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Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Physics Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 30, 2012 · Last modified February 4, 2016
Beep, Beep! Class, it’s time for another field trip! We went to participate in the largest science celebration in the U.S.A. The kids got to participate in hundreds of hands-on exhibits! We got up really early and drove down to the 2nd annual USA Science and Engineering Festival last Friday. It was phenomenal! The mission of the festival was “to re-invigorate the interest of our nation’s youth in science, technology, engineering and...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 27, 2012 · Last modified March 1, 2017
Last week I put together my huge list of activities to do with my preschooler. One thing I haven’t done in a long time is our “Theme Time” activities. It is such an easy way to incorporate those games that get shoved to the back shelf. Last week we did a lot of insect-themed activities. Here are some of the things we did together: ED did lots of different crafts....
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Spelling
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 26, 2012
It probably comes as no surprise that we’ve been into the shuttle this past week or so! We use All About Spelling and I made a word sort that goes along with volume three (though since it’s a simple sort you can use it with your kids any time even if you don’t use All About Spelling). This is a space-themed word sort for long-o words. Just so you know...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Interviews with other Homeschoolers
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 25, 2012 · Last modified April 16, 2015
This week we’re going across the ocean to talk with April, an Australian homeschooler and author of the blog, Learning Alongside. Welcome! April, I love the title of your blog. Can you explain why you chose “Learning Alongside” as the name of your blog? From the beginning of our homeschooling journey I have been learning. I never realised how much I didn’t know about my children, our family dynamics and myself. ...
Ages 2-6: Clocks - Telling Time / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 24, 2012
My kids and I have been playing a lot of “Time Bingo” lately. It has kids recognize the time at five minute intervals. I love the fact that all the clock faces on the bingo cards are different. We got this as a Christmas give from Grams and Gramps, but I see on Amazon that it’s pretty reasonable in price (currently $4.00). Just to make sure the kids knew what...
Holiday: Earth Day / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Must Read / Science / Science: Earth Science Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 23, 2012
We learned some really amazing space missions are in development! Last week we watched the Space Shuttle Discovery in awe as it flew close by our house towards its final destination. The Space Shuttle Program has truly come to an end. We went to see the space shuttle is in its new home at the Udvar-Hazy National Air and Space Museum, but we were surprised to learn just how much...
Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Spelling / Language Arts: Writing / Math General Posts / Music / Nature / Outdoor Fun / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 20, 2012
I think we all worry a lot about what our kids need to know right now. What skills should they have? Can they do what they’re supposed to in fill-in-the-blank subject? We’re currently working on lots of stuff — math, spelling, physics, critical thinking, writing skills, music, but ultimately what is important that they remember and know from *this* day or *this* week? What do I want my kids to learn?...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Interviews with other Homeschoolers
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 19, 2012 · Last modified April 13, 2016
This is a continuation of my interview with Brandy, author of Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood. If you missed yesterday’s post (Part I) be sure to go back and read her description of classical education and the weekly educational community they participate in, Classical Conversations. The second part of this interview focuses a bit more on their day-to-day homeschool style. I often ask others if they have a particular style of homeschooling. How...
Earlier today on my Facebook page I wrote about the kinds of teaching moments that really need to happen here at the Homeschool Den! Sigh… I bet there’s someone out there that can relate! 🙂
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Interviews with other Homeschoolers
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 18, 2012 · Last modified April 13, 2016
In this series, I have had the privilege of interviewing other homeschoolers from across the country. This week I interviewed Brandy, the author of the inspiring and informative blog, Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood. Brandy is a classical educator and her boys participate weekly in the educational program, Classical Conversations. She will tell us much more about that in just a moment! Welcome Brandy! First, could you tell us the age of...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Astronomy Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 17, 2012
We were outside this morning on the lookout for the Space Shuttle Discovery. We were so excited to have it fly by at tree-line! Naturally we had to take a million pictures as it flew by! A little while later we went inside to watch the drama unfold on NASA TV as it landed at Dulles Airport! Pictures courtesy of NASA TV. We talked a lot about the space shuttle...
Holiday: Earth Day / Homeschool Den / Nature / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 17, 2012
The celebration of Earth Day began over 40 years ago. It is a day to celebrate our planet and think about how we can help our environment. Did you know that the Environmental Protection Agency was established not long after that first Earth Day in 1970? The Clean Air Act also passed that same year. Now Earth Day is celebrated in more than 175 countries by an estimated 500 million...
Science / Science Experiments / Science: Physics Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 13, 2012 · Last modified July 18, 2018
We have been gearing up for these activities for a long time. Back in January I mentioned the kids read the Physics, Pre-Level 1 (Real Science-4-Kids) book. LD read it on his own while I read it together with DD. I thought it was a wonderful introduction to some basic physics concepts. Then as you’ve seen we did some background activities on Newton himself (the geography of England/Britain/UK; the Black...
History: Middle Ages / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 12, 2012 · Last modified September 5, 2018
Would you believe this is an activity that I created as an introduction to our physics unit on simple machines, gizmos and gadgets?!! Sometimes inspiration just hits! So here’s how it came to be. I was doing some background reading on Sir Isaac Newton, the scientist who developed the Laws of Motion among other things. I learned that while he was at Cambridge University an outbreak of the Black Plague...
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.
