Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
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 / Science: Biology Unit / Science: Taxonomy Scientific Classification
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 7, 2017 · Last modified March 23, 2023
What is taxonomy and why do we need to study it?! Taxonomy is the science of classification. Our biosphere supports more than 7 million known species and probably 4 or 5 million more unknown species! Taxonomists work on organizing the vast quantity of species. They are continually updating the classifications to keep up with new research and new discoveries. What is in the Scientific Classification and Taxonomy Packet? Scientific Classification...
Freebies / Holiday: Christmas Activities / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 1, 2017 · Last modified December 5, 2021
Can you believe December has arrived?! Today I want to highlight some of the free Christmas and Holiday Freebies we have tucked away on the blog. There are all kinds of Christmas math worksheets from PreK games and addition/subtraction worksheets to multiplication, division, factoring and beyond! Plus, you’ll find a spelling game (Long I sounds), free music games, and foreign language sheets to practice learning holiday words in Spanish or...
Homeschool Den / Science: Earth Science Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 28, 2017 · Last modified July 19, 2018
After our Science Club ended a couple of weeks ago, the kids continued studying volcanoes. I wanted to share some of our activities with you today. We went over the basic parts of a volcano – magma chamber, conduit or main vent, ash cloud, branch pipe, sill, crater, and so forth. Then we went on to spend quite a bit of time talking about the different types of volcanic explosions...
Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Spelling
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 19, 2017 · Last modified March 5, 2023
ED has been working on the /ul/ sound; word patterns and rules for words that end with le, el, al, il, ol, and ile. le words: people, struggle, little, table, available, article, terrible, etc. el words: level, model, hotel, travel, channel, fuel, novel, etc. al words: local, sandal, general, material, hospital, animal, etc. il words: until, pupil, civil, pencil, fossil, basil, etc. ol words: control, alcohol, symbol, petrol, cholesterol, etc....
History: Native American Indians Unit / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 15, 2017 · Last modified September 19, 2023
This time of year, many people study Native Americans and/or the history of the colonies. We have a lot of free resources on the blog that I thought I would highlight again. I also thought I would include some of the books and resources we used along the way. We’ve covered the history and culture of different Native American tribes in different years, so you’ll find that the first resources...
Homeschool Den / Science / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 12, 2017
This week when the kids arrived, they jumped in with our taxonomy unit. First, I challenged the kids to see if they could remember the 10 animal phyla we’ve been talking about this fall. Most of them got at least 8 or 9 (of the 10 groups we’ve been talking about). As we waited for everyone to arrive, they took turns observing the “sea monkeys” that we had hatched a...
Homeschool Den / Science / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 8, 2017 · Last modified July 25, 2021
In Week 6 of our Science Club, we reviewed what we had learned about vibrations. Then we went on to talk about the different types of Body Waves (those waves within the Earth) and Surface Waves (those that move along the surface of the earth). We went over what they were and how they move. Then did some hands-on activities to help explain why some waves move faster than others....
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...
Homeschool Den / Science / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 30, 2017 · Last modified July 25, 2021
This week, we talked about how tensions build deep beneath the Earth and then suddenly release creating earthquake vibrations that move out away from the focus. Below I’ll share several of the hands-on activities we did as we talked about this build-up of tension (and release of energy). In the second part of our science club meeting we continued talking about taxonomy and focused on the digestive systems of flatworms...
I’ve been falling down on the job. Our meals and snacks have been downright boring… and often not as healthy as they could be. So, the past 10 days or so, I’ve been challenging myself to offer the kids a variety of (reasonably) healthy snacks. That’s what this post is all about! Our meals started out well at the beginning of the semester, but lately our meals – and especially...
Homeschool Den / Science / Science: Earth Science Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 18, 2017
This was our fourth week of science club. Time’s flying by! As we waited for everyone to arrive, the kids filled in the tectonic plate map. We talked about the experiment we had done a couple weeks earlier that helped explain how the tectonic plates can move. This week, we were going to do a couple more activities to show how heat/cooling can create currents and movement. (These pages have...
Freebies / Holiday: Thanksgiving / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 15, 2017 · Last modified December 6, 2022
Today I thought I would share some of the free fall and Thanksgiving printables we have tucked away here on the blog. In this post you’ll find tons of resources for kids from ages 3 to 13! Over the years I’ve made various math worksheets, games and activities, language arts materials, a Spanish fall-themed freebie, and other things that might be useful. Click on the post links below if you...
Engineering Challenges / Homeschool Den / Science / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 13, 2017
In the third week of our science club, we spent quite a bit of time talking about Taxonomy and Scientific Classification. We had touched on it the previous week, but this time we went into much more detail. We had already talked about Linnaeus and his role in developing the classification system. We also talked about how much it has changed – especially in just the last 15 or 20...
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.
