Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Homeschool Den / Montessori (general info) / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 14, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
Homeschooling is so great because you can be flexible and go with the flow when the need arises! We were all prepared to start school with a unit on rocks when my wonderful homeschooling friend offered to give us some flatworms called Planarian. Her family had studied them and their amazing properties. We jumped at the chance to do something new and delved into a week-long study of invertebrates. It...
Arts and Crafts / Holiday: Christmas Activities / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 6, 2012 · Last modified March 16, 2016
There are so many last minute gifts to get…your child’s secret buddy, your niece, your neighbor’s son, the giving tree or your child’s best friend. Here are a couple of unique gifts we’ve given out because they were such HUGE hits with our own kids. 4- to 8-year-old girl The past month, my kids have been obsessed with fuzzy felt friends. We sent this kit as a gift to my 5-year-old (almost...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Chemistry Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 21, 2012 · Last modified March 20, 2018
Isn’t this pretty? This was one of our experiments as we finished up our chemistry unit! One of the chapters in our chemistry book (Real Science 4 Kids-pre-level 1) talked about mixtures. It talked first about how how some mixtures dissolve (like salt in water). Then it went on to talk about soap and soap molecules. We read how soap makes things like butter and grease “dissolve” in water. Detergent...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Chemistry Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 16, 2012 · Last modified June 26, 2020
Our chemistry textbook also talked about acid-base reactions. It explained how antacids can help neutralize the strong acids in your stomach. We contrasted this slow reaction… to the more impressive reaction of baking soda and vinegar! DD was putting her fingers in to see how her stomach would feel. If you haven’t already done Bubble Bombs with your kids, be sure to do that as well! You take a ziploc...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Chemistry Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 5, 2012 · Last modified March 3, 2016
We did a lot of Montessori science when the older kids were little, so this is an experiment we did years ago. Now the older kids are studying chemistry and ED is the perfect age (4) to enjoy the action of this experiment. Using red cabbage juice as the indicator, you add various household ingredients and compare it to an acid-base chart to see where that particular item falls...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Must Read / Science: The 5 Senses
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 20, 2012 · Last modified December 31, 2014
This isn’t breaking news, but it was new to me. I’ve been trying to catch up on some reading of a magazine we get called Science News, when an article caught my attention. It said that sleeping in a room with even very dim artificial light such as a night light, computer screen or TV may cause changes in the brain and depression. The results of a study from Ohio State...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science: Astronomy Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 19, 2012
Don’t forget that on Oct. 21, the annual Orionid meteor shower will hit its peak, offering stargazers a change to see dust from the famed Halley’s Comet light up the night sky. The meteors are debris from this comet that enter Earth’s atmosphere and vaporize as they fall. Experts said that the best viewing will be before dawn on Oct. 20th and before dawn on Oct. 21st. That holds true no...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Chemistry Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 12, 2012 · Last modified June 25, 2018
We moved on from talking about atoms to talking about molecules and chemical bonds. Since my kids are pretty young, this is just a basic introduction to how bonds are formed and made. Building Molecules Worksheet: This is a free download. The screen shot below shows 2 of 3 pages. We spent several days building different kinds of molecules: On the first day we built water, oxygen, hydrogen and hydrogen...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science Experiments / Science: Chemistry Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 9, 2012 · Last modified March 3, 2016
Matter is made of tiny particles that are attracted to one another. We did a series of experiments activities from Middle School Chemistry (the free, downloadable chemistry course) that show that water molecules are, indeed attracted to one another. We first used a medicine dropper to see how much water we could push out of the syringe. We also examined the pictures of the droplets we managed to photograph in...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Chemistry Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 4, 2012 · Last modified March 3, 2016
We’ve been covering the states of matter, atoms and molecules in chemistry. I wanted review some of the information we’ve covered and made some basic worksheets for the kids. First, we went over the three states of matter and looked closely again at the parts of an atom. Molecule Movement Experiment: Then we did a simple experiment with water to show that water molecules can move at different rates. We...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Garden Science / Science: Plant Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 21, 2012 · Last modified August 15, 2019
ED has been learning about plants this past week or two. We talked about the various parts of the plant and then read a bit in our science books about the function of the stem (and trunk) of plants. We revisited an experiment we did 2 1/2 years ago — the celery slurping experiment — as I called it then! This time I bought a bunch of carnations to experiment with...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Chemistry Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 18, 2012 · Last modified February 6, 2023
Are you working on chemistry this year? I thought I’d share some of the activities we did when we learned about the States of Matter. I also link to a number of other posts from our chemistry unit. We’ve been having a blast with chemistry — well not literally, but sure have been learning a lot! Today we did most of the hands on activities suggested by the wonderful, wonderful...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Chemistry Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 17, 2012 · Last modified March 3, 2016
We started our chemistry unit a couple weeks ago. We’re doing lots of reading and really enjoying the books in the NOEO curriculum. We loved, What’s Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew? (affiliate link) It takes a look at protozoa, bacterium, molecules and atoms — even talking about electrons, protons and neutrons. After we read through the book the kids drew pictures of protozoa. (LD’s picture is on the left, DD’s is...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Astronomy Unit / Technology
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 12, 2012
Later today, the mission team for NASA’s long-lived Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity will be awarded the Haley Space Flight Award. Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager, John Callas, will accept the award on behalf of the team. Previous recipients of this prestigious award have included Alan B. Shepard, John Glenn, Thomas Stafford, Robert Crippen, Kathryn Sullivan and the crew of space shuttle mission STS-125, which flew in 2009 on the last shuttle...
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.
