Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 5, 2019 · Last modified March 3, 2021
I just created a new page with a couple of really fun free printables that challenge kids to think critically. Creative Thinking Questions: The first set includes some creative thinking questions I once compiled. I thought it would be fun to start off the day with something a little different for the kids… some off-the-wall creative thinking questions. The kids had fun with this and I know some other homeschooling...
Critical Thinking Activities / Math General Posts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 16, 2015
Today during math circles we had this mind bender: Cut this magic carpet into three pieces and sew it back together to make a 6×6 carpet. DD and LD got it WAAaaaayy before ED and I did. ED was sad that she hadn’t gotten it yet, so LD said Well, you are young and your mind is just developing. Mom’s mind is old and her mind is rotting! That had...
Critical Thinking Activities / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 12, 2015 · Last modified January 2, 2020
A few days ago, I mentioned that we started back into homeschooling with Math Circles rather than jumping into our “normal” math curriculum. What are math circles? From what I understand, they started in Russia where they hosted math contests. Students competed to answer various word problems. The contest itself was designed to get students intrigued and excited about mathematics. There’s something similar here in the US called the Math Olympiad....
Critical Thinking Activities / Games for Thinking and Learning / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 24, 2012
With Halloween right around the corner it seems only fitting that I bring up this game, Mmm Brains. It sounds gruesome, but it’s really just a dice game which requires addition and multiplication. It brings the kids running, so you can’t beat that, right?! This game has five dice with the numbers 1-5 and a brain on each side. Then there are lots of counters (red brains=5 and white brains=1)....
Critical Thinking Activities / Games for Thinking and Learning / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 3, 2012 · Last modified October 31, 2017
This is a series about the logic and critical thinking games we play in our homeschool. We have a table in our homeschool room and I rotate in new games a couple of times a week. These are all games we’ve acquired for schooling (I haven’t received them to review). Back in September I explained… Why games? They’re fun. They can be challenging and helps kids (and adults!) apply creative...
Critical Thinking Activities / Games for Thinking and Learning / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 26, 2012 · Last modified October 31, 2017
This is a series about some of games we include in our homeschool. Set is a fast paced card game that requires the players to think quickly and logically. Set is a fairly easy game to learn to play and can be played by one or more players. To play, we laid out twelve cards. Each card contains one of three symbols (squiggles, diamonds, ovals) in varying numbers (up to three),...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Critical Thinking Activities / Games for Thinking and Learning / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 13, 2012 · Last modified October 31, 2017
Sorry, I had to bump this post back a day because I wanted to honor the mission team from the Mars Exploration Program – and talk about how we (the public) have benefited from the technology spinoffs we derived from the space program. Now on to logic games! This is a series about some of logic and critical thinking games we include in our homeschool. You can see the first...
Critical Thinking Activities / Engineering Challenges / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 21, 2012 · Last modified April 28, 2016
Earlier this semester my friend and I were chatting about math. She said that every Friday they include some critical thinking activities. I thought that was a terrific idea and back in late February I ordered some materials. We added some of these activities into our schedule as well. We generally include critical thinking once a week, but sometimes we skip a week depending on our schedule. Sudoku: The kids...
Engineering - STEM Activities / Engineering Challenges / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 16, 2012 · Last modified May 6, 2016
Challenge your kids to think creatively with this quick activity. This week we had to do our Think Challenge on Monday since I knew I’d be out of commission. The kids were thrilled; they really love these activities! Their challenge was to build as tall a tower as they could with marshmallows and straws. I let ED use wooden skewers because the straws were challenging to work with. Here are...
Engineering - STEM Activities / Engineering Challenges / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 3, 2012 · Last modified March 5, 2019
Engineering Challenge – Week 2 The kids did their second Engineering Challenge this week. Each day I spend time reading a book aloud to the kids. Right now we’re reading a wonderful book about the Oregon Trail. On Thursday I had them try this challenge while I read. The Goal: Build a tower with post-it notes. Make it as sturdy and high as you can. Here are some of the solutions...
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.
