Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Here’s another picture sent by my sister. This is the livingroom/study and dining room — looks out on the backyard. Yes, that’s insulation hanging on the lamp chain. And on the right, that leg stick up near the far door, that’s the piano. Again, this is one of the rooms on the first floor. The water went at least 5-7 feet higher than this room. This level of the house...
My sister sent this picture of their den/library/study. This area had their computers, a number of tall bookshelves and so forth. The ceiling used to be finished, but this room was fully submerged under the waters; you can see the collapsed ceiling over the top of the other stuff. (The flood waters reached the second story beds, another 5-7 feet above this room.) My sister said they don’t know yet...
My sister, her husband and three kids live and homeschool in Nashville, Tennessee. They have just lost most everything they own when floods rose to above the beds in their second story. The first floor (living room, kitchen, library, den, hobby room) was fully submerged when creek flood levels rose. (We’ve been there, and the water must have risen at least 50 feet to have gotten that high!) Considering that...
I noticed that there are free “guess what” cards at http://www.shop.montessoriprintshop.com/SALE_c69.htm. For example, there’s a close-up picture of a sunflower and one picture from farther away. These cards would probably be appropriate for 2-4 year olds. It’s probably only available for another day or so, but thought I’d mention it here. Also there are some new free cards at http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/assets/PDF/From_Plant_to_Food.pdf showing the food and its product (tomato and ketchup, for...
I spent some time making some cards and games to work withLD on his addition facts the 9s through 18s families (so 4+5=9or 11+7=18, etc.). Each game set works with three families(so pictured below are the games for the 9s, 10s and 11s families). Addition Bingo (below):In the board below, the cards for 9s, 10s, 11s should be upside down in a pile. Each player takes a turn picking upa...
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Math: Preschool Math
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 28, 2010
In this game, I made a number of dice with the numbers0-56-1010-15Each player chooses the mouse they want to be. Theneach player choose one die for that round. Both/allplayers roll their dice and pick up that number ofcookies for their mouse. Spin the spinner for that round and see who the “winner/s”was/were. cookies were from:http://www.learningtreasures.com/suite101/literature/cookie_math_plate_counters.jpgother cute activities relating to If You Give A MouseA Cookie from Belinda Mooney are at:http://kidscrafts.suite101.com/article.cfm/i_give_a_mouse_a_cookie_pattensI...
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 28, 2010
As you probably know, we’re getting ready to leaveAustralia. The packers come next Tuesday, soI’ve been quite busy. Our suitcases are mostlypacked with the things we’ll need/use for thenext 3-4 months. I thought I’d share thisbag of preschool -tot activities I put together.We’ll be spending a week here, a week therefor a couple of months, so this should be a goodcollection of small things to pull out when inneed in...
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 28, 2010
Paper strips, swirls for cutting Pom-poms for sorting Opposites puzzles Find the word, clothes pin activityfrom http://sunflowerschoolhouse.com/
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 28, 2010
The kids place the hair barret ontoa rubber band and snap it closed.I first saw this idea atmymontessorijourney.typepad.com Pony bead counting activity A bag full of finger puppet animals Sewing with a large embroidery needleand huge buttons.
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 27, 2010
Matching: I made this using foam boards,matching foam animals/shapes and coveringit with contact paper. An inexpensive wooden teddy bear puzzle. Frog/Dragon Fly Color Matching Gamefrom filefolderfun.com Marbles, golf-t and suction cup the golf-tand marbles are for doing balancing “relay”races trying to walk keeping the marblebalanced.
This year (2009-2010) our main units included natural disasters,China, biomes/animal habitats, ancient Greece (we did ancientEgypt just before this school year officially started and before Istarted this blog), flowers and apples (the last two were gearedmore towards my preschooler). We also enjoyed lots of scienceexperiments (almost weekly) and the younger kids really enjoyedthe theme time tables. We did a lot with geography throughout the year and reallyenjoyed doing country/continent swaps...
This is probably not the typical workbox picture, is it?!As you can see, we’ve broken down the workboxes andstacked them, ready for the movers. Now all schoolsupplies that I’ve chosen for the next few months are inthe green bag there. (Ignore the blue tray; it has manipulatives,workbox subject labels and other random things that haveyet to be packed and put away.)These days, school is considerably less “hands on” sincewe haven’t...
Like many people, we were short on space. Our workboxeswere set up between the kitchen and hallway doors. Imade the red book display case to fit under the hangingbaskets which held some of the bigger books that we usedregularly. The hard plastic files (to the left of the red bookdisplay shelf) helped keep things organized for the work-boxes. They held things like Montessori math manipulativescut up “science-take it to your...
We’ll also be bringing the beloved craft table because it’slong (fits three kids comfortably) and is the perfect heightfor them. A friend made it and it’s been wonderful forsetting up our weekly science experiments and theme time tables.You can have a browse of what we did this past year if you lookthrough the tab at the right.
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.
