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Freebies / Holiday: Christmas Activities / Language Arts: Writing
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 12, 2017 · Last modified November 20, 2018
My girls thought it would be really fun to spend some time writing about the holidays and writing Christmas stories. 20+ Holiday Writing Prompt Ideas Here are just a few of them: If I could do one thing to make the world a better place this year, what would it be? What is your favorite (and/or least favorite) thing about this time of year? Write a story about the lost...
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....
This past summer, I spent quite a bit of time trying to decide what LD would do for 9th grade writing. Last year we used Cover Story and the kids continued doing a lot of independent writing. They also had to do some writing for history, but we hadn’t delved much into formal essay writing. It was time for LD to start writing more polished pieces, but I wasn’t quite...
Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Reading
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 5, 2017 · Last modified July 26, 2023
Today, I wanted to mention a free resource that might be of interest. The Glencoe Literature Library page has free study guides for a huge selection of well-known novels such as Update: UNFORTUNATELY THESE GUIDES DON’T SEEM TO BE AVAILABLE ANYMORE! Across Five Aprils The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Animal Farm The Canterbury Tales Frankenstein Jane Eyre Shiloh Where the Red Fern Grows and many more! Visit the Glencoe Literature Library...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 26, 2017 · Last modified June 15, 2017
Someone in a group I’m in mentioned the Excellence in Reading Program run by Mensa for Kids. You don’t have to be a member of Mensa to participate. 🙂 I really love their free printable reading lists (for K-3, 4-6, 7-8 and 9-12). There is a wonderful collection of books there. I’ll link to those below. Here is what the Excellence in Reading Program is about (from their website): To...
Freebies / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 29, 2017 · Last modified February 10, 2021
Today, I have a free homophone practice worksheet to share with you. I often make new worksheets when I notice particular problems crop up in the kids’ writing. Today’s sheet highlights these homophones: to/two/too it’s/its are/our flower/flour there/they’re/their for/four It is free to download here: Free Homophone Practice Worksheet I have another set that we pulled out from a very long time ago. 🙂 If anyone has slightly younger kids,...
Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 15, 2017 · Last modified March 14, 2017
This time of year, we spend time focusing a bit more on grammar. We have lots of free grammar worksheets here on the blog and I will link to some of those below. In addition, I’d like to share some of the other grammar materials/resources we use in our homeschool. In the beginning of the year, we always start off the school year with our All About Spelling (affiliate link);...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 23, 2017 · Last modified February 21, 2017
The past couple of days, the kids have been writing their own Haikus during our writing workshop time. Your family might have fun with this too! What is a haiku? It is a traditional form of Japanese poetry. These seem simple as they are only three lines, but the kids found it to be tricky! A haiku has 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, and 5...
Language Arts: Books: Children's Literature / Language Arts: Reading
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 5, 2017 · Last modified July 1, 2020
This is a list of some of the well-known children’s novels we’ve been working through the past few years. Many of these books are award winning (Newbery Award) novels. I always enjoy pouring through other people’s reading lists and thought I would share some of the classics we have on our reading list. We’ve read many of the books on the list (but remember I have three kids!). Just pick...
Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Books: Children's Literature / Language Arts: Reading
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 5, 2017 · Last modified July 1, 2020
Today I thought I would share some of the literature that is on our reading list for grades 7 to 9. These are well-known classics. We’re pretty flexible in that I won’t make them finish a book they “hate.” Life’s too short and their are too many amazing books! Let me add that our list changes as the kids’ interest change and as we cover different things in our homeschool....
Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Spelling
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 17, 2017 · Last modified March 6, 2023
Long-e Spellings: e, ee, ea, e-e, ie, ei, y and ey Spelling Word Sort Activities and Games Our family has used All About Spelling (affiliate link) for many years. It lays out various spelling rules in a really clear, easy to follow manner. I’ve found that the kids also enjoy doing activities and games to help reinforce what they have learned. (Find out more about why we love the AAS program...
Did you know that All About Learning Press is giving away a $100 gift certificate this January towards the purchase of any of their products? A couple of years ago, I became an affiliate because we *love* their spelling program so much! Our family started using the All About Spelling program seven years ago, when my son was 6. My older two used AAS for years and my youngest is...
Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Writing
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 3, 2017 · Last modified September 21, 2019
“Mom, I don’t know what to write!” Have you ever heard that in your homeschool? Today I have five ways you can help kids when they are feeling stuck with their writing. At the end of this post, you can download our 35+ page writing resource packet. It is currently FREE to download! Writing Tips: Writing Resource Packet We’ve been using a writing workshop for a couple of years now. ...
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Freebies / Holiday: Christmas Activities / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Language Arts: Reading
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 6, 2016 · Last modified December 13, 2018
Today’s holiday freebie is for those of you whose kids are just starting to read. It is 30-pages and has six sets of words that kids can work on: 2-letter sight words Bob Book Words (from Bob Books Set 1, affiliate link) CVC-Words -at, -it, -ot, -ut CVC Words -ad, -id, -od, -ud CVC Words -ag, -ig, -og, -ug CVC Words -an, -in, -on, -un Each set has a matching...
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.
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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.
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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.
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