Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
A few days ago we got all of our stuff from Australia. There are boxes everywhere and then there’s all the stuff that’s out of the boxes, but hasn’t yet found a home! Meanwhile, we’re trying to get the kids into a bit of a routine. We’re trying to ease back into our homeschool activities. They’ve also spent hours playing with their toys and re-discovering all their belongings. I finally...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Language Arts: Writing
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 31, 2010
LD is working in the Handwriting Without Tears cursive workbook. DD is using sandpaper letters. She also wanted a workbook to practice her writing. This workbook was from Grams.
This week reviewed the seven continents (and sang the continent song). We used a different map than the one pictured here and moved magnetic continents to the correct place on the map. DD asks again and again, “Do we live in America now?” Even little ED has asked, “Is this home? Daddy home? LD home? Boomer (the dog) home?” and through the entire family. Change is hard, I think. ...
A very small creek runs behind the house. The kids have spent hours hunting for frogs, salamanders and water bugs. We continue to find new things in the woods near our house. We went on a short hike the other evening and came across yellow, red and purple mushrooms too. These are the only new photos to add to our growing mushroom/fungi photo collection, though! Last year, we studied the...
Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Nature / Outdoor Fun
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 23, 2010
We made it to our new state last Wednesday and settled on our new home on Monday. Yay!!! It’s been extremely busy unpacking and sorting through the belongings we had in storage for twelve years. We also had to get new driver’s licenses and things like that. But in the mean time we are really amazed by our beautiful new surroundings. What contrast to the Outback; it is so humid...
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Workboxes
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 17, 2010
We’ve pretty much resorted to ‘natural learning’ these past two months as we travel from state to state making our way to our new home. But in the meantime, I have been planning and preparing for the new school year to come. We use a smattering of curriculum resources which I distribute into workboxes and centers. While we do most workboxes, most days we don’t have a set orders to...
Earlier today LD, DD and I went out to collect some fossils for some cyber-friends. As LD reached under a rock he got stung by something pretty terrible. I know there are scorpions in Missouri as hubby once stepped on one here in Grams and Gramps’ house. We don’t know what it was exactly that got LD today, but cold ice compresses and benadryl spray seemed to alleviate most of...
Nature / Outdoor Fun / Outdoor: Fossils / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 12, 2010
We walk Boomer around Grams and Gramps’ neighborhood several times a day. Now that we know there are fossils around we keep our eye out for new discoveries. This morning, ED wanted to jump off a big, flat boulder. I leaned down to have a closer look and noticed these delicate fossil impressions. The rock face was a different consistency than rocks in which the crinoids (see the posts below)...
We have had a wonderful time with Grams and Gramps. One afternoon we went to the lake for the day. The water was beautiful and we all enjoyed our swim. Afterward we had a lovely time at the edge of the lake feeding the birds, turtles and fish and playing at the shady playground. We’ve also thoroughly enjoyed the local attractions near Grams and Gramps. We’ve been to a number...
Nature / Outdoor Fun / Outdoor: Fossils / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 8, 2010
Grams uses rocks from the area to decorate her garden. As LD was exploring and looking around he noticed a brachiopod fossil embedded in one of the rocks. The more we looked around, the more amazing fossils we found in the rocks around their house!
Nature / Outdoor Fun / Outdoor: Fossils / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 8, 2010
We all walked up the hill from Grams and Gramps’ house and looked around at the rocks in the field there. LD found an amazingly well preserved, complete brachiopod fossil! It’s about two inches across. From what I can tell, this fossil and the others we found are well over 300 million years old. I find that simply astounding.
Nature / Outdoor Fun / Outdoor: Fossils / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 8, 2010
A few days later while we were walking around Grams and Gramps’ neighborhood we saw an outcropping of rocks. Upon closer inspection, we saw that the ENTIRE rock section was covered with fossils. Most of the fossils and fossil bits are crinoids (ancient sea lilies). Many of them were loose on the ground, thousands are embedded in the rocks and they vary in size from just barely visible to as...
Nature / Outdoor Fun / Outdoor: Fossils / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 8, 2010
Above you can see a brachiopod embedded in the rock along with lots of crinoid pieces. Look how long this crinoid stem is! We brought a fossil book out with us and LD spent along time reading through the book and comparing our finds to the illustrations and photos in the book. That’s learning at its best, right?!
When we were at the La Brea Tar Pits in California last month, I took this photo of a painting depicting ancient sea life. In the painting you can see crinoids (sea lilies) in the background, trilobites (towards the bottom of the painting), ammonites (which look like snail shells) and more.
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.
