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History: Geography Activities / Montessori (general info)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 29, 2012 · Last modified February 17, 2016
I brought out the materials to help ED (my 4 year old) learn about the seven continents again (though of course everyone joined in). Below is about a week’s worth of geography activities we did together. We went over the fact that a map is really a flat version of a globe. Then we went on to sing the continent song together. I was surprised that ED knew the entire...
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: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 30, 2011
A couple of weeks ago we lucky to be able to take a trip to see George Washington’s home, Mt. Vernon. It was a full day and the kids were asleep by the time we got home with the hours of walking we did (and the warm, cozy car ride home!) I hadn’t ever been there, but we were impressed with all there was to do there. The museum was...
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: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 3, 2011
Adjacent to the landing where we caught the ferry to Liberty Island we came upon the Empty Skies Memorial. This was beautiful site and an emotional place to visit. We walked silently down the corridor with the kids. When we came to the end I explained to DD why there were so many names on the walls we had just walked through. She reached out and buried her head...
History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 1, 2011 · Last modified January 11, 2015
Last weekend we took an extended trip to see some famous sites to go along with our studies of US symbols and landmarks. We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa in New Jersey and used them as a base to go into Philadelphia to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell and to travel up to New York to take the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. And,...
Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / History: Geography Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 9, 2011
One of the Montessori materials we do not have is a sandpaper globe or a globe that shows just the 7 continents in their “proper” Montessori colors. That’s partly because we have a cute globe already (one that lights up and has various world animals on it). But for some reason we got a hankering to make our own globes. What better way to learn where the oceans are located...
History: Geologic Timeline (Montessori) / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 27, 2011
I’ve been doing some reading and re-reading of Montessori philosophy this summer. I thought I’d share my thoughts about how our studies — specifically our USA unit study — fits in with my interpretations of Montessori teaching in the early elementary grades. As I have three kids spanning the two age groupings (both 3-6 and 6-9), I use elements from both. **We will be starting the year by creating paper...
Freebies / History: American Colonies / History: Geography Activities / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / Montessori (general info)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 26, 2011 · Last modified March 14, 2019
I made some Montessori 3-part cards for the kids for our study of some of the well-known landmarks and symbols of the United States. These cards include landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, the White House, Mount Rushmore and more. You can download the US Landmarks and Symbols Cards at this link. We used these cards by talking about where they were located and placing them on our giant...
Freebies / History: American Colonies / History: Geography Activities / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / Science: Earth Science Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 25, 2011
When we start back into our school year LD and DD are going to learn some basic facts about the world in which we live — the largest continent-Asia the largest country-Russia the largest ocean-Pacific the largest desert-Sahara the tallest mountain-Mt. Everest the longest river-the Nile has been long thought to be the longest river, but an expedition in 2000 found the Amazon River to be 64 miles longer. world...
Freebies / History: American Colonies / History: Geography Activities / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 23, 2011
American Landmarks, Symbols, Basic Facts We are going to study some basic facts and symbols of the United States with this unit study. Things like US geography (rivers, mountains, time zones) famous landmarks American patriotic songs the US flag the Liberty Bell the Statue of Liberty, the Great Seal etc. etc. Here are the topics we’ll be covering over a two or three week period (or so) in this introduction...
Elem-Children's Music 1 (6 yr old) / History: Geography Activities / Music
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 26, 2011 · Last modified October 11, 2015
Since my kids are learning a bit about the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas we decided to jump to South America with our world music class. We are enjoying music, geography and games from Mexico and South America. Here’s what we’re covered with our friends the past couple of weeks: *We all sing hello and each child chooses a movement for the rest of the group to follow. *I pull out...
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.
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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.
