Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
History and World Cultures Units / History: American History / 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 / Language Arts: Writing / Starting to Homeschool / WWII
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 18, 2018 · Last modified December 29, 2018
History Portfolio Projects have student focus on one theme, topic or time period and can include an array of writing, art, and geography assignments that are compiled together in a final product. While we did a couple of portfolio projects when the kids were in elementary (age 8 -10 or so), Portfolio Project really become a powerful tool during the middle and high school years! History portfolio projects require students...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 28, 2018 · Last modified October 29, 2018
Hey everyone, It’s a Sunday evening. It’s been an exhausting, though very fun family weekend. But of course, as you can see from the title of this blog post, it’s been soured just a bit. I got an email that is clearly a troll trying to make me feel bad and/or threaten me (well, or the website in general)…– accusing me of stealing (content I’m supposing?)… May as well just...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 7, 2018
If you were in my living room right now… I would offer you a cup of coffee (partly because I’m tired from driving ED early in the mornings to her soccer games this weekend) and I’d have some cookies baking in the oven. That sounds overly domestic of me, but the truth is we had signed up to bring cookies yesterday and I ran out of time to bake the...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 8, 2018 · Last modified September 7, 2018
Life in Our Homeschool This was our first week back and it didn’t go quite as planned (though, when does homeschooling ever go exactly as we think it will?!) At the end of last week and into the weekend, I was quite sick. My older two were away for the holiday weekend with some friends. When Monday rolled around, ED was excited to start back. We jumped back into homeschooling...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 7, 2018 · Last modified August 6, 2018
Hey everyone!! Just warning you right up front, this post has become part confessional, part apology, part explanation of our website!! I have been humbled by how many new readers we have these days. For just one Mom sharing the work she’s making for her kids and the hands-on activities we’ve done along the way, it’s really been an inspiring journey. I just love what I do… and have been...
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)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 10, 2018 · Last modified July 25, 2021
This is always one of my favorite posts to write. It’s my chance to reflect back on the year and all the things we managed to accomplish! Sometimes in the short-run it can feel like we’re not getting much homeschooling done. You know how our homeschooling can go… we’re interrupted for activities, illness, errands, appointments, or the occasional blahs. But then when we step back to look at the bigger...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 30, 2018 · Last modified May 31, 2018
For us, the 2017-2018 school year has basically come to an end. The concerts are over, testing is done, paperwork has been sent in (to fulfill the requirements of our state) and sports (tryouts, end-of-season parties) have wrapped up. Plus, the spring planting season is done! This post is going to chit-chat about how our semester wrapped up (everything from gardening to history, science) and our summer homeschool plans… Before...
Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 25, 2018
I just spent two wonderful, full-on days at a homeschool conference in Virginia. I had such an amazing time speaking and getting to meet lots of people who visited my booth! Remember, the link to the conference page is here: homeschoolden.com/conference with tips on how to navigate all the resources on the website and links to the free homeschool planner, curriculum resource guides and various resource pages. I know there’s...
Have you heard of the Socratic Method? Could you/Do you use this method in your homeschool? Do you think it would work well with the ages and personalities of your kids?Just what is the Socratic Method? Here’s a little background: The Socratic method is one of the oldest pedagogic techniques used in the classroom. Developed by Socrates over 2,400 years ago, the strategy uses thought-provoking question and answer sessions to...
Just a little story about our week… The girls and I had a good week, but my son has been quite sick (again, poor guy). And, our poor house hasn’t been doing well either. Last Thanksgiving, our fridge started going crazy – continuously beeping and slowly losing its cool, so to speak! The freezer compartment went out first, then the fridge compartment went out. Then it would work again for...
Critical Thinking Activities / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Math General Posts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 22, 2018 · Last modified January 21, 2018
The biggest mistake you can make is to be afraid to make one! I often love books about the brain and the latest on brain research. You probably already know about the link between exercise and learning. There are studies that show that after just twenty minutes of exercise, the brain is fired up! Read all about it in the fitness.gov article, Learning is a Moving Experience. Check out the composite...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 10, 2017
Does your homeschool change a lot from day to day, week to week? It’s been a busy semester and the flow of our homeschool has changed quite a bit. That’s not really surprising, though is it? We’re always adapting and changing things up in our homeschools. One of the joys and benefits of homeschooling is flexibility. We have the ability to go on tangents, dive deep, reschedule things, go faster...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 1, 2017 · Last modified August 29, 2018
Do you have what it takes to homeschool? Of course you do, but let me tell you a little story! There is a shadowy figure that lurks outside of our homeschools. At the beginning of the year, this figure is so distant, we don’t realize it’s there. But just about this time of year, it starts to make an appearance. Sometimes it just pokes its head around the corner. Sometimes...
History and World Cultures Units / 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 11, 2017
Last week, I managed to get our Science Year in Review post done. I had hoped to get the history post done too, but life got away from me! It’s ready for my this week, though! So, here’s our HISTORY year in review! There are quite a number of freebies in addition to the more in-depth packets I made this year. 🙂 This year my kids were in Grades 8,...
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.
