Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 11, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
We’ve been traveling quite a bit. We met up with my sister in Washington D.C. who flew in from Nashville for a couple of days. Our family took the opportunity to see some sites while my sister was working. We had to check out the cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin: On our walks we saw the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial (from afar, the kids didn’t have the energy to...
Freebies / Must Read / Science / Science: Earth Science Unit / Science: Rocks and Minerals / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 19, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
We finished up our close look at the three types of rocks and moved on to minerals. Last summer I bought a couple extra bags to pan for rocks and minerals when we were at an amusement park. I saved it just for this unit and the kids loved it!! It was a bit chilly out, so we had to use a big plastic bin in the bathroom rather than...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 18, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
This time of year, this guy’s the only one in the water! Hope you had a wonderful President’s Day Weekend!
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 7, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
Sometimes it’s enough to get the bags packed and the kids ready; the snack food and water tucked into the car… but there’s not always a big plan when we head off… just a vague notion of where we have to go and who we plan to see. We definitely keep our eyes open for fun activities along the way. That’s how we wound up going into the Smokies, visiting...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Nature / Science / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 5, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
While we were on our road trip we had the opportunity to visit an amazing Nature Center in Nashville, TN with my Sis and her (homeschooling) kids. It had everything from taxidermy animals to look at, nature drawers to explore, microscopes, bird watching and identification, creative play with puppets, puzzles, costumes, blocks and more. I wish we had a place like this near us!! There was a full size...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science: Ocean Unit / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 2, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
We spent an amazing afternoon at the Aquarium of the Smokies. It was really fabulous. There were all different kinds of displays from the Tropical Rain Forest, penguin display, sting ray bay, underwater sea life, whale skeletons, a coral reef, and much more. I’ll try not to overwhelm you with pictures–just putting together a few collages, but it was such a great day it’s been hard whittling down the pictures!! The...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / sports / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 1, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
One of the fabulous things about being homeschoolers is that we can travel when it suits us. We often homeschool when other kids are not in school (for example, we often start back to school in early August and don’t take the same breaks, holidays or snow days that other kids in traditional schools take). Then, when the opportunity arises we head off for a family holiday. We actually got...
Holiday: Christmas Activities / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 24, 2012
Happy Holidays! There are estimates that nearly 93.3 million people will travel this holiday season, with nearly 84.4 million people traveling more than 50 miles. I think my friend, M, and her two kids might get the prize for the longest travel plans — 10,000+ miles from the east coast, USA here over to Victoria, Australia. We, on the other hand, did a short 4 hour trip to see Grandma...
History: American History / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 28, 2012 · Last modified August 18, 2016
Over the course of the week we met families from Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Ohio and New York who had come Colonial Williamsburg for the homeschool experience. During homeschool week they had lots (and lots) of children’s activities. Every activity we went to was absolutely terrific and educational. Here are some of the things we attended during the week: We did both the normal orientation walk as well...
History: American History / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 27, 2012 · Last modified August 18, 2016
We’ve heard wonderful things about the homeschool programs in Colonial Williamsburg in some of the yahoo groups. For two weeks in September, there are programs especially for homeschoolers. They offered discount tickets for homeschoolers and their families and have lots of programs and experiences geared specifically for kids. This year we decided to go with some close friends of ours to check things out. You can spend lots...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 25, 2012
Have you ever dreamed of visiting an almost magical hotel with secret doors hidden everywhere and art, antiques and nick-nacks of every shape, size and description? It has over 20,000 books and 15,000 pieces of art. It’s a mansion that just begs for exploration — and that’s what our family did spending more nearly five hours exploring every nook and cranny trying to find some of the 32 hidden doors...
History: American West Unit / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 13, 2012
My in-laws happen to live right near Branson, Missouri. It’s quite a tourist destination… there are shows of every description… magic shows, country shows, dancing, live music, the Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede, Chinese Acrobats, the art of Kung Fu, blues, the Brady Bunch, a tribute to the Eagles, gospel music and on and on and on. Driving down the main thoroughfare there are fun places everywhere. It is a great...
Homeschool Den / Nature / Outdoor Fun / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 11, 2012
I’ve always been an avid camper and backpacker. I’ve backpacked a number of stretches of the Appalachian Trail and backpacked for nearly a month in the Wind River Range in Wyoming. Hubby and I hiked quite a bit in the Outback in central Australia, did the Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair overland trek in Tasmania, Australia and even had the opportunity to hike along the Annapurna Trail in Nepal. All that’s great, but...
History: American History / History: American West Unit / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 10, 2012
We actually stumbled across this museum, but what a FABULOUS place to visit. Just had to shout that out, it was *that* good! From the time Arkansas became a state in 1836 to the mid 1940s cotton production was common in the Arkansas River lowlands. Men, women and children could be seen picking and stuffing cotton into long sacks in the fall. Tractors were not used for the preparation, planting,...
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.
