Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Holiday: Valentine's Day / Kindergarten
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 11, 2014 · Last modified January 22, 2015
I wanted to share this printable I made for ED a couple of years ago. Below you’ll find the link to print out and make your own activity. It took a bit of cutting, pasting and laminating, but ED loved this activity!! Anyway, here is the post from a couple of years ago with various Valentine’s Day activities and links: Make Your Own: Valentine’s Day Clothes Pin Word Match-a-words ED...
Active Math Games / Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Kindergarten / Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 29, 2014 · Last modified April 30, 2016
We have had the Math Mat Challenge (affiliate link) for years now. It is one of those games that go in and out of the cupboard. For a family like ours — with three kids each two years apart, this game has had a long shelf life. The kids love leaping and jumping on it and it has help up well. Since it has been too cold to go outside to do...
Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Science / Science: Simple Machines Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 15, 2013 · Last modified August 3, 2018
We started with… a plain old screw!! The kids spent time trying to screw it into an old board: We have been reading the book, Archimedes and the Door of Science along with this unit. What a terrific book and what a remarkable man Archimedes was! The book talks about the Archimedes screw as well as lots of other topics — astronomy, math, geometry and more. We loved the...
Kindergarten / Science / Science: Simple Machines Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 12, 2013 · Last modified April 6, 2019
The wedge is a pretty easy concept to remember, but we still took the opportunity to have some fun with wedges! We spent some time outside at the wood pile using real wedges to split wood (plus, we got some wood ready for the woodstove!!) This is a tool call a “Smart Splitter.” Even the kids can split wood with it. They simply lifted the weight and dropped it down...
Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Must Read / Science / Science: Simple Machines Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 11, 2013 · Last modified April 6, 2019
I have kids of different ages (5, 8 and 10). We all did this simple machines unit together. It was perfect for my younger two — quite easy for my oldest, but from here we’re going to go on to more complicated topics… inventions and electricity (see our STEM Electricity and Circuits Packet here) which are more suited to my older two. It works best for our family to do...
Holiday: Halloween / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts / Math--Addition
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 21, 2013 · Last modified March 29, 2016
Can you believe how soon Halloween will be here? I’ve been trying to come up with some fun, interactive math activities for ED. I loved the idea I saw out on Pinterest back in the summer where someone used googly eyes as manipulatives for addition practice. I drew our own little monster and made ED a packet with some flashcards and addition pages. She is learning very simple addition. ...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Freebies / Kindergarten / Montessori (general info) / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 18, 2013 · Last modified December 23, 2016
This post includes links to some of the Montessori 3-part cards I’ve made over the years. Most of them are free! Montessori Sorting Activity: Living Nonliving Cards Montessori-Style Animal Cards: Sorting Vertebrates-Invertebrates and Animals of the 5 Kingdoms U.S. Landmarks and Symbols – 3 part cards FREE — We placed these cards on a huge US map we have as we learned where these famous landmarks are locate. Montessori 3-Part...
Kindergarten / Science / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 4, 2013 · Last modified July 27, 2021
Last week, ED spent some time learning about the different animal groups — mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians. We talked about some of the different characteristics of each group and she spent time separating them into the different categories. We have a number of different activities and she spent several days going through our various activities: One was from a book called Take It to Your Seat Science Centers and...
Ages 2-6: Fall Theme / Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 27, 2013 · Last modified January 1, 2015
Get your 3-6 year old into the fall spirit with some fall-themed activities. There’s a huge selection of free packets to choose from… I’ll highlight a number of free packs I’ve come across: Fall Pack from 3 Dinosaurs: Leaves Unit by 2 Teaching Mommies Fall and Thanksgiving Dot-to-Dots — Resources I mentioned last year about this time Fall Worksheet Pack from Mama’s Learning Corner (ages 4-6): Fall Fun Printables by Homeschool...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Montessori (general info) / Nature / Science / Science: Earth Science Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 20, 2013 · Last modified March 3, 2016
This week ED and I read two books together: What Makes Day and Night (affiliate link) and Totally Amazing Night Animals. (affiliate links.) She really enjoyed both of them and we added in some activities to go with these books. After we read through What Makes Day and Night (affiliate link), we spent a lot of time in the dark bathroom! First I held the flashlight and shined it at her as she...
Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Language Arts: Writing / Science / Science: Human Body Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 17, 2013 · Last modified September 5, 2017
Over the summer, I stumbled across the Center for Disease Control’s Science Ambassador Program. What a great find! It has a series of lessons (maybe mini-unit would be a better term for them) on all kinds of various topics with challenging activities for students to learn about. Topics include — autism, birth defect, Hantavirus, HIV/Aids… and many more. What I like about their lessons is that they require the students...
History: Geography Activities / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Montessori (general info)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 16, 2013 · Last modified March 17, 2016
Last Thursday I talked about using the Montessori landmark cards, but I didn’t think to talk about ED’s other geography activities. After reading through Me on the Map (which is just perfect for the 4-6 year old crowd), I had ED do an activity we had done a year and a half ago or so. You have the kids color in and paste their location, pinpointing their location by going...
Last year DD and LD did art class once a week at an art studio. We decided we really needed to cut that out for now (because of the cost — although the teacher is absolutely brilliant and wonderful with the kids!). This year we’ve got art scheduled in once a week (so that we actually carve out time for it). We had our first art time yesterday (Thursday) —...
Active Math Games / Kindergarten / Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts / Math--Addition
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 11, 2013 · Last modified February 22, 2016
Active Addition Games: Last week, we rolled back the rug and taped down some addition facts ED is working on (the doubles 1+1 through 9+9). ED loved that we made this an all-body experience! First, she went through each problem, shouted out the answer and hopped to the next one… Next, I set out all the answers at the end. She had to run, find the answer and place...
Do you believe education can be exciting, inspiring, and full of joy? We do too!
I love the quote by William Butler Yeats, "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." It's about getting the kids involved, engaged, and fired up about learning (while juggling the rest of life too!)
A bit about me: I have my Master's from Brown University. I have more than 20 years of teaching experience. I was a high school teacher for many years both in the U.S. and internationally and also taught for the University of Maryland before leaving to homeschool my 3 wonderful kids.
To read more about us CLICK HERE.
Click on the image to find out more about the units and packets we have available.
This post has links to dozens of posts and resources both for new and veteran homeschoolers for everything from finding homeschool curriculum to general homeschool advice and encouragement.
Click on the image above to see the History Units we covered in our homeschool.
What science topics could I teach my 5-7 year old - Homeschool Science Curriculum
Click on the image above to see the Science Units we covered in our homeschool from elementary through middle school (and beyond!).
A list of the books we've used most in history, science, math, language arts, etc.
Click the image to check out our packets on Earth Science, Rocks and Minerals, the Atmosphere, Weather, Energy and More!
Units are also sold separately.
This is one of our most popular units. It covers the Layers of the Earth, Plate Tectonics, Earthquakes, Volcanoes and More! It is included in the Earth Science Bundle (see the picture/link above).
Click the image to see our Biology Units on Animal and Plant Cells; the Biology Unit on Biomes, Food Chains, Symbiosis; Scientific Classification & Taxonomy (Domain/Kingdom/Phylum/Class, etc.); Botany - Plant Kingdom and Oceans and Oceanography.
Click on the image to see our Animal Bundle - including the Animal Unit, Life Cycles, the Rainforest, Winter (Polar Animals) & Hibernation, Chameleons, Wolves, Cicadas and more!
The Human Body Systems, Skeletal, Digestive, Circulatory, Muscular, Nervous, Endocrine Systems and More (with lots of hands-on activity ideas)! We usually study a different body system each year.
Click on the image to see our units on the States of matter, Properties of Matter, Electricity & Circuits, and the Chemistry Unit (Get to know the Periodic Table in a fun way!)
This is a free checklist I put together of the various science units I hope to cover in the elementary and middle school years.
Do your kids know the 4 largest countries? Which countries have the most people? The longest river? This packet covers basic world and U.S. facts and also covers geographic features and land forms.
Click on the image to check out our 100-page unit on World War I.
We have used AAS for 6 years! AAS is an affiliate link.
Dozens of posts about how to create a homeschool writing workshop.
Click on the image to check out all of our fun K-2 Math Packets.
This is one of the best values we have... more than 20 PDFs with games, activities and worksheets to learn/practice the multiplication facts ($7.00).
Click on the image to discover some of the pages, posts and homeschool resources within our blog that might be the most useful for you including a long list of our freebies!
Click on the image to check out our 100+page Rocks and Minerals Unit.
This is a fun, hands-on unit for early elementary students!
How the body is organized from cells to tissues... organs to body systems
Click on the image to check out some of the Spanish worksheet bundles we have available!
Click on the image above to check out our German worksheets.
Click on the image to find out more about our units and packets.
