![[The River Houses]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/arms-icon-100x100.png "The River Houses"){kind=icon}
![[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 with your homeschool students. This week: Great Basin National Park in Nevada.
📚 LEARNING THE LIBRARY: The Artistic 700s
![[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 Artistic 700s.
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 4 May 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: Migrating birds, golden spikes, American explorers, tall buildings, fallen forts, marvelous musicians, Romanian rivers, a toast to the early bird, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Nevada, Portugal, Russia, and More
![[Nevada State Bird & Flower]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/nevada-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: Nevada, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, and Russia. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
📸 PHOTO CHALLENGE for May: “Flowers” and “Flags”
![[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 “Flowers” and “Flags.” Take a look!
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for May
![[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 May.
🐦 WHAT BIRDS ARE MIGRATING Through Your Neighborhood?
May is Bird Migration Month in the River Houses. Here’s how you can find out what birds are migrating though your homeschool neighborhood this month (or any month of the year).
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Sylviid Warblers and Allies
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/birds-sylviids-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 Sylviid Warblers, Leaf Warblers, Grasshopper-Warblers, and Old World Flycatchers and Chats.
📚 🌼 WONDERFUL WORDS: May and the Poets
“Come, ye rains, then if ye will, / May’s at home, and with me still; / But come rather, thou, good weather, / And find us in the fields together.” (Our literary homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Leigh Hunt, for the merry month of May.)
🗓 🐦 🎓 HAPPY HOMESCHOOL MAY from the River Houses!
Happy homeschool May! Here are some little lessons, teaching traditions, and wonderful educational opportunities you and your students can watch for this month.
🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
For America’s 250th anniversary, discover the history and landscape of the United States. This week: Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia.
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 27 April 2025
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Migration months, precise predictions, celebrated composers, sky scrapers, penny postage, Paraguayan rivers, a toast to all farmers, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: West Virginia, Paraguay, Poland, and More
![[West Virginia State Bird & Flower]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/west-virginia-stamp-1982a-99x150.png)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: West Virginia, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, and Poland. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🐦 HOMESCHOOL NATURE NOTES: MAY is Bird Migration Month!
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/peak-us-migration-dates-150x91.jpeg)
Bird migration is one of the world’s most wonderful natural phenomena. Don’t miss the chance to teach your homeschool students about it, during May and all through the year.
🌳 HOMESCHOOL HOLIDAYS: Happy Arbor Day Weekend!
![[Arbor Day Stamp 1932]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/arbor-day-stamp-1932-130x150.jpg)
It’s National Arbor Day! Why not celebrate this delightful dendrological occasion by planting a tree in honor of your homeschool this week.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Gnatcatchers, Dippers, & Kinglets
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/birds-gnatcatchers-150x98.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 tiny Gnatcatchers, Dippers, and Kinglets.
🎂 🎭 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WILL! (Shakespeare, That Is)
Happy birthday to the Bard! Celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday this week with some free teaching materials from Shakespeare’s birthplace itself.
🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
For America’s 250th anniversary, discover the history and landscape of the United States. This week: Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas.
🖋 🌸 WONDERFUL WORDS: Loveliest of Trees
“And since to look at things in bloom / Fifty springs are little room, / About the woodlands I will go / To see the cherry hung with snow.” (Our flowery homeschool poem-of-the-week, from A.E. Housman, for the loveliest of trees.)
📚 BOOKS & LIBRARIES: A Free Course on Classic Children’s Literature
![[Hillsdale College]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/hillsdale-college-logo-150x150.png){kind=logo}
If you’d like to teach some classic children’s literature in your homeschool and are wondering how to go about it, this free online course from Hillsdale College in Michigan could be just the thing for you!
🎵 HOMESCHOOL MUSIC: Relax With Randall Thompson’s “Alleluia”
Feeling cooped up and stressed out? Calm your homeschool down with the peaceful “Alleluia” of American composer Randall Thompson, born on this day in 1899.
🖋 🕊 WONDERFUL WORDS: George Herbert’s “Easter Wings”
“O let me rise / As larks, harmoniously, / And sing this day thy victories: / Then shall the fall further the flight in me.” (A special soaring homeschool poem-of-the-week, from George Herbert, for Easter.)
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 20 April 2025
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Shakespearean birthdays, Bostonian sieges, Arbor Days, falling stars, Trojan wars, Roman kings, avian artists, Papuan rivers, a toast to good fortune, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Kansas, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, and More
![[Kansas State Bird & Flower]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/kansas-stamp-1982a-98x150.png)
Take a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with the River Houses. This week: Kansas, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, and Papua New Guinea. Open up your atlas and almanac and follow along with us!
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Nuthatches, Creepers, & Wrens
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/birds-nuthatches-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 small and friendly Nuthatches, Creepers, and Wrens.
🇺🇸 AMERICAN ICON: The Concord Minute Man
Teach your homeschool students to recognize one of the most famous artistic symbols of the American Revolution this week: Daniel Chester French’s “Minute Man” (1874).
🇺🇸 🏇 WONDERFUL WORDS: “The fate of a nation was riding that night”
“A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, / And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark / Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet: / That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light, / The fate of a nation was riding that night.” (An extra equestrian homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Longfellow, for the beginning of the American Revolution in 1775.)
