Our Homeschool Resources

Finding materials on the Homeschool Den!

I wrote this post to help you find some of the pages, posts and homeschool resources within our blog that might be the most useful for you.

Over the years, I have made homeschool packets on everything from history and science to spelling, math, spelling and foreign languages (German & Spanish).  And, many of those are free! We have materials from preschool through high school (and more than 2,000 posts!).

I want to explain what you’ll find at the Homeschool Den and how to find them!!

Lately, we’ve had a huge surge in visits to the blog. I wanted to say welcome!

I’m Liesl and I’ve been homeschooling my three kids right from the start; they are now in middle school and high school. I’ve always been in education (I taught history on the high school and college level)… and just *love* curriculum development. (Thus, all the packets and units I’ve made and shared over the years!)

I hope you find a lot of helpful homeschool resources on our website!

One of the best places to start is the New to Our Blog page. There you will get a good overview for what is available on our blog. You will also find links to many of our free homeschool resources like our free homeschool planners, free grade-by-grade guides (K-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8 and high school), and much more!

Plus, scroll down below for a word about our Homeschool Freebies!

If you are transitioning from School to Homeschool, you might want to check out this post:

If you are new to homeschooling, you might want to start here with the Starting to Homeschool post.

And, I’ve also created a helpful email series with with tips on homeschooling, keeping motivated, finding various resources and freebies tucked away on the blog and more! You can subscribe to the newsletter with this link: Homeschool Den Newsletter

Homeschooling Units and Packets:

• We have a large variety of units and packets for sale in our store. These include a variety of science and history units, math & spelling games and more! You can visit our store to check these out.

You can also visit the Science Units Page or the History Page for more information about these units. We offer a number of BUNDLES (which are your best deals for many of these units): Earth Science BUNDLE,

Human Body BUNDLE,

Chemistry BUNDLE,

Biology BUNDLE (My 3 kids were in general late elementary through early high school when we did these units. We often repeated/reviewed these units every couple of years.)

or the Big Animal BUNDLE if your kids are ages 4-8 or so,

Spelling BUNDLE (Long A & Long I, Long E Words, Vowel Teams like oi/oy, au/aw, ow/ou, the K-sound (ck, , the L-sound (le, al, il, el, etc.), plurals s or es), K-2 Math BUNDLE-This is *amazing* value at just $5.50!  I really have had fun making all these games, activities and worksheet sets… more than 20 pdfs and growing!), Multiplication and Division BUNDLE– This is also great value at just $7.00 for more than 20 pdfs, 350+ pages of materials, games and activities!

• We have a German Store — My kids have been learning German since early elementary (because that’s the foreign language I learned in high school… and I couldn’t help them learn another language.

• We also have a Spanish Store — I teamed up with Sra. Morato from HomeschoolSpanishCurriculum.com to help her create the worksheet sets and games for her elementary Spanish program. (And, my girls started learning a second foreign language with her! But now my girls speak both German and Spanish fairly well! Crazy, right?!  I never imagined that when we started this homeschool journey!) Here’s a glimpse at Set 1 (each set has 4 pdfs which are about 30-40 pages).  Click the link above if you are looking for an entire program with teaching videos, online games and flashcards, and/or weekly lessons with a native Spanish teacher (who taught Spanish in the public schools and has 20 years of teaching experience!).

Click here to visit the Spanish Store (for just the worksheets if you already speak Spanish):

Homeschool Curriculum & Resources:

Resources, texts and programs we’ve used through the years…

We have been homeschooling right from the start. We are “eclectic” homeschoolers, meaning that we use a wide variety of resources and curriculums. So in addition to the units, notebook pages and games I’ve made for the kids (above), we have used

• Homeschool math curriculums – We’ve used a wide variety of math curriculums and traditional textbooks through the years. We tried things like Right Start Math, Singapore math, and Saxon Math. We used the Spectrum Math Workbooks (jumping around and practicing a variety of problems) each year Grades 1 to 6. For example here is Spectrum Math Grade 1, Spectrum Math Grade 3 and here is Spectrum Math Grade 6. (affiliate links)

All along the way, I made fun, colorful worksheets, games & math activities for the kids to supplement what they were covering in their math text. We played a lot of games.  Check out this free math game board for any math fact practice. There are versions for addition/subtraction (free!) or this free game for multiplication/division. Plus, one of the best values on the blog are the math bundles. The K-2 Math Bundle includes 20 pdfs for just $5.50!  And the Multiplication/Division Bundle also includes 20+pdfs for $7.00.  Click on the links to check those out!

