![[The River Houses]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/arms-icon-100x100.png "The River Houses"){kind=icon}
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/birds-herons-150x105.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 Herons, Bitterns, Ibises, and Spoonbills, all long-legged wading birds.
🖋 🇺🇸 WONDERFUL WORDS (and Music!): Lift Every Voice and Sing
“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: Vicksburg National Military Park
![[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: Vicksburg National Military Park in Mississippi.
🗓 🗡 HAPPY CROSS-QUARTER DAY of Orion Term
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?
🌕 HOMESCHOOL CITIZEN-SCIENCE PROJECTS for January
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!
🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 12 January 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: Cross-quarter days, patriotic songs, American originals, student projects, imperial accessions, first fleets, Iraqi rivers, a toast to freedom, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Mississippi, India, Iraq, and More
![[Mississippi State Bird & Flower]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/mississippi-stamp-1982a-97x150.png)
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!
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Capella and Auriga for January
![[Auriga Star Chart]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/auriga-capella-chart-150x141.png)
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
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/birds-storks-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 Storks, Frigatebirds, Boobies, Gannets, Cormorants, Darters, and Pelicans.
🖋 ⛸ WONDERFUL WORDS: A Winter Poem for Homeschool Dads
“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: George Rogers Clark National Historical Park
For America’s 250th anniversary, discover the history and landscape of the United States. This week: George Rogers Clark National Historical Park in Indiana.
📚 LEARNING THE LIBRARY: The Social 300s
![[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 Social 300s.
🇺🇸 LIBRARY LESSONS: The 119th Congress at the Library of Congress
If your homeschool students want to learn about the operations of the U.S. Congress, there’s no better place to look than on the website of the Library of Congress itself.
🎵 🎭 TWELFTH NIGHT and the End of Homeschool Holiday Music Month
![[Twelfth Night]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/twelfth-night-stamp-2016-150x100.jpg)
“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 🍐🌳
![[Isle of Man Christmas Stamps]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2017-Isle-of-Man-150x112.jpg)
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 5 January 2024 2025!
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons for the week ahead, including: Galilean moons, consequential crossings, fairy tales, notable naturalists, paternal poems, great stars, leggy birds, Honduran rivers, a toast to new joys, and more!
🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Indiana, Haiti, Iceland, and More
![[Indiana State Bird & Flower]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/indiana-stamp-1982b-102x150.png)
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!
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for January
![[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 January.
🎵 🌟 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Star in the East
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.
🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Shearwaters, Petrels, & Storm-Petrels
![[Homeschool Science & Nature Study]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/birds-shearwaters-petrels-150x92.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 Shearwaters, Petrels, and Storm-Petrels, birds of the open ocean.
📸 PHOTO CHALLENGE for January: “Leatherwork” and “Ovals”
![[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 “Leatherwork” and “Ovals.” Take a look!
🎵 🎉 HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: The Old Year Now Away is Fled
![[Holiday Music]](https://riverhouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/holiday-music-150x100.jpg)
“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”
“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.)
🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Jean Lafitte National Historical Park
For America’s 250th anniversary, discover the history and landscape of the United States. This week: Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in Louisiana.
🗓 🎉 ❄️ HAPPY HOMESCHOOL JANUARY from the River Houses!
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.
🖋 🔔 WONDERFUL WORDS (and Sounds!): Ring Out, Wild Bells!
“Ring out the old, ring in the new, / Ring, happy bells, across the snow: / The year is going, let him go; / Ring out the false, ring in the true.” (Join Tennyson and some skillful bell-ringers to ring in the new year in your homeschool.)
🖋 🍻 WONDERFUL WORDS (and Music!): Auld Lang Syne
“We two once ran along the hills and picked the daisies fine; / But we’ve wandered many a weary foot since those days of long ago.” (Our celebratory homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Robert Burns, for auld lang syne.)
