Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 10, 2016 · Last modified July 10, 2017
Welcome to Day 3 of the Back to Homeschool Challenge!! Today, let’s tackle the Subject Planning… I don’t know about you, but I really mull things over in the summer. I generally have tentative plans at the end of the year for the new school year, but given some time, I often change course slightly. Do you need to add in a different topic? Last year in history, for example,...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Technology
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 18, 2016 · Last modified August 19, 2018
This summer I am spending some time looking at some education apps, tools and websites. I thought I’d talk about a few that I’ve heard other educators mention so that you have a chance to look at them before the school year starts as well. 🙂 These look like they might be a fun way to incorporate a bit of technology in those “checking for understanding” moments. I don’t know...
Homeschool Den / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 5, 2016 · Last modified May 5, 2023
We arrived at the Spider Rock Campground at Canyon de Chelly in the evening after a full day (about 10 hours!!) of driving… Howard, the owner of the campground was amazing and treated us like long-lost friends!! (I had emailed with him a number of times to make sure we had accommodations since the kids and I had to drive hundreds (and hundreds!!) of miles to get there.) We had...
When we were planning our trip out West, I purchased a book of some of America’s best geological sites. I read about the Crater of Diamonds state park and the kids were beside themselves at the thought of being able to search for *real* diamonds!! This state park is the world’s eighth largest diamond-bearing volcanic crater. We camped in the state park and tried our hand at diamond mining! Many...
Freebies / History and World Cultures Units
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 23, 2016 · Last modified May 15, 2016
In today’s post, I thought I would re-cap our school year. Looking back, it’s been a really great year! The chart below shares links to some of the history units we covered in our homeschool. As you’ll see below, I made notebook pages and packets to go along with most of the units we covered. 🙂 This year the kids were in Grades 2, 5 and 7. We do our...
Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts / Math--Multiplication
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 18, 2016 · Last modified July 3, 2018
Multiplication and Division Bundle – 250+ pages of Worksheets, Games & Activities (15 pdfs and growing!) When my youngest was 8, she took on the big math task of learning all of her multiplication tables. As my daughter moved into learning her multiplication facts I looked around for the kind of multiplication practice that would help her. The math book she was using went through the math facts a bit...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 14, 2016 · Last modified September 19, 2023
This is a free printable map of the European countries and their flags. We are talking about the countries of Europe at the moment and I thought the flags would be a fun way for the kids to review what they’ve learned so far. I’ve included a couple of different blank maps of Europe. You can print the maps in either portrait or landscape. Both are available in this PDF....
I made a new set of mixed math worksheets for ED. These include multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction problems. She is just starting double-digit multiplication so there are a few of those on each page as well (but only with a few problems at the bottom of each page as she catches on to the idea of carrying). There are 7 pages. These are free to download. Hope someone else...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 11, 2016 · Last modified March 5, 2023
ED is working on the /er/ sound. She really enjoys the spelling word sort activities and enjoys playing these board games, so I made a new spelling activity for her with a desert scene! These cover words spelled with ur such as burn, turn, nurse, church words spelled with ir such as girl, bird, shirt, dirt, circle words spelled with er such as summer, mother, desert words spelled with or...
Homeschool Den / Math--Multiplication
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 4, 2016 · Last modified July 7, 2021
ED is working on the 8s multiplication facts. I’ve found that the other multiplication packets I made have worked really, really well for her. This lizard-themed worksheet packet wound up being 37 pages. 🙂 There’s a FREE multiplication and division (for the 8s) game board for you later in the post. 🙂 Skip Counting Song for the 8s In our family the kids sang the 8s to the tune of...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / History: China Unit / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 3, 2016 · Last modified February 1, 2016
This year, Chinese New Year is on Monday, February 8th, 2016. I wanted to share the free printable I made last year and also share the China lapbook and some of the activities the kids did when they were ages 2-6 or so. I also highlighted some of the books that the kids loved at that age. First, here is the free printable. There are clothes-pin number and letter cards....
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 29, 2016 · Last modified March 1, 2024
Homeschool History Units I wanted to make a page that will make it easier to see what history resources we have available on our blog. These are some of the history units we have covered so far in our homeschool and the posts I’ve written related to each unit. As many of you know, we *love* hands-on activities and have done lots of creative activities along the way. 🙂 You...
History: Middle Ages / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 25, 2016 · Last modified March 23, 2022
We spent a couple of weeks studying the events of the 1300s. Today I’m going to share the worksheets I made for the kids about the Crusades, Hundred Year’s War, and the Black Plague. I’ll also share the simulation: Will you survive the Black Plague?!! To start, we covered the history of the Crusades, Hundred Year’s War and the Black Plague. We read the chapters in our history book. We...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 14, 2016 · Last modified November 3, 2016
Recently I came across these multiplication game boards I made for LD years ago. Originally I made it for LD to practice his 7s, but then I made another for the 6s. I thought ED would have fun reviewing her 6s and 7s facts when we start back to school. We’ve been playing these daily since the holidays! I’m going to share this game again for those who might be...
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.