All 3 of my kids used this textbook for PreAlgebra (we bought it used) and Tobey and Slater’s Algebra textbook as well. We actually use the 7th edition Algebra textbook because I was able to get the annotated teacher’s edition for Beginning Algebra to easily check all answers.  Answers to the odds are in the student textbook. (affiliate links)

And, currently we use Thinkwell for high school math (15% off through this link).  My son has taken Geometry & Algebra 2 through Thinkwell and is doing PreCalc this year (he’ll do calculus next year). By the way, both for Algebra 2 and for PreCalc we used practice problems from Tobey and Slater’s Intermediate Algebra textbook to do more work on logarithms (to supplement the lectures/practice problems of Thinkwell. That book has outstanding examples and really helped my kids (thoroughly) understand logs. My daughter finished Geometry and is starting on Algebra 2 this year with Thinkwell (15% off through this link) (it includes video lessons and we always purchase their huge 2-inch thick practice book (which has the answers in the second half).  We have also heard great things about Abeka Math, Teaching Textbooks and others.

• Science – We built a lot of our science units and add in a TON of hands-on activities to our units.  Again, you can see our science units here. We often supplement with non-fiction books from the library and/or Amazon. Plus, we have an entire row of  traditional science textbooks that we got used off Amazon… like this one for high school chemistry, which has answers to the practice problems in the back. We use basic science textbooks as reference (or for homework) from time to time. Note: We used Thinkwell for high school Biology (15% off through this link) as well. It was challenging, but my kids *loved* George Wolfe and learned SO much!!
• History – We used Story of the World when the kids were in K-3 or so and we’d even listen to the CDs in the car on errands or trips, and we used many of Suzanne Strauss Art’s books when my kids were in grades 4-8 or so. For example, we loved the Ancient China book (which we used a number of years ago). My youngest (Grade 7 this year) will be using some of the ancient history books: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Roman History. They are wonderful for middle school students. Get the latest editions; the earlier editions don’t have as many maps and photographs.

• Literature & Language Arts

Learning to Read: This post shares some of the phonics and reading programs we used (and has links to various freebies and free games I made for the kids along the way!)

Spelling: We used and ♥ loved ♥ All About Spelling! All three of my kids used the All About Spelling Program (affiliate link) program.  My kids worked through all the books!
I really love this program and all three of my kids have used it. The rules are laid out nicely and it doesn’t take much work on my part to go through the rules and practice sentences.  When they were younger, I just loved the practice tiles. Here’s a link to All About Spelling vol. 2 (affiliate link) vol. 2.

This Spelling Page has a lot of the spelling word sorts and games that I made for my kids as they learned and practiced the spelling rules.

• Literature: The kids do independent reading and almost always have a novel they are reading. Here are a couple of lists I put together: Reading List for grades 4-6 and Reading List Grade 7-9  The kids also have read short stories, plays, poems and so forth from the giant Literature textbooks (we get them used off of Amazon) like these:

Here’s the link for McDougal Littell Literature: Student Edition Grade 7, for example.

Here’s a post about my daughter’s Language Arts materials for Grade 6 (age 11-12). We’ve used similar materials for the other grades.

Writing:  I made a video about how/why we changed to a Writing Workshop Model and how that transformed our writing experience!

This year, my 7th grader will be using Cover Story (which my older two used and loved!).

• Spanish: My girls used/are using HomeschoolSpanishCurriculum.com and took/are taking live classes with a native Spanish teacher (who taught in the public schools and has more than 20 years of teaching experience). She teaches elementary, Spanish 1, Spanish 2 and Spanish 3.

• Music: This post (FREE Music Appreciation Materials for Kids) goes into quite a bit of detail about how we brought music into our homeschool when the kids were in early elementary. The kids learned the notes on the staff, rhythms, and basic facts about some of the most famous composers. You’ll find the link to the Free Beginner’s Music Curriculum packet I made as we went through this material plus the Free Famous Music Composer Resources.

FREE Helpful Homeschool Resources

Just as a reminder, you can grab our FREE Homeschool Planners here (when you visit that page, just scroll down for the links!)

If you are looking for more general tips about creating routines, organizing and keeping things running smoothly, be sure to grab our newest Homeschool Packet: Homeschool Foundations: Establishing Routines that Work!   It is currently FREE and I will be adding to it throughout the summer (2021).

FREE Science Checklist for Elementary and Middle School –— These were the science units and topics hoped to cover from Kindergarten through Grade 8 (ages 5 to 14 or so)

• Homeschool Science Unit Checklist for Elementary and Middle School (free printable)

Free Homeschool Supplies and Science Supply List Printable

Creating Your Own Homeschool Curriculum: These are some resources I made that might be helpful as you create your own homeschool plans.

• Preschool at Home: Engaging Activities for Little Learners! (Ages 3-6)

The Grade-by-Grade Resource Guides are somewhere between 30 and 50 pages and are FREE to download. I wanted to create a resource for parents who wondered what to teach their kids or what subjects to cover. This gives an overview of the kinds of things we covered around this age:

• Creating a Homeschool Curriculum: Kindergarten – Grade 1 (Free!)

