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History: American History / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 29, 2012
This June marks the bicentennial of the beginning of War of 1812. I saw there were some wonderful events this next week in Boston (I wish we could go!); I’ll share a few details about that below if you live in that area. Anyway, I’ve heard a few things about the War of 1812 on the radio lately and decided I should share some of that information with the kids...
History: American History / History: Ancient Aztecs, Incas and Mayans / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 11, 2012 · Last modified February 17, 2016
Last week we started a unit about the Aztec and Incas. This is a unit I’ve had ready for more than a year (books gathered, maps and sheets printed and ready for use). LD and DD insisted we dive in (in part because they knew we’d study the history of chocolate along with it!). We started out with a look at the Aztecs. We read this lovely story about the...
Since I’m on the topic of famous aviators, there is a fascinating conference being held in Washington DC this weekend to present and discuss research findings about the famous female aviator, Amelia Earhart. She and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared in 1937 during her attempt to make a round-the-world flight. For seventy-five years no one knew what had happened to them. Some thought they crashed and sank. At 7:42 on July...
History: American History / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / Homeschool Den / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 1, 2012
In the late 1800s, a bishop and a professor were talking about the future. The bishop was of the opinion that everything about nature had already been discovered and all the useful inventions had been made. The professor politely told the bishop that he was mistaken. In fact, the professor said, we’ll be able to fly through the air in a few years. The bishop said that was nonsense....
History: American History / Homeschool Den / Outdoor Fun / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 31, 2012
Have you heard of the Lost Colony? It’s a mystery that has lasted more than 400 years. We delved a bit into that mystery last week! Roanoke Island Festival Park was an amazing interactive history site. The kids and I spent over six hours learning about the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island. Back in 1587 a second attempt was made by Sir Walter Raleigh to create a lasting settlement in...
History: American History / Homeschool Den / Mom Stories
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 28, 2012
Memorial Day was formerly known as Decoration Day and started after the Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union Soldiers. By the 20th century Memorial Day was extended to honor all Americans who have died in wars. Last week we spent the entire week with my family: my folks, my sister, brother-in-law and their three kids. We had some long conversations about the members of our family who have served...
Freebies / History: American History / History: American West Unit / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 20, 2012 · Last modified September 19, 2017
As I mentioned yesterday, we’ve been reading a book about a girl who travels West on the Oregon Trail with a group of other families. Since we’ve been reading for quite some time now, I thought we could jump right in and play the Oregon Trail File Folder Game I found at File Folder Fun. I asked them a couple of questions to prepare to play the game in another day...
History: American History / History: American West Unit / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 19, 2012 · Last modified August 4, 2018
We’ve been studying the American West this semester. The kids and I have been thoroughly engrossed in a wonderful book called Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell, 1847 (Dear America Series) (Affiliate link). It’s the story of a girl making her way West along the Oregon Trail with her family. At one point the pioneers have to struggle up and then back down a...
History: American History / History: American West Unit / History: Geography Activities / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 10, 2012
Our next topic was the Louisiana Purchase. Prior to 1803, the United States territory went only as far as the Mississippi River. Napoleon Bonaparte, the ruler of France, needed money for his wars in Europe and sold the Louisiana Territory to the U.S. for $15 million (3 cents an acre!). This nearly doubled the size of the United States. We’ve been using a map that shows the Louisiana Purchase and...
History: American History / History: American West Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 30, 2012
As I mentioned last week, this semester we are studying the American West. We picked up where we left off last semester when we talked about Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. (To the left is Davy Crockett’s birthplace cabin in Tennessee which we visited last Thanksgiving.) We talked about the Ohio Valley settlement and how as settlers made their way west they used the rivers for transportation. We learned a...
History: American History / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 2, 2011 · Last modified April 12, 2015
Last week I took the kids on a trip down to Nashville to spend time with my sister, brother-in-law and their three kids. They are homeschoolers as well. They are in 5th, 7th and 10th grades. A little bit more about them in my next post. We had a fantastic time with the family and also did a number of terrific outings. Here are a few things we did: Microbe...
History: American History / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 13, 2011
This past week the kids all came down with colds. As a consequence we did a lot of reading aloud and a bit less of the hands-on type stuff. We’ve been studying Appalachian music and decided to study some of the early frontiersmen in more depth. We spent a lot of time reading about Daniel Boone (one of the first to cross the Appalachian Mountains and one of the men...
History: American Colonies / History: American History / History: Native American Indians Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 16, 2010 · Last modified January 1, 2015
**FREE COLONY RELATED CARDS: I just noticed at http://www.currclick.com/ that their current free product is on the American colonies. There are lots of picture cards related to colonial life — pictures such as chamber pot, cotton, embroidery, flax, hearth, hornbook, indigo, tallow, and more that would be great discussion points for the elementary crowd. One set of pages has a detailed description of the word, another group of pages includes...
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.
