Fall is here! If you’re in the northern hemisphere, that is. If you’re in the southern hemisphere, spring is here! Happy September equinox to all homeschoolers everywhere!
🔭 Homeschool Astronomy: Little Lessons for the Whole Year
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken.
Homeschool teaching tips and little astronomical lessons on stars, planets, constellations, comets, meteors, galaxies, space exploration, and other astronomy-related topics from the River Houses Homeschool Network. Add your name to our free River Houses mailing list and get posts like these delivered right to your mailbox every week! 😊
❡ Star bright: This Homeschool Astronomy collection also includes our special series of monthly Great Star posts that introduce you and your students to twelve of the brightest stars of the northern hemisphere night sky. 🌟
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Deneb for September and the New Homeschool Year
Get the new homeschool year off to a great start by making a new friend this month: the giant star Deneb in the constellation Cygnus the Swan, one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere night sky.
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for September
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 September.
🗓 🦢 CYGNUS TERM and the New River Houses Homeschool Year
We divide the homeschool year into four three-month terms in the River Houses. Today is the first day of Cygnus Term, our fall term, named for the Great Swan of the Heavens. Cygnus Term runs from September through November.
🌎 🌌 SUNDAY STATES BONUS: The Earth, the Solar System, and the Universe
Thank you for taking a homeschool tour of the U.S. states and the countries of the world with us over the past year! We conclude today with the Earth itself and the amazing Universe beyond. A new world tour for the 2022–2023 homeschool year begins next month!
🔭 THE 2021–2022 HOMESCHOOL ASTRONOMY YEAR is Complete!
Our explorations of stars and planets, comets and meteors, galaxies and more, are now complete for the 2021–2022 homeschool year! What astronomical apparitions will you and your students be examining in the new 2022–2023 homeschool year ahead?
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Vega for August and the End of the Homeschool Year
Make one last homeschool friend for the summer: our blue-white neighbor-star Vega in the constellation Lyra the Lyre, one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere night sky.
🖋 🌠 WONDERFUL WORDS: A Star in a Stoneboat
“From following walls I never lift my eye, / Except at night to places in the sky / Where showers of charted meteors let fly.” (Our homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Robert Frost, for this month’s Perseid meteor shower.)
🌠 PERSEID METEORS for August 2022
Point your homeschool students to the constellation Perseus this week for the annual Perseid meteor shower, the lovely trail of debris left behind by Comet Swift–Tuttle.
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for August
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 August.
🚀 🌕 HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE: Apollo 11 Moon Landing Resources
Share some great educational resources with your homeschool students this week on the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969.
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Arcturus for July
Introduce your homeschool students to the ancient orange giant Arcturus in the constellation Boötes the Herdsman this month, one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere’s night sky, and make it their friend for life.
🌝 KNOW YOUR MOONS 🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑
For this month’s anniversary of the first moon landing, why not teach your homeschool students the phases of the moon. You can even use emojis to do it!
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for July
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 July.
🌠 JOIN A REAL ASTEROID PROJECT for International Asteroid Day!
You and your students can help astronomers study the shapes and orbits of real asteroids in space, right from the comfort of your little home academy. How cool is that?
🔭 ☄️ CHARLES MESSIER and the Most Beautiful Objects in the Universe
Happy birthday to the French astronomer Charles Messier (1730–1817), who cataloged some of the most beautiful nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies in the universe — so he could ignore them.
🗓 ⛱ SUMMER IS HERE! (Astronomically Speaking)
Summer is here! (If you’re in the northern hemisphere, that is. If you’re in the southern hemisphere, winter is here!) Happy June solstice to homeschoolers everywhere!
🌅 WATCH THE SUMMER SOLSTICE AT STONEHENGE
Follow a live broadcast of the summer-solstice sunset and sunrise at Stonehenge, the ancient astronomical landmark in southern England.
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Spica for June
Make the acquaintance of the young blue-white giant Spica in the constellation Virgo this month, one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere sky, and make it your homeschool friend for life.
📺 HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARIES for Your Homeschool Summer
Ten multi-part masterpieces of the documentarian’s art that you and your homeschool students can watch together and discuss over the summer.
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for June
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 June.
🗓 💪 HERCULES TERM and the River Houses Homeschool Year
We divide the homeschool year into four three-month terms in the River Houses. Today is the first day of Hercules Term, our summer term, named for the Great Hero of the Heavens. Hercules Term runs from June through August.
🖋 🌟 WONDERFUL WORDS: Hymn to the North Star
“A beauteous type of that unchanging good, / That bright eternal beacon, by whose ray / The voyager of time should shape his heedful way.” (An extra homeschool poem-of-the-week, from William Cullen Bryant, for Polaris, our Great Star for the month of May.)
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Polaris for May
Make the acquaintance of the pole star Polaris in the constellation Ursa Minor this month, one of the most important stars in the northern hemisphere sky, and make it your homeschool friend and landmark for life.
🔭 WATCHERS OF THE SKIES: Homeschool Astronomy for May
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.
🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Regulus for April
Make the acquaintance of “the little king” Regulus in the constellation Leo the Lion this month, one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere sky, and make it your homeschool friend for life.
🖖 HAPPY FIRST CONTACT DAY!
“Sure on this shining night / I weep for wonder wand’ring far alone / Of shadows on the stars.” (On this day in the year 2063, in a remote area near Bozeman, Montana, a Vulcan survey ship will make first contact with the human race. And some of today’s homeschoolers will probably be around to see it!)
