Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
History: American History / Homeschool Den / Outdoor Fun / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 31, 2012
Have you heard of the Lost Colony? It’s a mystery that has lasted more than 400 years. We delved a bit into that mystery last week! Roanoke Island Festival Park was an amazing interactive history site. The kids and I spent over six hours learning about the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island. Back in 1587 a second attempt was made by Sir Walter Raleigh to create a lasting settlement in...
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 / 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...
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...
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 / Language Arts: Spelling / Language Arts: Writing / Math General Posts / Music / Nature / Outdoor Fun / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 20, 2012
I think we all worry a lot about what our kids need to know right now. What skills should they have? Can they do what they’re supposed to in fill-in-the-blank subject? We’re currently working on lots of stuff — math, spelling, physics, critical thinking, writing skills, music, but ultimately what is important that they remember and know from *this* day or *this* week? What do I want my kids to learn?...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Nature / Outdoor Fun / Outdoor: Fossils / Science / Science: Ocean Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 8, 2012 · Last modified April 1, 2016
We love fossils! I guess the fire was first lit in Australia. My scientist friend told us about a creek south of Alice Springs where people have found lots of fossils. (See original post here: Fossils in Australia and the photos below.) We took the kids and made some great finds. Even my friend, Peter, was impressed! LD was hooked on fossils! Not too long after that we...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Nature / Outdoor Fun
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 6, 2012 · Last modified February 9, 2017
This week was a bit out of the ordinary. We did a skeleton version of school each day. The kids did Math Spelling (we use All About Spelling) Grammar (see yesterday’s post) Independent reading (for about an hour each day) I read a chapter each day from our book on Sir Isaac Newton We worked on our Fifty States song. We’ve been working on that slowly, slowly this entire year....
Engineering - STEM Activities / Engineering Challenges / Homeschool Den / Outdoor Fun
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 23, 2012 · Last modified May 6, 2016
The Parachute Challenge! I supplied the kids with cups, yarn, tape, plastic bags, scissors, and a hole puncher. Their challenge was build a parachute that could safely transport objects down from a 12 foot drop. They got busy building and testing their parachutes out with coins. Then they were ready for the big test — a long drop with raw eggs. Our Results? I’m happy to report all...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Nature / Outdoor Fun
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 18, 2012 · Last modified April 1, 2016
We do this activity about once a year, but it’s always a hit with the kids! Back as a child I always did this with pine cones, but since we didn’t have pine cones readily accessible we improvised using a bit of bark. The kids spread peanut butter all over the bark and then poured bird seed on it. Our windows are all quite high off the...
Nature / Outdoor Fun / Science / Science: Garden Science / Science: Plant Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 17, 2012 · Last modified March 22, 2016
It’s that time of year again! Our dining room table and a second table are covered with dirt planters! Last week the kids and I planted some seeds together. The kids are always excited to watch the seedlings start to grow. You can tell the kids helped since there are so many seedlings in that one pot to the right!! We also weeded and worked on one...
I really try to make sure the kids spend time outdoors. We don’t have a playground, but they manage to find things to entertain themselves. It’s been a funny winter here with lots of mild days and only a bit of snow now and then. A couple days ago the kids decided they wanted to do some “hard work.” (I kind of wonder if that is because of all the...
We still love going hiking along the trail that heads off into the woods behind our house.
We set up two slip-and-slides on the “not so steep” section of our yard. The kids had a blast! LD went so fast he’d shoot past the the end of the second slide and continue onto the grass another 7-10 feet! And by the way, LD is blurry because of speed!
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.
