Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 9, 2016 · Last modified January 22, 2019
We all hear a lot about getting organized and keeping the clutter down. But today I want to talk about becoming organized in a strategic way… a way that helps our homeschool day run smoothly. It’s not really about making the pencils and markers look pretty and organized, though that definitely has its appeal. It’s about making sure our days flow smoothly. That the kids have some sense of what...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 28, 2016 · Last modified July 6, 2020
Over on Facebook, a reader said, “trying to figure out how to homeschool my 7th grade daughter any advice would help…” For those who are new on their homeschool journey and/or new to our blog I’ll share some resources with you that will hopefully help you as you embark on your own journey to find curriculum, resources, and to make this educational adventure an amazing one for your family!! I...
Free Calendar Planning Pages / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 25, 2016 · Last modified July 15, 2016
In last week’s post, I mentioned an online-planner that many homeschool families use. I still need to be able to see everything at a glance and to be able to check things over the course of the day, so I like having everything gathered in a 3-ring notebook. Last year I got a notebook that has a built in file dividers where I can place invitations and keep important papers...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Technology
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 18, 2016 · Last modified August 19, 2018
This summer I am spending some time looking at some education apps, tools and websites. I thought I’d talk about a few that I’ve heard other educators mention so that you have a chance to look at them before the school year starts as well. 🙂 These look like they might be a fun way to incorporate a bit of technology in those “checking for understanding” moments. I don’t know...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / 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, 2016 · Last modified July 7, 2020
For many of us it is mid-summer. Homeschooling seems far away still, though we know it’s lurking around the corner. We don’t want to be caught completely unprepared, right? Here are some things that we can do now to make the transition easier when we return: 1) Turn in your Notice of Intent (if your state requires one) – Get this done and turned in so you don’t have to...
Homeschool Den / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 5, 2016 · Last modified May 5, 2023
We arrived at the Spider Rock Campground at Canyon de Chelly in the evening after a full day (about 10 hours!!) of driving… Howard, the owner of the campground was amazing and treated us like long-lost friends!! (I had emailed with him a number of times to make sure we had accommodations since the kids and I had to drive hundreds (and hundreds!!) of miles to get there.) We had...
When we were planning our trip out West, I purchased a book of some of America’s best geological sites. I read about the Crater of Diamonds state park and the kids were beside themselves at the thought of being able to search for *real* diamonds!! This state park is the world’s eighth largest diamond-bearing volcanic crater. We camped in the state park and tried our hand at diamond mining! Many...
Homeschool Den / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 13, 2016 · Last modified May 16, 2016
Here are some fun summer activities you might enjoy doing with your kids this summer! A Huge List of Summer Activity Ideas! Nature Scavenger Hunt: Send your kids outside to complete this scavenger hunt! This printable is free! 🙂We also have a photo hunt: Have them take photos of the things on the list:Set up an Outdoor Treasure Hunt with QR Codes! Kids use the QR code reader to find...
Engineering - STEM Activities / Homeschool Den / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 6, 2016 · Last modified May 6, 2016
Here are some fun summer activities you might enjoy doing with your kids this summer! Today’s post highlights some fun engineering, science and math activities you can do this summer! Summer Fun: Science, Engineering, and Math Ideas Egg Drop Challenge: Give the kids various supplies (cups, paper bags, yarn, scissors, hole punch, tape, and some coins). Have them design a parachute that will safely let an egg drop to the...
Homeschool Den / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 25, 2016 · Last modified June 27, 2016
Today I have a free USA Road Trip Travel Log for you!! Hopefully, this will help you keep your kids entertained if you plan to travel a lot this summer. Plus, I’ll share some of the travel activities to make the car trip more fun!! So first, about the printables: I made this Travel Book for the kids for our huge trip out West this summer. It’s about 40 pages,...
Highlighting Past Posts / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Science / Science Experiments / Science Units
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 24, 2016 · Last modified May 15, 2016
Today I’m going to talk about the science units we covered in our homeschool this year AND what we didn’t get to because we ran out of time!!! My plans are always a bit more ambitious than what we actually cover, but even so it felt like we accomplished a lot! 🙂 This year the kids were in Grades 2, 5 and 7, but below you’ll also find some resources...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 17, 2016 · Last modified February 9, 2020
In today’s post, I thought I would re-cap our school year for German. These are some of the conversation units we did, books we used, and children’s books we listened to. Since the kids are no longer beginners, I’m calling them “Level 2,” though more realistically I would call them “advanced beginners.” I thought I would share some of the resources that worked well for us this year. We use...
Homeschool Den / Science: Natural Disasters Unit and Activities / Science: Weather Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 16, 2016 · Last modified January 24, 2021
Our Natural Disasters Packet has notebook pages and worksheets as well as some hands-on activity ideas covering the following events: Flooding Mudslides Tsunami Tornado Hurricane, cyclone, typhoon Blizzard Heat Wave Drought Wildfire Sinkholes In this packet you’ll find one page on each of these events. Often, natural disasters occur because of geologic changes or extreme weather conditions. Students explore the cause of each of these events. They also find out what ...
Free Calendar Planning Pages / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Language Arts: Writing
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 15, 2016 · Last modified May 16, 2016
Hi Everyone, This is going to be a bit of a random post so bear with me! I’m going to talk about 3 separate things in this post. 1) Our free calendar printable and homeschool planning pages 2) A free end of year questionnaire for students and parents and 3) a random chat about our Homeschool Writing Workshop. Free Calendar, Homeschool Planning Pages and Homeschool Supply List: First, as many...
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.
