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Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Language Arts: Reading
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 21, 2010
Here are some of the Cinderella cards. The kids really enjoyed this game. Each player takes a turn turning over and reading the card. They keep any word they read. If a player gets a shoe card, s/he gets to take another player’s card. When the midnight card gets turned over, the round ends and the winner of that round is the player with the most cards.
LD and I played this today (while DD filled her cherry tree!)First we went over the value of the cards using thesandpaper notes (in black). Then as each player flippedover a card, s/he went the number of beats on the card(so LD is putting four cherries on his cherry tree becausehe turned over a whole note).
I never got a chance to post about our science center experiment last week. We planted seeds in various ways. 1) We put seeds on damp paper towels and hung them in the window. 2) We put sprout seeds in a jar on the dining room table. 3) We planted seeds in soil in jars (covered with glad-wrap to trap the moisture). 4) And, we planted some seeds in the...
We had the quickest results with the seedlings in the window. Overall, we had a lot to talk about because the seeds on the kitchen table started to sprout — and then died when they weren’t kept moist (we went camping this weekend). And the seeds at the bottom of the bags in the window didn’t sprout because they were submerged in water. That led to some good talks about...
History: Geography Activities / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 18, 2010 · Last modified November 15, 2015
Today I gathered up the various foods and spices that go along with the rain forest plant cards. The kids were intrigued and excited (“we get to TRY everything, right?!!”) To introduce the rain forests, we first did our world pin map (bottom right) and sang our continent song. Then we pulled out the biome pin map, placed the deciduous and coniferous forests (that we studied last week) and then...
History: Geography Activities / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 18, 2010
So, here are the cards I made. I spent a long time lastnight trying to see if I could link a nice picture from Scribd,but had to give up. Here are some photos, though clickingon the links below or on the sidebar will give you the niceversion to download. I laminated my cards, sorry for the flash spots!
I’ve been quite ill this week (I think I was awake for a total of three hours yesterday), so I won’t be posting very much this week. Someone shared a link to the learning ark where there was a wonderful hands on activity about the layers of the earth. There are printable layers of the earth cards at Cultivating Dharma.
Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Where We Used to Live (Australia posts)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 16, 2010 · Last modified May 18, 2015
I had a wonderful conversation with my sister the other evening. (My amazing sister who homeschools her three kids, holds a full-time job and whose husband is currently deployed for nine or ten months. Truly an amazing, inspiring person in my life.) Anyway, I was talking about how the blog world is so inaccurate and really doesn’t show what life is really like for us. The reality is,...
Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Where We Used to Live (Australia posts)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 16, 2010 · Last modified May 18, 2015
Last week we enjoyed an outing to the reptile centre where the kids got to hold a bearded dragon, blue tongued lizard (first and second photos) and a python. We enjoyed checking everything out! Below (3rd) Green Tree Frog 4) Bearded dragon
Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Where We Used to Live (Australia posts)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 16, 2010 · Last modified May 18, 2015
1) Eastern Brown Snake 2) Frilled Necked Lizard 3-4) Perentie (it’s shedding its skin) I should add that this perentie is probably just over 1 meter/3 feet long. The largest perentie can grow to be over 2 meters long (up to 7 or 8 feet long!).
Even though we started up with music classes a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been (finally) giving more thought to the resources, games and structure I want for our ‘class’ (by that I mean me, hubby and the kids). Each ‘class’ (sorry for that word, can’t think of an alternative!!) session lasts about 45 minutes. We usually have music class for about 12-14 weeks or so. I thought I would...
To introduce the kids to quarter notes (crotchet),half-notes (minim), whole note (semibreve), etc., I made aset of sandpaper music symbols. You can see where Igot the original idea here at laytonmusic or you candownload the paper symbols here. I’m grateful she sharedthis great idea and resource! We’ve used them blind-folded;we have them out when go over our rhythm cards, whenwe’ve played music file-folder games, etc. I often use the symbols...
I thought I’d explain how I use the rhythmcards in case you are wondering. I use thisterminology: quarter note=tahalf note= ta 2dotted half note= ta 2 3whole note= ta 2 3 42 eighth notes= ti-tirest=shh I would say the card aloud, the kids repeat. Once the kids are proficient, you can addclapping and/or rhythm sticks. I’ll give you examples of how I would “say” the cards: (Others might not do...
When I first introduced quarter notes, half notes andwhole notes to the kids, I showed the kids the sandpapernotes. They looked at the notes, felt them, and also shuttheir eyes to guess what they had. Then I showed them the rhythm pizza pieces. Westacked them and talked about how many quarter sliceswere needed to make a whole pizza, etc. I thought thiswas a clever, creative way to introduce the topic...
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.
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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.
