Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool Den / Science: Ocean Unit / Science: Water Unit / Science: Weather Unit / Science: Whale Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 29, 2016
Last week we spent time learning about the water cycle, divides and watersheds and underground water. We have just started a big unit on they hydrosphere (ie. oceans), so it’s important the kids understand the water cycle because of the profound impact it has on our world’s oceans and vice-versa. We used many of the same materials we used a few years ago. You’ll find links to these beautiful posters...
Homeschool Den / Language Arts - Grammar Spelling Reading Writing Categories
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 25, 2016 · Last modified November 27, 2020
A week or so ago, we started reviewing irregular verbs and the plurals of nouns again. I realized the kids could use a bit more practice, so I pulled out some of the old grammar worksheets I made several years ago and had them work on those as well. I thought I would put all three of these together here in the same post for anyone who might need to...
History: Rensaissance and Reformation / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 24, 2016 · Last modified December 29, 2018
We have continued on with our unit on the Renaissance. Our readings covered Maximilian and Charles V, and talked about the influential people of that period: the Fugger Family, who were the wealthiest banking family outside of Italy, and Albrecht Dürer the famous German artist. We are using The Story of the Renaissance (affiliate link) as our spine for this unit. We read sections aloud together and add in art...
History: Geography Activities / Homeschool Den / Science: Ocean Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 22, 2016 · Last modified September 15, 2020
Last week we started on our ocean unit — the hydrosphere. We were pretty busy with other things, so we spent most of the week simply going over some of the major oceans, seas and straits. I made a pin map and the kids worked on about a dozen places. You’ll find the free printable below. For those of you who may be interested in making your own pin...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Outdoor Fun
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 19, 2016 · Last modified February 18, 2016
A lot of the time I write posts focused just on one topic… like the Renaissance sheets I just shared on Wednesday or the comma worksheet I’m going to share next week. But other times, I just want to chit-chat about what’s going on… and that’s what this post is going to be! Homeschooling has been going pretty well lately. We are trying to keep going at a steady pace...
History: Rensaissance and Reformation / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 17, 2016 · Last modified December 29, 2018
Today I want to tell you a little more about our Renaissance Artist Worksheets. We have been continuing our study of the Renaissance period. Our last post shared some of the things we did when we covered the early Renaissance period. The past week or so we talked about three of the famous artists of the Renaissance: da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. In the last post I mentioned that we...
Homeschool Den / Science / Science Units / Science: Biology Unit / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 15, 2016 · Last modified March 23, 2023
What is the difference between a biome, ecosystem, and habitat? What is the difference between a food chain and a food web? What are trophic levels? What is the energy pyramid? What is symbiosis? How do different species interact? What in the world is amensalism or antiobiosis?! These are some of the things we covered in our latest biology unit! How We Started Our unit on Biomes: This semester we...
History: American Colonies / History: American History / History: Civics, Government and Economics / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 12, 2016 · Last modified July 26, 2023
Your kids can learn all of the U.S. Presidents in order with the U.S. Presidents Song! Plus, be sure to grab these free Presidents Day Notebook Pages all about some of our well-known Presidents. The third Monday in February is a federal holiday in the U.S. It is officially called Washington’s Birthday. Because Abraham Lincoln’s birthday is February 12, many people refer to this holiday as Presidents’ Day. This is...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 11, 2016
When things get disorganized I feel really scattered and wind up dropping the ball. There’s a lot for homeschoolers to keep track of, right? So, how do we keep on top of everything? Being brutally honest here… I/We can’t always do it all! Homeschooling is challenging because there are so many different areas to juggle, not just the academics. We just do the very best we can! I’ve found there...
Homeschool Den / Math--Multiplication
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 4, 2016 · Last modified July 7, 2021
ED is working on the 8s multiplication facts. I’ve found that the other multiplication packets I made have worked really, really well for her. This lizard-themed worksheet packet wound up being 37 pages. 🙂 There’s a FREE multiplication and division (for the 8s) game board for you later in the post. 🙂 Skip Counting Song for the 8s In our family the kids sang the 8s to the tune of...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / History: China Unit / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 3, 2016 · Last modified February 1, 2016
This year, Chinese New Year is on Monday, February 8th, 2016. I wanted to share the free printable I made last year and also share the China lapbook and some of the activities the kids did when they were ages 2-6 or so. I also highlighted some of the books that the kids loved at that age. First, here is the free printable. There are clothes-pin number and letter cards....
History: Middle Ages / History: Rensaissance and Reformation / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 1, 2016 · Last modified December 29, 2018
Early Renaissance Art & the Medici Worksheets & Notebook Pages The past few weeks we started learning about the early Renaissance period. Last semester we studied the Middle Ages. We finished in the 1300s with the Black Plague and Hundred Years War. In January, we started Suzanne Strauss Art’s book, The Story of the Renaissance, (affiliate link) which we are using as our spine for the Renaissance and Reformation. It started...
Holiday: Valentine's Day / Homeschool Den / Science / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 28, 2016 · Last modified May 6, 2017
Chocolate Making Activity We did this Make Your Own Chocolate Kit (affiliate link) a number of years ago and we all loved it! After we went over the Rain Forest Plants, it was the perfect time and excuse to make our own chocolate again! The write-up they have in the kit is well done. We read that aloud together before actually making the chocolate. It explains the history of chocolate...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Biology Unit / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats / Science: Plant Unit / Science: Rain Forests
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 26, 2016 · Last modified May 10, 2016
Today I wanted to share a fun activity we did about rain forest plants. As many of you know, we are doing a large biology unit on biomes, ecosystems, biological interactions, animal relationships, and so forth. At the end of last semester we went over basic animal characteristics — the 5 vertebrate groups, the main invertebrate groups, and some fun activities for my youngest daughter — spiders vs. insects, domesticated...
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.
