Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Books: Children's Literature / Language Arts: Reading / Must Read / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 29, 2014 · Last modified March 21, 2015
My daughter reads all the time. She will grab anything that’s out and about… from the easy readers that ED brings home from the libraries to books that LD recommends. I thought I’d share some of the series that she’s flown through this semester. Dog Diaries: She’s read them all… Ginger, Buddy, Barry, Togo, Dash. She said they were wonderful. I notice there is also a series called Horse Diaries...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science: Water Unit / Science: Weather Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 28, 2014 · Last modified February 6, 2017
A couple of weeks ago, we started on a new unit. One that focuses on water, the water cycle, and water pollution. A lot of the time I make our own science notebook pages, but there were so many wonderful resources already available, we used what we found online instead for this portion of our Weather and Water unit. I thought I would share some of these resources with you...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 20, 2014 · Last modified April 2, 2021
If you are planning a trip to the beach this summer, you might be interested in some of these freebies I made for the kids when we did our ocean unit. I hope someone finds these helpful! Below are some of the ocean invertebrate cards that I made when we were studying the ocean. Remember, crustaceans, arachnids and insects are all part of the arthropod group (look at this chart to see what...
Greg Hewlett has a new children’s CD out that he is giving away completely free over at his blog. His album, Heirloom, is solo piano accompanied by nature. It features quiet lullabies and two original songs written by Greg. Heirloomis for children, though adults will enjoy this beautiful music too. Nature sounds are included on all tracks (though you can choose a version without nature as well). You can listen to...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 30, 2014 · Last modified February 24, 2016
I made a couple of sheets so my older kids can review how to add endings (such as -ed, -ly, -s, -es and so forth). We reviewed when to double the final consonant and some of the irregular verbs. I also included the answers (but they are not shown in the picture below). There’s nothing fancy about these sheets, but they’re free to download if your kids need some review:...
Freebies / Must Read / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 28, 2014 · Last modified July 27, 2021
I thought you might be interested in some of my most popular science posts… The links will take you right to that post. We did a lot of hands-on science activities with these units. Those posts will link to some of our science activities. We will be moving to homeschoolden.com and all our printables will be moving there. Number 5 The Three Types of Rocks– Our Activities and a Free...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Nature / Outdoor Fun / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 25, 2014 · Last modified December 2, 2020
Are you looking for free Nature Scavenger Hunt printables? We have several fun options! Every spring, as the weather gets nicer and nicer we spend more and more time outdoors. We’ve been doing this scavenger hunt for years. I know we’re not alone because this printable has gotten well over 50,000 downloads since I first made it years ago!! We found a lot of cool critters that very first year we did...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Language Arts: Books: Children's Literature / Language Arts: Reading / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 18, 2014 · Last modified March 1, 2016
A couple of weeks ago, I shared a really cute idea for encouraging independent reading. I thought I would also share some books my girls have LOVED between the ages of 4-7 or so: The Wish Cat, Pinkerton, Behave!, The Clown of God, Stellaluna, Caps for Sale Tikki Tikki Tembo (affiliate links) And some more books: The Gardener, I Have a Sister–My Sister Is Deaf, Big Bad...
Freebies / Must Read / Science: Earth Science Unit / Science: Water Unit / Science: Weather Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 16, 2014 · Last modified September 3, 2020
What is meteorology? What tools do scientists use to study the weather? These are some of the basic questions we covered as we started off our weather unit! Below are the pages we went over on our first day… it covers a few basics and some background about the history of meteorology. I also rounded up some interesting weather facts and we read through those as well. Then we’ll be jumping...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Writing / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 24, 2014 · Last modified March 18, 2016
You’ve set up a good writing space, have your supplies – pencils, journals, resource materials. Now what?!! This is the first in a series of 5 posts with lesson ideas to help young writers get started on their writing journey. Introduction: Writing Workshop Mini-Lessons I have spent a lot of time writing about why we use a writing workshop, how we set up and structure our writing workshop, and even went into...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 20, 2014 · Last modified January 28, 2018
One thing about homeschoolers is that each family has its own style. Some people have quite a structure/routine to their homeschool; some people unschool and support and follow the passions and interests of their kids. Our days are fairly loose, but we follow fairly traditional subjects. Homeschoolers often fall into different categories… Charlotte Mason, Montessori, Classical, or use online-curriculums. I would say we are eclectic, hands-on homeschoolers — meaning we...
Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 19, 2014 · Last modified March 1, 2020
Here is the free math lapbook ED (and I) made together. It has all kinds of different activities she was working on from the days of the week and months of the year to the concept of odd-even, more-less, doubling, and other things! At the end of the year last year, I had ED cut out and put together a math lapbook. We didn’t go over much of the material...
Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Writing / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 17, 2014 · Last modified January 30, 2024
How do you help a child who throws his hands up and declares he can’t write, refuses to write, only writes “I suck at writing” or prose of that sort? Well, it has been a long hard journey for my son (10), but things have started to turn around this year and I wanted to share how we’ve made it over that hump… most of the time. *Have a space where...
Freebies / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 12, 2014 · Last modified April 13, 2016
I noticed in the kids’ writing journals that they weren’t using quotation marks correctly. I wanted to go over how to set up dialogues–the use of quotation marks and commas. I also wanted them to think about all the alternatives to using said or asked… there are dozens and dozens of great words. Grammar Quotation Mark Worksheet Said-Asked-Words List My kids love the song and video, What Does the Fox Say? ...
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.
