Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science: Astronomy Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 26, 2012
We got really interested in the future of space exploration when the space shuttle Discovery flew by our house back in April. I dedicated a couple of blog posts to it because the kids and I were so excited. It was the end of an era for the Space Shuttle Program. A new chapter in space exploration has been in the works for a number of years now. Yesterday the first commercial spacecraft...
Last year hubby and I transplanted a lot of plants from one of the garden beds to make way for strawberries. We planted 50 strawberry plants of different varieties a year ago. We got only a handful of strawberries last fall, but the past couple of weeks the strawberries have been extremely prolific! The kids and I have been out every-other-day picking two bowls full of ripe strawberries each time....
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Spelling
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 24, 2012 · Last modified January 3, 2020
DD loves to write little notes and stories, so I made this sort to help her understand how/why past tense -ed verbs are formed. She’s a creative speller and will often end her verbs in -t or -id. This is a lesson covered in All About Spelling, but she won’t be up to this lesson (in volume 3) for a while yet. This is just a more colorful version of...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Nature / Outdoor Fun
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 23, 2012
Can you believe it? Summer time is almost here. My friend’s kids get out of school this week! Our family is busy working out our summer plans. We plan to do several road trips and are trying to find fun (and educational) things to do with the kids this summer. We’ll be heading to Arkansas and Missouri, for example, and plan to visit Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Mammoth...
Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math--Multiplication
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 22, 2012
Last November we reviewed a multiplication card game called Speed! We still love this card game so much! DD has started playing it almost daily as she works on her 3s and 4s times tables and practices skip counting. We play a variety of games with these decks of cards. Since DD is just learning how to play we don’t do the competitive, quick game of Speed (see details about...
Critical Thinking Activities / Engineering Challenges / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 21, 2012 · Last modified April 28, 2016
Earlier this semester my friend and I were chatting about math. She said that every Friday they include some critical thinking activities. I thought that was a terrific idea and back in late February I ordered some materials. We added some of these activities into our schedule as well. We generally include critical thinking once a week, but sometimes we skip a week depending on our schedule. Sudoku: The kids...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Fitness / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Must Read / Outdoor Fun / Running
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 18, 2012
I have had the privilege of reviewing a new board game called Flip2BFit. This is so much more than a board game — it’s a full fitness workout! The kids and I had so much fun with this game. On the first day we tried it out, they liked it so much that they made Dad play it when he got home from work. The kids really enjoyed all the...
Yesterday I talked about some of the digital tools kids can use these days. Part of the reason I wanted to write that post was because it was an area my kids haven’t delved much into. The majority of our projects have been hands-on or have been lapbooks or notebooking pages. I learned a lot looking into the ways technology can be used to supplement tradtional type work. I...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Must Read / Technology
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 16, 2012
Technology in Education and in your Homeschool (Part 2) Last week I talked about how you can incorporate video, audio and educational apps into your homeschool. This week’s post talks about how your child/student can use tools to create their own projects that use photos, diagrams, audio, visual components including interactive animations, 3D animations and/or video content. Your child can use a wide range of tools to create stunning videos,...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Language Arts: Reading
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 15, 2012 · Last modified March 14, 2019
Sometimes it’s a bit hard to describe how homeschooling works. Lots of things happen simultaneously and our read aloud time is the best example of this. This semester our read aloud time has been mostly centered around American history (though we also read a book about Isaac Newton). We were studying the American West and so we read the Sign of the Beaver, Little House in the Big Woods, and The...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Nature / Outdoor Fun / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 14, 2012 · Last modified March 4, 2016
Last week we spent quite a bit of time outside enjoying the wildlife in our yard. We are really lucky in that we see a wide variety of critters every day. We spotted a little Northern Brown Snake, a small mouse that was in the strawberry garden (corralled briefly in an empty pot and then released) and a toad. We also came across a large millipede (probably four inches or...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 11, 2012
20 Things to Keep Yourself, Your Household, and Your Homeschool Fresh and Inspired We are a homeschooling family, so the kids are always with me. Always. I find I need to remember to take care of myself in this equation. With Mother’s Day just a couple days away this seemed like the perfect time to think about how we Moms can celebrate and take care of ourselves. This is a...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Spelling
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 10, 2012 · Last modified January 24, 2015
Another word sort I made for the kids was for words ending in the /shun/ sound. DD chose the theme this time! I printed the first page out in normal size and the other four pages two-per-page. You can print out your own copy of this tion sion cion cian word sort Hope someone finds this useful!
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Interviews with other Homeschoolers / Homeschooling in the News / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 9, 2012
If you’ve been over to my facebook page in the past day or so, you’ll see we’ve had a rough time of it. Last week DD was under the weather and slept for a couple of days. This weekend LD came down with a virus and spent many hours hunched over a bowl. Unfortunately for LD, he tends to get illness-induced asthma. So the nasty virus also progressed into a...
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.
