Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 22, 2015 · Last modified October 25, 2018
Have you noticed that the longer you talk, the more the kids’ attention wanders? People’s brains stay sharply focused only for short periods… I think I’ve read figures of between 10 and 20 minutes for average kids. But of course, the more interested you are in a subjects, the better able you are to sustain attention. The key to education then is transforming students from passive receivers of information to...
Holiday: Halloween / Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Writing
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 19, 2015 · Last modified September 25, 2018
With Halloween coming up and the house decorated with creepy spider webs and stuff, it’s the perfect time to dabble in writing scary stories! I thought I would share the materials I made for the kids for our Writing Workshop. This lesson was all about Writing Scary Stories! Before they delved in to writing their story, I wanted to spend some time talking about what makes a story creepy. Scary...
Elem-Children's Music 1 (6 yr old) / Homeschool Den / Music
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 14, 2015 · Last modified October 12, 2015
This past week, we talked quite a bit about different music symbols such as treble clef, base clef, natural sign, flat and sharp symbols, crescendo, quarter notes, half notes, etc. etc. (We also went over various notes as we’ve done previous weeks, though I won’t talk about those activities this week.) We played Music Bingo (the easy version). For the link to this and other free music activities, see our...
Ages 2-6: Fall Theme / Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Freebies / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 22, 2015 · Last modified September 25, 2016
Are you looking for free fall printables for PreK-K? Here’s a huge list of fabulous FREE fall-themed packets that have been shared by generous parents and teachers. Get your 3-6 year old into the fall spirit with some of these fall-themed activities and printables. You will find everything from puzzles, counting and letter recognition activities to writing, do-a-dot pages, dot-to-dots and more! Fall Pack from 3 Dinosaurs: Leaves Unit by...
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Language Arts: Reading / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 31, 2015 · Last modified January 22, 2019
Are you looking for a phonics program to help your kids learn to read? I’ve put together some of the phonics readers that we used with my three kids. As you’ll see, all three of my kids had different preferences! I know I have a lot of new readers, and several people reached out to me recently who have preschoolers and are just starting out on this homeschool journey. I...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 26, 2015 · Last modified August 23, 2015
When my kids were first learning to read, we used to play a LOT of games. I had a number of file folder games ready to rotate into their work boxes. I made this two-letter file folder game a while back, but hadn’t gotten around to post it. Better late than never, right?!! So, I hope those of you with young ones on the brink of reading find this useful! ...
Elem-Children's Music 1 (6 yr old) / Homeschool Den / Music
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 24, 2015 · Last modified November 1, 2023
I had a realization recently. While the kids can play pieces on the piano, they cannot read music! So, the plan is to slowly but surely make sure they learn and build on those skills. I hope they learn at least two octaves of notes and their corresponding location on the piano/keyboard. I also want them to learn some of the basic music symbols and music notation. I gathered a...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 3, 2015 · Last modified January 27, 2019
I have a Multiplication by 3s File Folder Game to share with you today! It’s free to download! ED will be working a lot this year on basic multiplication facts. She’ll be starting the year with the 2s, 3s, 5s, and 10s. It’s always better when it’s fun and colorful, so I made her this file folder game for practicing skip counting and multiplication by 3s. How do you use...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 29, 2015 · Last modified July 30, 2015
We’re definitely still in summer mode here… with swimming, camps, play dates, gardening… and an upcoming language immersion camp, but that doesn’t mean that homeschooling isn’t on my mind!! So here are the 10 steps we take to get ready for homeschooling: 1) Send in the official paperwork — the Notice of Intent to Homeschool (if your state require this). Half of my friends have sent theirs in… the other...
History: American History / History: Civics, Government and Economics / History: Geography Activities / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / History: World Religions / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 27, 2015 · Last modified March 1, 2024
When we start off the new school year, I want the kids to go over some basic world facts again. Do they remember… What are the four largest countries? (Russia, Canada, the U.S.A., China) What countries have the most people? (China, India, the U.S.A.) What are the world’s largest cities? (Tokyo, Jakarta, Seoul) Which countries have the longest life expectancy? (Monaco, Macau, Japan) What are the major religions? The packet...
So by now you’ve got the drill! This is the third in this series highlighting a random number of our previous posts. Assortment is probably the key word here because this list is in no particular order. I hope you find a gem or two that you can use in your homeschool or classroom! ~Liesl And now… on to the meat of this post! Rocks, Rocks, Rocks! We did a...
This summer I won’t be posting quite as often, but I will try to post most Mondays (at a minimum)… and will keep FB going once or twice a day with some of our older posts. In the meantime, I’ll be working on other projects to get ready for the fall. I’m working on a couple of cute math packets (addition/subtraction and multiplication), a packet on mammals, an ocean unit...
The past week or so we were away from home… enjoying the tranquility and pre-summer crowds of the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Since my sister homeschools (and thus also has a flexible schedule), it seemed the perfect time to meet up with her family and my folks! Homeschool Graduate: Before I share a couple of pictures… let me brag on my niece (who has been homeschooled K through 12)....
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 27, 2015 · Last modified November 3, 2016
ED is just beginning to work on multiplication. She has been practicing skip counting all year, but is only now starting to work on multiplication itself. I made this bug-themed packet for her for math this week. There are 3 skip counting pages and 5 pages of multiplication practice (using skip counting). She really liked the bug theme… and that’s perfect as we move into summer, right?! These are currently...
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.
