, and Estonia. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🗓 🎄 🎅 HAPPY HOMESCHOOL DECEMBER from the River Houses!
Happy homeschool December! Here are some little lessons, teaching traditions, and wonderful educational opportunities you and your students can watch for this month.
🗓 🗡 ORION TERM and the River Houses Homeschool Year
![[Orion Constellation Chart (1822)]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/orion-jamieson-1822-150x133.jpg)
We divide the homeschool year into four three-month terms in the River Houses. Today is the first day of Orion Term, our winter term, named for the Great Hunter of the Heavens. Orion Term runs from December through February.
📚 HOMESCHOOL BOOKS: A New World Almanac for 2025
![[2025 World Almanac]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/world-almanac-2025-101x150.jpg)
The annual World Almanac and Book of Facts is a one-volume desk encyclopedia that every homeschooling family should have.
📖 🦦 LOUISA MAY ALCOTT Gets a Visit From Horace the Otter
![[Alcott Stamp 1993]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/alcott-stamp-1993-118x150.jpg)
Our River Houses homeschool mascot, Horace the Otter, remembers the author of the popular American novel Little Women (1868) on the anniversary of her birth.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Sandpipers (Part II)
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/birds-sandpipers-ii-150x88.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 long-legged Sandpipers (Part II), familiar shorebirds all around the world.
🎵 🏡 THANKSGIVING MUSIC: “Rise up, follow me, I will lead you home”
“Through the air there’s a calling from far away, / There’s a voice I can hear that will lead me home.” (Some lovely music and words from Stephen Paulus and Michael Dennis Browne, for homeschool Thanksgiving.)
🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Roger Williams National Memorial
![[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: the Roger Williams National Memorial in Rhode Island.
🎵 🍽 HOMESCHOOL THANKSGIVING: We Gather Together
Take two minutes this week to introduce your homeschool students to a beautiful four-hundred-year-old Dutch folk tune that has become an American Thanksgiving classic.
🦃 THANKSGIVING at the LIBRARY: Franklin Roosevelt Talks Turkey
President Franklin Roosevelt offers a stern admonition on how to prepare your turkey. (Oh, the things you can find in the library!)
📚 HOMESCHOOL LIBRARIES: Happy Birthday to Andrew Carnegie!
If you love libraries as much as we do, be thankful this Thanksgiving week for the life of Andrew Carnegie, born on this day in 1835. His philanthropy built more than 2500 libraries in cities and towns across the United States and around the world.
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 24 November 2024
![[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: Thanksgiving Days, American novelists, Alabama meteorites, shore birds, phamous philanthropists, Dominican rivers, a toast to two great fowls, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Rhode Island, Dominica, Egypt, and More
![[Rhode Island State Bird & Flower]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/rhode-island-stamp-1982a-103x150.png)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Rhode Island, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Egypt. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🎵 MUSICAL INTRODUCTIONS: Thomas Tallis, Master of Polyphony
![[Thomas Tallis historical marker]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/tallis-132x150.jpg)
Why not give thanks in your homeschool this Thanksgiving week for the life of Thomas Tallis, the grand master of early polyphonic music, who died on this day in 1585.
🖋 🦃 WONDERFUL WORDS: Delicious “Thanksgiving Magic”
“Oh, some like magic made by wands, / And some read magic out of books, / And some like fairy spells and charms / But I like magic made by cooks!” (Our delicious homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Rowena Bastin Bennett, for Thanksgiving!)
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Sandpipers (Part I)
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/birds-sandpipers-i-150x85.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 long-legged Sandpipers (Part I), familiar shorebirds all around the world.
🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Guilford Courthouse National Military Park
For America’s 250th anniversary, discover the history and landscape of the United States. This week: Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in North Carolina.
🔎 HOMESCHOOL RESEARCH & NEWS – November 2024
![[Homeschool Research Icon]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/research-150x80.jpg)
Our November 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 homeschooling in the Czech Republic; Christian homeschooling in Britain; government regulation of homeschooling; and on a special collection of homeschool research papers in the Journal of School Choice.
🇺🇸 HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: Eight Score and One Year Ago
![[Gettysburg Stamp 1948]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/gettysburg-stamp-1948-150x95.jpg)
“What place is this? Where are we now?” (Marking the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, with help from Ken Burns and Carl Sandburg.)
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 17 November 2024
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Leonid meteors, Gettysburg Addresses, amazing astronomers, legendary lyricists, excellent equations, ethereal music, Cypriot rivers, a toast to freedom, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: North Carolina, Cyprus, Djibouti, and More
![[North Carolina State Bird & Flower]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/north-carolina-stamp-1982a-103x150.png)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: North Carolina, Cyprus, Czechia (Czech Republic), Denmark, and Djibouti. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🖋 🌠 WONDERFUL WORDS: Of Poems and Meteors
“Stars, I have seen them fall, / But when they drop and die / No star is lost at all / From all the star-sown sky.” (Our sublunary homeschool poem-of-the-week, from A.E. Housman, for the annual Leonid meteor shower.)
🌕 HOMESCHOOL CITIZEN-SCIENCE PROJECTS for November
Our November 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!
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Lapwings, Plovers, & Jacanas
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/birds-lapwings-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: the leggy Lapwings, Plovers, and Jacanas.
🌠 🦁 HOMESCHOOL ASTRONOMY: Leonid Meteors for November
Take your young astronomers outside this week and look to the constellation Leo for the annual Leonid meteor shower.
🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Saratoga National Historical Park
For America’s 250th anniversary, discover the history and landscape of the United States. This week: Saratoga National Historical Park in New York.
📚 🇺🇸 HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: The Veterans History Project
You and your homeschool students can contribute to an important historical documentary project by interviewing American veterans in your family or community for the Library of Congress.
