“Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich,ย / Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love,ย / Aย grand, sane, towering, seated Mother,ย / Chairโd in the adamant of Time.” (Happy birthday to the great American poet Walt Whitman, born on this day in 1819.)
๐ Homeschool Holidays & History: Little Lessons for the Whole Year
Great homeschool teaching tips and wonderful little lessons on history, holidays, anniversaries, and notable events from the River Houses Homeschool Network. Print your own homeschool calendar for the whole year on our main River Houses calendar page and follow along with us, and add your name to our free River Houses mailing list to get posts like these delivered right to your mailbox every week! ๐
๐บ๐ธ ๐ โAFTER A HUNDRED YEARS / Nobody knows the Placeโ
“Weeds triumphant ranged / Strangers strolled and spelled / At the lone Orthography / Of the Elder Dead.” (An extra homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Emily Dickinson, for Memorial Day.)
๐บ๐ธ ๐ HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: Memorial Day
“Rest, comrades, rest and sleep!ย / The thoughts of men shall beย / As sentinels to keepย / Your rest from danger free.” (Little homeschool lessons in literature, history, geography, and music, for the Memorial Day weekend.)
๐ ๐ HOMESCHOOL MUSIC: Let Us Rejoice!
Invite your homeschoolers to learn a few lines this week from the most famous of all medieval student songsย โ it’s an inheritance they can carry with them around the world.
๐ HOMESCHOOL HOLIDAYS: Happy Birthday, Ralph! (Emerson, that is)
Invite your homeschool students to discover the work of the great American essayist, poet, and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, born this day in 1803.
๐ ๐ GRADUATION SEASON: โSet me free to find my callingโ
“Bind me not to the pasture, chain me not to the plow,ย / Set me free to find my calling and Iโll return to you somehow.” (Our homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Marta Keen, for graduation season and the coming summer.)
๐โโฑโ๐ก HAPPY WORLD METROLOGY DAY!
On this day in 1875, the meter was adopted as an international standard of measurement. That makes today World Metrology Day! Why not invite your students to take a few scientific measurements this week in your homeschool.
๐จ๐ฆ HOMESCHOOL MUSIC & HISTORY: โTo find the hand of Franklinโ
To understand a complex and beautiful piece of art or music, your students must first learn a great deal about the worldย โ names, places, people, and events that may seem at first to be unrelated.
๐ฌ๐ท HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: The Antikythera Mechanism
Spend a few homeschool history minutes this week learning about one of the most amazing objects the ancient world ever produced: an astronomical computer called the Antikythera mechanism.
๐ HOMESCHOOL ASTRONOMY: Skylab’s 50th Anniversary
Do you have a future astronaut in your homeschool? Then why not take a few minutes this week to learn about Skylab, America’s first space station, launched on this day in 1973.
๐ AMERICAN ICON: The Golden Spike of 1869
Teach a little homeschool history lesson today on the anniversary of the completion of the North American transcontinental railroad in 1869.
๐ ๐ชบ WONDERFUL WORDS: Anne Bradstreet for Motherโs Day
“Great was my pain whenย I you bred,ย / Great was my care whenย I you fed.ย / Long didย I keep you soft and warmย / And with my wings kept off all harm.” (Our “ornithological” homeschool poem-of-the-week, from the early American poet Anne Bradstreet, for Mother’s Day, the second Sunday in May.)
๐ณ HOMESCHOOL HOLIDAYS: Happy Arbor Day Weekend!
It’s National Arbor Day! Why not celebrate the delightful dendrological occasion by planting a tree in honor of your homeschool this week.
๐ ๐ญ 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.
๐ต HOMESCHOOL MUSIC: Relax With Randall Thompsonโs โAlleluiaโ
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.
๐บ๐ธ 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).
๐บ๐ธ HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: Teaching the American Revolution
Explore an excellent collection of original documents and ready-made discussion questions on the American Revolution, all set to go for you and your homeschool students.
๐บ๐ธ ๐ WONDERFUL WORDS: โThe fate of a nation was riding that nightโ
“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.” (A bonus homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Longfellow, for the beginning of the American Revolution in 1775.)
๐ ๐บ๐ธ WONDERFUL WORDS: โHere once the embattled farmers stoodโ
“By the rude bridge that arched the flood, / Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, / Here once the embattled farmers stood / And fired the shot heard round the world.” (Our homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Ralph Waldo Emerson, for the beginning of the American Revolution in 1775.)
๐ LIBRARY LESSONS: Thomas Jefferson’s Book Collection
April 13th is Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, so why not spend some quality homeschool time this week learning about Jefferson’s famous library. Aย ready-made lesson plan from the Library of Congress will help you.
๐ ๐ WONDERFUL WORDS: George Herbert’s โEaster Wingsโ
“O let me riseย / As larks, harmoniously,ย / And sing this day thy victories:ย / Then shall the fall further the flight in me.” (A bonus homeschool poem-of-the-week, from George Herbert, for Easter.)
๐ HOMESCHOOL HOLIDAYS: Happy First Contact Day!
“Sure on this shining nightย / Iย weep for wonder wand’ring far aloneย / 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. Perhaps some of todayโs homeschoolers will be there to see it.)
๐ HOMESCHOOL HOLIDAYS: The Annual Spaghetti Harvest in Switzerland
The annual spaghetti harvest in Ticino, Switzerland, is one of Europe’s great cultural traditions. Every homeschooler should know about it!
๐ธ HOMESCHOOL HOLIDAYS: Visit the Cherry Blossoms in Washington, D.C.
On this day in 1912, the city of Tokyo presented a gift of 3000 cherry trees to the United States to line the banks of the Potomac River and other sites in Washington, D.C., where they and their successors may still be seen today.
๐ต HOMESCHOOL MUSIC: Happy Birthday Bach!
Take a few homeschool minutes to introduce your students to a tiny musical masterpiece by one of the world’s great composers, Johann Sebastian Bach, born on this day in 1685.
๐ญ HOMESCHOOL HISTORY & LITERATURE: “Lend Me Your Ears!”
Why not wrap up this special Julius Caesar Week in your homeschool by viewing and discussing several versions of a famous Shakespearean speech with your students.
๐ ๐ก HOMESCHOOL HISTORY: โThe Ides of March are comeโ
Remembering the Ides of March, the famous date on which the Roman politician, general, and dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44ย B.C.