Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Our cakes these days always have decorated cookies onthem instead of fancy icing. For one thing, my cakedecorating skills are lacking, but also the kids lovedecorating the cookies and everyone gets to be involved. We had a lovely birthday, though ED was a bit under the weather.
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Language Arts: Writing
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 2, 2010
I wanted to share a couple of things that are workingreally well for us for handwriting. I had heard aboutsandpaper letters. In fact, I’ve heard that a lot of peoplehave made their own. I decided to buy sandpaper letters(ours are from didax.com). I have found them SO helpful.Both LD and DD enjoy doing them and it helps LD withsome of the letters he hasn’t been forming properly. I wish I...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 2, 2010
Grandpa also sent us some pattern blocks when he sentthe sandpaper (tactile) letters. ED and DD have reallybeen enjoying them a lot! We found lots of free patternblock printables at http://prekinders.com/pattern-blocks/I printed them in color on one side and black and whiteon the other (to make it more challenging for DD).
Outdoor Fun / Science / Where We Used to Live (Australia posts)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 2, 2010
The cicadas are out now and I promised LD that wecould go to the park to hunt for cicadas. I packed a picniclunch and we headed there after Kindergym (for ED). At first the only wildlife we saw were the birds (galahs,middle picture and the crested pigeon, bottom).
Outdoor Fun / Science / Where We Used to Live (Australia posts)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 2, 2010 · Last modified May 18, 2015
Then we saw the dreaded bull ant (these ants are an inch long and inject an acid that REALLY hurts). Poor DD has been bitten by these several times (but not yesterday!) I was even nervous taking these photos because the ants are so aggressive!
Outdoor Fun / Science / Where We Used to Live (Australia posts)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 2, 2010 · Last modified July 21, 2020
But then after our picnic lunch we went down closer to the (now mostly dry) river bed and saw lots of little critters– a little frog, a cicada coming out of its shell and a large 6-inch/15 cm praying mantis. By the way, once the cicada has dried, it is orange and black we just happened on it in the ten minutes or so when it’s still drying and the...
Outdoor Fun / Science / Where We Used to Live (Australia posts)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 2, 2010 · Last modified May 18, 2015
LD spotted another cicada just about to emerge from its shell (this time in our backyard). I didn’t get the camera in time for the initial emergence, but I promised LD to put pictures up. To be honest, I find this as fascinating as the kids!! How amazing nature is!!
LD really enjoys this activity. I’ve talked about itbefore, but it’s worth another mention. It’s adaptedfrom Peggy Kaye’s Games for Math. On the back of a rug, I drew a target (it’s hard tosee the target in the picture but the rug works wellbecause it has little rubber nubby things that helpstop the paper clip from sliding). The center circleis worth 1000, the next ring is 100, the next is...
Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 2, 2010
Honey over at Sunflower Schoolhouse made a very cute princess-themed board game that you can download for free. It is a generic game and you can fill in the cards to suit whatever you are studying. Here’s the link to the Princess Quest Game.
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / History: Geography Activities / Science / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 1, 2010 · Last modified March 22, 2016
Today we started our big unit on biomes (deserts, forests, tundra, etc.) and animal habitats. I’m so excited about the pin map I made! I bought the picture cards set of biomes from http://teacherdesk.info/ (for $2.00 US). I printed them out along with some of the smaller photos. (See the photo below this post.) I printed out the world biome map and the key from http://www.science-house.org/workshops/buncombe/Mazzei/index.html Then I combined the...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / History: Geography Activities / Science / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 1, 2010
The biomes picture pack came with 30 cards, flow charts and more.
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / History: Geography Activities / Science / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 1, 2010 · Last modified March 22, 2016
World Biomes Pin Map – Rain Forest, Desert, Savanna, Tundra and More For the map and pieces to this map click the link above!! I was pretty excited with how this turned out! I made this over the Christmas holidays and have been itching to show the kids. What do you think?!! This is the full version, but I’ll be using it piece-meal as we cover a new biome. Again, continue on to this...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Science / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 1, 2010 · Last modified November 26, 2015
————– Here’s what we did today with our forest biome study: 1) We sang the continent song and the kids placed the continents in the world map (the world pin map is at the top right almost out of the picture). 2) We talked about the fact that different places in the world have different temperatures and different climates (ie. different biomes). We talked about our own climate (a desert)...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Arts and Crafts / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 1, 2010
This week we’re going to make a diaorama on thedeciduous forest and its animal inhabitants. First wemade deciduous trees. The kids used cut up tissue paperand placed the bits onto contact paper. Then we putgreen paper onto the contact paper and cut out a treeshape. We’ll add a tree trunk later. Our other project today was to make coffee groundsquirrels. The kids decided to use colored sand for thesmaller version...
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.
