“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 Emerson, for the beginning of the American Revolution.)
🗓 Homeschool Holidays & Anniversaries (Recent Posts)
A collection of great homeschool teaching ideas, resources, and 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! 😊
📚 LIBRARY LESSONS: Learning About Thomas Jefferson’s Library
Tomorrow is Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, so why not spend some quality homeschool time this week learning about Jefferson’s famous library. A ready-made lesson plan from the Library of Congress will show you the way.
🖖 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!)
🍝 CELEBRATING the Annual Spaghetti Harvest in Ticino, Switzerland
The annual spaghetti harvest in Ticino, Switzerland, is one of Europe’s — nay, the world’s — great cultural traditions. Every homeschooler should know about it!
🎵 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.
🗓 🗡 BEWARE the Ides of March!
Remembering the Ides of March, the famous date on which the Roman politician, general, and dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C.
📡 JOIN A HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE PROJECT for Einstein’s Birthday
You and your young science students can assist in the search for undiscovered pulsars in deep space, right from the comfort of your own homeschool living room. (Really!) How cool is that?
🎉 📖 WONDERFUL WORDS: Happy Dord Day!
“Lexicógrapher. n.s. [λεξικὸν and γράφω; lexicographe, French.] A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words.” (A humorous homeschool holiday, for all lovers of words and dictionaries.)
📜 LIBRARY LESSONS: George Washington’s Battles
Invite your homeschool history students to learn something new about the American Revolution this week with some help from the National Archives.
☀️ 🌍 COPERNICUS and His Revolutions (on his birthday!)
On Copernicus’ birthday, introduce your homeschool students to one of the most important books ever published: “On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres” (1543).
