Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Must Read / Science / Science: Simple Machines Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 11, 2013 · Last modified April 6, 2019
I have kids of different ages (5, 8 and 10). We all did this simple machines unit together. It was perfect for my younger two — quite easy for my oldest, but from here we’re going to go on to more complicated topics… inventions and electricity (see our STEM Electricity and Circuits Packet here) which are more suited to my older two. It works best for our family to do...
We have a wonderful tech team here at Parents. You might have noticed that the categories feature of my blog is now back! Hooray! Ever since I started this blog I have been categorizing things into different units. If you’re doing a study of Ancient Egypt or natural disasters, the human body or the ocean, or just want to look through the dozens and dozens of posts I did when...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Homeschool Den / Montessori (general info) / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 14, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
Homeschooling is so great because you can be flexible and go with the flow when the need arises! We were all prepared to start school with a unit on rocks when my wonderful homeschooling friend offered to give us some flatworms called Planarian. Her family had studied them and their amazing properties. We jumped at the chance to do something new and delved into a week-long study of invertebrates. It...
Science / Science: Human Body Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 26, 2011 · Last modified February 21, 2022
Our study of the heart and circulatory system started with a listen to our own heartbeats. We measured our heart rates when resting and after walking, running and skipping. Then using a graph put out by Texas heart institute(4th grade curriculum, p. 25, no longer available), we graphed our results. Heart as a Pump: We did this experiment: When your heart beats it acts like a tennis ball filled with...
Science / Science: Human Body Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 19, 2011 · Last modified February 21, 2022
Our Study of the Human Hand Why do we have so many bones in our hand? We talked about the fact that there are 27 bones in the hand. First, to demonstrate why this is important I did an activity we had done a couple years ago. We pretended that we just had one bone per finger by taping popcycle sticks to their fingers. Then they had to pick up...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 16, 2023
Hi! How do you know what to teach? You and the kids get to decide! This is the final email in this series. A few days ago, I talked about planning in a general way. I shared our free curriculum resource guides as well as the free printable Homeschool Science Unit Checklist for Elementary and Middle School and a similar Similarly, this history checklist might help you choose the time...
All About Homeschooling! / Free Curriculum Resource Guides / Free Homeschool Planner / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 5, 2023 · Last modified August 10, 2023
Hi! I’m Liesl! It is conference season again and I wanted to share our free conference handouts not only with those who are attending/attended this weekend’s conference, but for my audience in general! I hope you find some helpful resources here! If you attended the homeschool conference, you probably noticed that we have a lot of history and science resources as well as other packets for German, Spanish, math (K-2...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 27, 2022 · Last modified March 24, 2022
We have a FREE downloadable Nature Scavenger Hunt printable that has been hugely popular over the years. I wanted to share this fun activity with you again today! Every spring, as the weather became nicer and nicer we spent more and more time outdoors. We did this scavenger hunt for years. I know we’re not alone because this printable has gotten well over 75,000 downloads since I first made it...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 6, 2022 · Last modified January 28, 2024
These Valentines Addition and Subtraction Worksheets are currently FREE! Grab this cute set of Valentine’s Day Math Worksheets while they are free! I made a new set of Valentine’s Day math worksheets for students who are beginning to work on double-digit addition. There are a few practice pages with simple addition and subtraction problems. Then there are double digit addition and subtraction worksheets. Two of the worksheets require no carrying...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 19, 2021 · Last modified June 28, 2022
What kind of Homeschool Science Supplies should you have on hand? I would suggest that you acquire things slowly as you dive into various science units. A couple of things that we have used frequently (multiple times a year) are a dissection microscope and a molecular molecule kit. More about those below! We love doing hands-on activities and experiments with our science units. Although I have tried to include that...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 6, 2020 · Last modified September 5, 2022
Frequently Asked Questions About Me: I’m Liesl and I have been an educator my entire career. Before I had kids, I taught high school (history and German) and college history. Since having kids, I started making and sharing curriculum packets. I love trying to make units engaging and hands on, yet in depth! It’s my passion! We have homeschooled right from the start. You can read more about our homeschool...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 27, 2020 · Last modified August 10, 2023
There are a number of different Earth Science BUNDLE options and I wanted to create a new page to show what options are available (like I’ve done for the Big Animal Bundle, Biology Bundle , Chemistry Bundle, Human Body Bundle, a new Nature Studies Bundle and Spelling Bundle). You can still purchase these units separately or in various combinations depending on your need. These units are PDF downloads. Be sure...
History: Geography Activities / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 15, 2020 · Last modified March 1, 2024
Hands-On Geography Activities appeal to all ages from tots to teens!! We often start off with geography activities, whether that’s at the beginning of the year or when we are starting new history units. Geography activities can be fun & hands-on and provide the framework for understanding history. I thought I would share age-by-age what kinds of geography activities we have done along the way. Way back when my kids...
The Cicada Packet has been updated in 2024! Cicadas are such a wonderful part of summer! In fact, the woods behind our house is filled with their calls right now! I thought I would put together some cicada worksheets, notebook pages and a lapbook so kids can learn more about this fascinating insect! Some facts about cicadas: Did you know that there are over 3,000 types of cicadas? While most...
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.
