Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
History: Native American Indians Unit / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Nature / Outdoor Fun
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 14, 2012 · Last modified December 16, 2018
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about finding an ‘arrowhead‘ (really a hafted knife point) in the woods right behind our house. Yesterday morning we had the county archaeologist over to survey the site where we found the hafted knife. He examined it closely and said it was most likely a Piscataway Stemmed Point. We then took him into the woods to show him the site where it...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Interviews with other Homeschoolers / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 13, 2012
I heard about a movie that is being produced out in Los Angeles that focuses on education, specifically the validity of homeschooling as an alternative to the industrial school model. According to their site, “the film will examine the numerous approaches to home learning, exploring both its history and recent growth.” The movie will follow an ordinary family in their quest to educate their children. You can read more about...
History: Geologic Timeline (Montessori) / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Outdoor: Fossils / Science / Science: Dinosaurs Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 11, 2012
This might be of interest to the dinosaur-loving tots (and parents!) out there. This news from last month passed me by until a couple of days ago. Did you hear that a new species of feathered dinosaur was discovered in Bavaria, in Southern Germany? The fossil of a Sciurumimus albersdoerferi, a carnivorous dinosaur that lived about 150 million years ago in the late Jurassic period shows the first evidence of feathered theropod dinosaurs that are...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Interviews with other Homeschoolers
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 10, 2012
Yesterday on the Diane Rhem Show on NPR there was an interview with a homeschooling family. If you’re interested, you can listen to the podcast here: Quinn Cummings: “The Year of Learning Dangerously”. Quinn Cummings is an actor, author and inventor who has been homeschooling her daughter for four years.
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math--Geometry / Montessori (general info) / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 10, 2012
As I mentioned last week, we started a new unit on geometry. We’ve been busy talking about rays, intersecting lines, parallel lines, line segments, angles and more! Over the weekend, I came across a set of geometry cards made by Homemade Montessori that will come in handy! I thought I’d share this great find in case anyone else finds them useful. I am always so grateful to people who share...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science: Human Body Unit / Science: The 5 Senses
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 9, 2012 · Last modified June 26, 2020
Five Senses Unit – The Sense of Taste All week the kids have been waiting impatiently for the taste activities! LD remembered doing this three or four years ago and couldn’t wait! We first talked about the tongue and where you sense different tastes. We made a cute tongue model and labeled the different areas. I’ll show you how we put it together with a quick picture collage: How we made a...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: The 5 Senses
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 8, 2012 · Last modified March 7, 2016
On Friday we revisited an activity that we’ve done a number of times before, making pairs of scents and trying to find the match. To set up for this activity, I taped a piece of paper with matching symbols on sets of 2 Q-tips. Then I dipped the Q-tips into various liquids (vinegar, vanilla, fish sauce, almond extract, and lemon juice). You can also do this with a cotton ball...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 7, 2012 · Last modified March 9, 2016
Last week we started back to school, but I thought I’d spend a few minutes sharing our overall goals this for this next semester. I’ll start off sharing our plans for ED’s preschool. Early next week I’ll share the plans for DD (age 6) and LD (almost 9). Math This year I decided to go with Right Start Math Level A for ED (age 4). I did this curriculum with...
I’m adding this to the top of the post a day or so later. If you are interested in seeing the images being sent back from Mars, you can go to the NASA image gallery. Look for the small caption that says “slideshow” and you’ll be able to see the enlarged images such as this one which shows Curiosity’s main target, Mt. Sharp. The Curiosity team hopes to drive the...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science: Astronomy Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 5, 2012
Curiosity is scheduled to arrive on Mars late Sunday night (10:31 PST, Aug 5) or early Monday (1:31am EST, Aug. 6) depending on where you live. View it live at NASA TV. The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover took nearly 36 weeks (254 days) to travel from Earth to Mars. Its mission is to continue the robotic exploration of Mars assessing whether Mars ever had an environment that could support life...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: The 5 Senses
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 3, 2012 · Last modified March 7, 2016
ED is doing a brief unit on the 5 senses. I’ll talk a little more about our general activities below, but first I wanted to share this wonderful sound game we played! One of the activities we did together this week was called Sound Bingo. I downloaded the sound files such as a baby, guitar, monkey, fireworks, scissors (41 sounds in all) onto my laptop and printed out bingo cards...
Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math--Geometry / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 2, 2012
This week we’ve started easing back into school. We’re not doing all subjects as we still have lots of other things going on (play dates, doctor’s appointments for their wellness checkups, trips with friends, activities, etc.), but we did start up with math and reading. In math we’re starting the year with a unit on geometry. Geometry Mindmap: I read a book this summer that really recommends using mind maps...
Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Reading / Language Arts: Writing / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 1, 2012
If your child needs to review some grammar rules, here are a few online games he/she can play: Magical Capitals: Help the fairy find all the words that should be capitalized. Comma Chameleon: Help the chameleon punctuate sentences. Blown Away: Determine which letter in the sentence should be capitalized. Beat the Clock: Apostrophe practice. Rewrite the sentence by adding an apostrophe and/or s. Play your Caps Right: Find the words...
History: American History / History: American West Unit / History: Native American Indians Unit / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Nature / Outdoor Fun / Outdoor: Fossils
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 30, 2012 · Last modified December 15, 2018
I’ve been bursting at the seams to write this post, but wanted to wait til I had more information before sharing our excitement! Can you believe, we found an arrowhead on our property?! Okay, so technically it’s not an arrowhead, more about that in a second. The first thing we did was start googling to find out more information. I really didn’t know too much about arrowheads. I was...
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.
