Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Here’s a picture of a bull ant that was on displayat the science museum (see the story aboutDD getting bit by these in the post below). Thisant is over an inch long! Here are some of the other displays — skeletons,mammals, snakes and lizards.
We have little jack-o-lanterns and some Halloween-themedbeads that we’ve used for math in various ways. Today, DDhad to choose four cards, count out that number of beadsand put them into the jack-o-lantern. It helps with one-to-one correspondence. For LD I’ve used these same items for addition and skipcounting practice (basic mulitiplication groupings). ED just likes to put the beads into the jack-o-lantern whichI let her do if I can sit...
For once, this is an activity that I thoughtup! Many people have talked about dyeingnoodles with rubbing alcohol. I didn’t likethat idea because ED puts everything in hermouth. So–I tried dyeing the noodles withvinegar and food coloring. I left them in thevinegar/coloring solution for about 3-5 minutes,then dried them overnight. I took a bunch of skewers and cut off the sharptips, put them together with a rubber band.Then I wove...
I made this with help from DD and LD a while back to useat Kindergym (we had a “Under the Sea” theme for a fewweeks). I’ve put this on the shelf for ED and added acovered tube to the smaller hole. She’s had fun puttingthe sea creatures into the box and retrieving them.
ED is signing “star” “fish”!
Here she’s signing “ice cream”!!
This was one of the last opportunities we’d have to gocamping for the weekend as the weather will soon betoo hot. Even as it was, temperatures ranged from 9 to 34Celsius (or 48 to 95Fahrenheit). It was COOOooooldat night (especially compared to our afternoon)! In the first picture you can see our campsite across on theother side of the dry river bed. (Click on the picture toenlarge it.) One little...
The kids enjoyed this little photo project a lot. Grandmaand Grandpa sent us this “Nature Print sun sensitivephoto paper” from Oriental Trading ($6.00US, for 12photo sheets). Here’s what we did: 1) The kids collected small nature items. 2) I used a cereal box and covered the photo paper overwith the other side of the box whenever they wereselecting their items. They arranged their nature objectsjust so. 3) Then we took...
Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 11, 2009
We had a wonderful weekend camping and I’ll share more about that soon. Today is DD’s birthday, though, so I won’t spend much time on the computer today. Last night I needed a few more ideas for ED and checked out a website I really enjoy. It’s truly a wonderful resource if you have a toddler or young preschooler. This Mom shares a wonderful assortment of activities for her son...
This afternoon DD and I sat down together to put togethera new felt board scene. This is based on Five Little Pumpkins .DD and ED had fun making and remaking the jack-o-lanterns’faces. I read the story several times while DD acted itout on the felt board. I took the picture in the book display area I was mentioningin the post I wrote yesterday about reading (scroll down below). By the...
Arts and Crafts / Holiday: Halloween / Outdoor Fun
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 6, 2009
A while back I read about a family who put paint inziploc bags and had the kids jump on them. Nowthat the weather is warming up, we decided to giveit a try. Some of the bags we filled with paint andair; some of them we had paint, vinegar and bakingsoda (to expand the bag). LD was able to pop allthe bags (and the ones without vinegar/bs “lookednicer”), but DD and...
It’s obviously most interesting to post about the livelier things we do at the Homeschool Den. But to be honest, I really enjoy the quieter things we do as well. We read lots and lots of books together. I have a wooden napkin holder where I display 3-5 new picture books on the dining room table. I change this several times a week (as needed). Whenever we sit together at...
On Tuesdays, I volunteer to help with Kindergym. Wehelp set up. Even LD (who is technically too old for it) hasa good time because his buddy often stays home fromschool so they can play together. ED (20months) lovesall the equipment. Here are a few things that were in our workboxes for theafternoon — tangrams, the hundred’s board puzzle andskip counting 2 to 200 maze (which I laminated). I found the...
Here’s another number line recognition game I playedwith DD. We put the numbers in order from 0 to 13. Thenshe had to close her eyes while I switched two cards. Shehad to find and correct the switch. Then it was her turnto switch the cards while I closed my eyes. In the end,we switched lots of numbers and put them back in theright order. With the same set-up, we also...
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.
