🗓️ QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 15 February 2026

Quick Freshes is our regular Sunday almanac for the homeschool week ahead. Pick one or two (or more!) of the items below each week and use them to enrich your homeschooling schedule. Subscribe to our free homeschool newsletter to get posts like these delivered right to your mailbox each week. Visit our River Houses calendar page to print your own homeschool calendars and planners for the entire year.

🐦 THE GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT is underway right now (13–16 February, Washington’s Birthday weekend) all across the country and around the world! It’s one of the best homeschool science activities all year. How many birds have you counted in your neighborhood? (I’ve already submitted two counts of my own.)

🇺🇸 OUR STATE-OF-THE-WEEK is Missouri, and our COUNTRIES are Kuwait 🇰🇼, Kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬, Laos 🇱🇦, and Latvia 🇱🇻. (Our separate Sunday States & Countries post for the week went up just a few minutes ago.)

🌘 THE MOON at the beginning of this week is a waning crescent — a good time for stargazing! You can explore the solar system and the features of the moon in your backyard astronomy guide and your homeschool world atlas, and you can learn a host of stellar and lunar facts in the Astronomy section your current world almanac. Browse through our regular homeschool astronomy posts for even more.

🗓️️ TODAY, Sunday (15 February 2026) — Today is the 46th day of 2026; there are 319 days remaining in this common year. Learn more about different modern and historical calendars in the Science & Technology section of your recommended world almanac. 📚 Today is the birthday of the Italian astronomer and physicist Galileo Galileo (1564–1642), one of the most important figures in the history of science. 🔭 It’s also the birthday of the American women’s rights advocate Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906). ⚖️ And our homeschool poem-of-the-week for the third week of February is Stephen Spender’s minor masterpiece “The Truly Great,” for the remarkable collection of important people born in February. Print your own River Houses Poetry Calendar and follow along with us throughout the year. ☄️

Monday (16 February 2026) — Today is the third Monday in February, and that makes today the Washington’s Birthday federal holiday in the United States. (Many people unofficially call it “Presidents’ Day” because Lincoln’s birthday is nearby.) 🇺🇸 Today is also the birthday of Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560), a colleague of Martin Luther and one of the first great scholars of the Protestant Reformation. 📖

Tuesday (17 February 2026) — Today is the birthday of the great Italian violinist and composer Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713). 🎻 And on this day in 1923, archeologist Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun (ca. 1342–1325 B.C.) and became the first person to set eyes on the pharaoh’s sarcophagus in more than three thousand years. ⚰️️

Wednesday (18 February 2026) — The famous American stained-glass artist Louis Comfort Tiffany was born on this day in 1848. 🎨 And our Wednesday tour of American Heritage Sites this week will take you to the Ozark National Scenic Riverways in Missouri. 🇺🇸

Thursday (19 February 2026) — Today is the birthday of the Polish astronomer and polymath Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), another one of the great figures in the history of science. 🌞 🌍

Friday (20 February 2026) — Today is the birthday of the great American photographer Ansel Adams (1902–1984). 📷 And our Friday Bird Families lesson this week will introduce you to the predatory Caracaras and Falcons. Print your own River Houses Calendar of American Birds and follow the flyways with us throughout the year. 🦅

Saturday (21 February 2026) — On this day in 1918, the last individual Carolina Parakeet, the only species of parrot native to the United States, died in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo. 🦜 😔

Sunday (22 February 2026) — Today is the (actual) birthday of George Washington (1732–1799), the first President of the United States. 🇺🇸 And speaking of presidents, on this day in 1924, President Calvin Coolidge delivered the first-ever radio address from the White House. 📻 Our homeschool poem-of-the-week for the last week of February is John Keats’ famous sonnet “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer,” for all watchers of the skies. Print your own River Houses Poetry Calendar and follow along with us throughout the year. 🔭 And our Sunday States & Countries for next week will be Arkansas 🇺🇸, Lebanon 🇱🇧, Lesotho 🇱🇸, Liberia 🇱🇷, and Libya 🇱🇾.

🥂 🇺🇸 OUR WEEKLY TOAST for this Washington’s Birthday week invites you to remember that in early America, no one was toasted more often than George Washington. This 1788 musical offering by Francis Hopkinson of Philadelphia was but one among thousands. What is the toast?

’Tis “Washington’s health!” Fill a bumper all round,
For he is our glory and pride.
Our arms shall in battle with conquest be crown’d
Whilst virtue and he’s on our side.

❡ Toasts can be a wonderful educational tradition for your homeschool lunch or dinner table. We offer one each week — you can take it up, or make up one of your own (“To North American dinosaurs!”), or invite a different person to come up with one for each meal (“To unpredictability in toasting!”). What will you toast in your homeschool this week? 🥂

🌍 🇰🇼 EVERYTHING FLOWS: The Middle Eastern nation of Kuwait is one of our countries-of-the-week, but since Kuwait is a desert country it doesn’t really have permanent rivers. It does have wadis or intermittent streams, however, so our Weekly World River is Wadi Al-Batin, which forms the border between Kuwait and Iraq. You can find its location in your recommended homeschool atlas, and you can read more about it in the Wadi Al-Batin entry in Wikipedia or perhaps on your next visit to your local library.

❡ Children of Ocean: Why not do a homeschool study of world rivers over the course of the year? Take the one we select each week (above), or start with the river lists in the World Exploration & Geography section of your world almanac, and make it a project to look them all up in your atlas, or in a handy encyclopedia either online or on a weekly visit to your local library. A whole world of geographical learning awaits you. 🌎 🌍 🌏

What do you and your students have planned for your homeschool this week? 😊

❡ Lively springs: This is one of our regular “Quick Freshes” posts looking at the homeschool week ahead. Add your name to our River Houses mailing list and get these weekly messages delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 📫

❡ Homeschool calendars: We have a whole collection of free, printable, educational homeschool calendars and planners available on our main River Houses calendar page. They will help you create a light and easy structure for your homeschool year. Give them a try today! 🗓️

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