Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 16, 2020 · Last modified July 3, 2021
Tips for How to Start Homeschooling! This year is like no other. I’ve been fielding a LOT of email from readers looking for advice on how to start homeschooling, so I wanted to update this post and make sure it’s easier to find. Are you starting to homeschool or need fresh inspiration? Here are tips on how to start homeschooling, homeschool teaching strategies, units you could cover and more! This...
All About Homeschooling! / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 11, 2020 · Last modified July 25, 2021
Finding materials on the Homeschool Den! I wrote this post to help you find some of the pages, posts and homeschool resources within our blog that might be the most useful for you. Over the years, I have made homeschool packets on everything from history and science to spelling, math, spelling and foreign languages (German & Spanish). And, many of those are free! We have materials from preschool through high...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 6, 2020
What supplies do you need to have on hand to homeschool? This post includes a free printable list of basic homeschooling supplies and science materials that you might want to have on hand. This list covers everything from office supplies & art materials to math manipulatives and science materials we have used in our homeschool through the years. Obviously, the first starting point is access to books and curriculum. No...
Free Curriculum Resource Guides / Free Homeschool Planner / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 18, 2020
Homeschool Reflection Questions Have you finished your homeschool year? If you did, no doubt, this one ended more dramatically than any other one, right? Whew! What a year! I usually take some time to reflect how the year went for our family. I’m always curious to see what the kids think now that the year is over. A number of years ago, I made a questionnaire for the kids to...
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Kindergarten
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 17, 2020 · Last modified July 6, 2020
This is just a really quick post to tell you that I updated the Homeschooling Kindergarten-1st Grade page and also updated the FREE 50+ Page Curriculum Resource Guide. You will find that free printable here: Creating Your Homeschool Curriculum: Kindergarten – Grade 1 FREE Homeschool Planning Guide This is a FREE 50+ page resource guide that I put together to help answer some basic questions: What subjects should I teach...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / How to Start Homeschooling / Kindergarten / Must Read / Science Experiments / Science Units / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 23, 2020
Here are 12 Hands-On Science Activities that you can do with minimal preparation! It can be daunting to know just where to start with science, but in our household it has been one of the kids’ favorite subjects. Why? Because of hands-on activities! With so many parents now wondering what to do and how to get their kids intrigued and excited, turning to hands-on activities can be just the secret...
Free Homeschool Planner / Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 13, 2020 · Last modified January 20, 2022
Tips and Strategies for Doing School at Home Around the country and around the world, there are widespread school closures because of the coronavirus. Students and parents are facing a huge transition from a daily school routine to life at home. How can you help your students transition and even thrive given this huge change? Assuming (and that’s a big assumption here!) that you are able to take time off...
Free Homeschool Planner / Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 2, 2020 · Last modified December 6, 2020
Hi! Happy New Year!! I hope you have had a restful, joyous winter break! For those of you in Australia, I hope you, your family and friends have been safe from all the bushfires. I’m thinking of you! Do New Year’s Resolutions Work?” That’s what one of the latest news headlines asks. An article I just read said that 80% of New Year’s Resolutions are abandoned by February. Another article...
Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 5, 2019 · Last modified November 30, 2019
Recently, our family decided to dive into a (free) course on happiness and well-being. It was most popular class in the history of Yale and is available free online at coursera.org. It was called “Psychology and the Good Life” and was first taught in the spring of 2018. It is now called The Science of Well-Being – Stuff That Makes us Happy. Nearly a quarter of all Yale undergraduates enrolled...
Free Calendar Planning Pages / Free Homeschool Planner / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 2, 2019 · Last modified January 16, 2022
Grab this free printable 2020-2021 calendar! Updated Calendar Available! The newest version is now available. The 2022-2023 School Year Calendar goes from Jan. 2022 through August 2023. Click here to go to that page for the updated 2022-2023 School Year Calendar. Yes, it is still free! UPDATE: You might want to go to this post instead because it has the FREE printable Calendar for January 2021 through August 2022. Today...
Free Homeschool Planner / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 24, 2019 · Last modified July 3, 2021
New! Homeschool Planner Printable Booklet We now have two FREE Homeschool Planners. One version is a 1/2 sized printable Homeschool Planner booklet, the other has full-sized pages. Grab them both with the links below! With the holidays coming up, family coming into town, and more on our plate than ever before, I needed to get everything down on paper. I wanted something slightly smaller than the normal homeschool planners I...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 30, 2019 · Last modified July 7, 2020
It’s mid-summer. For some of us, school is still a few weeks away. Others have started homeschooling or never stopped! Regardless, we all would like to head into the new year more organized and ready to go, right?! Here are a few tips for getting off on the right foot: 1. Relax It is SO important to get recharged. Make sure both you and the kids have stepped away from...
Free Curriculum Resource Guides / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Homeschool High School / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Preparing for College
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 8, 2019 · Last modified October 21, 2020
Over the past few months, I’ve had quite a number of people contact me, asking if I had the Homeschool Resource Guide for High School, Grades 9-12, ready yet. It is now available and like the other Curriculum Resource Guides for younger students, this is FREE to download! I hope it’s helpful! This free Homeschooling in High School Resource Guide for grades 9-12 will help you and your student figure...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 3, 2019 · Last modified May 29, 2019
As homeschoolers we wrestle with a lot of questions, issues, and challenges: planning, preparing, organizing, scheduling, juggling, managing (moods/squabbles) AND getting things done. Plus, we have the added challenge of having our kids watching us and learning from us every moment of the day! “Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.” ~John Cotton Dana As we look at a new year (or even when we look at the...
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.
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.