• Creating Your Homeschool Curriculum: Grades 2-3, Resource Guide (Free)

• Creating Your Homeschool Curriculum Grade 4-5 — Free Resource Guide

• Creating a Homeschool Curriculum for Grades 6-8 – Free Resource Guide

• Free Resource Guide for Homeschooling High School – Grades 9-12

Free Homeschool Resources

I have been blogging & sharing since the kids were tiny, in fact, before this blog, we had a family blog about living in Australia (where my kids were all born; we lived there for 12 years).

Then, when the kids were in early elementary, my blog was picked up and was under the Parents.com umbrella. I made and shared many, many resources and they are still free if you look hard enough!!

For example, we have dozens and dozens of free grammar pages from Comma Rules Practice Pages to Their, They’re, There – Its, It’s Free Practice Sheets … and more!

Other Homeschool FREEBIES

But we also have free history, geography, science and other resources tucked away on the blog. Such as this Plains Indians Packet,  Free China Geography & Landmarks Packet,  this Free Chemistry Experiment Packet for ages 7-8 or so), Free Montessori Addition Pages,  Free Skip Counting Pages (other free skip-counting mazes: fall theme, holiday theme, spring theme), Free Math Game Board, Free Complementary and Supplementary Angles Worksheets, Free Right Triangle Review Worksheets, Geometry Review Pack, Square and Square Roots Activities, Free Exponent Rules Worksheets, Quadratic Equations Resource posters (high school math)  Fall & Halloween Freebies, Christmas Freebies, Free German worksheets for kids,  Free Bohr Diagram Worksheets , Free Egg-Experiment Packet!, Free Civil Rights Movement Lessons, Key Events of the Civil Rights Movement (free activity),

Samurai Notebook Pages (free) , free notebook pages about Stonehenge, Marco Polo, Confucius, Gandhi, the Solar System and for younger kids… Free Bob Book Worksheets, Free Bob Book Worksheets, FREE Horse and Barn File Folder Game (2 letter word) , Sh Ch Th Word Sort Activity (Free), Modern Art Packet , Free Music Composer Resources, Free Beginners Music Curriculum and SO SO many others!This post, 50+ Homeschool Freebies, is sorely out of date (because I have made/shared SO many others!!), but is a good starting point!  Maybe at some point I’ll try to put together a freebies page, but with my long, long to-do list we’ll see!

But, there is hope for finding our Homeschool Freebies!!! For one thing, I always highlight a number of free packets/units/notebook pages on in our Homeschool Den Newsletter (plus, you’ll find out about new releases and can grab them at their introductory prices … usually 50% off).

Also, I share about 5 posts a day over on my Homeschool Den Facebook Page and try to highlight many of our free resources there!

Homeschool Teaching Strategies and Hands-On Activity Ideas

We have always *loved* hands-on projects and learning through games, projects, experiments, and exploration. This page has a free printable with Homeschooling Teaching Strategies that you might try out when things start to get stale or when your homeschool needs a bit of a pick-me-up!

Hands-on Activity Ideas and Homeschool Teaching Strategies

Math: You might also enjoy this post: 10 Things I’ve Learned about Homeschooling Math and 30 Math Activity Ideas

A few Final Thoughts about Homeschooling:

• You might be feeling overwhelmed, but you CAN do this! You know your kids better than anyone!
• You are not alone! We all have times when we feel inadequate, overwhelmed, or inexperienced… but think about the whole picture. You have amazing kids. They’ve already learned so much from you. Your family will thrive!
• Don’t compare your reality to your thoughts, plans, and aspirations before the school year began. In the quiet of summer, I often have (and make!) big plans. But, if we don’t get to everything I planned over the course of the year, I just put it on the back burner for later! Any kind of checklist or resource guide is just a plan, but the real learning comes on the homeschool journey itself!
• Similarly, don’t compare your homeschool to what you see on blogs, Facebook, Pinterest or even the stories you hear from friends. That’s just a partial, incomplete glimpse of someone’s day.
• Create a enthusiastic, supportive atmosphere: Focus on having an enjoyable learning experience together… which means feel free to stray from the curriculum, follow rabbit holes, and spend an entire day focusing on something unexpected but engaging to the kids!  That’s when true learning really takes place! 🙂
• Small steps now lead to great gains later. Even if only have five or ten minutes to cover something one day, don’t worry. It all adds up over time! The point is to be consistent.
• You’ve got this!!

I’m here for you if you have questions, comments or just want to say hi. Feel free to email me… Liesl@homeschoolden.com

See you again soon here or over at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page! You might also want to check out some of our resources pages above (such as our Science, Language Arts, or History Units Resource Pages) which have links to dozens of posts.  You might want to join our free Homeschool Den Chat Facebook group.  Don’t forget to check out Our Store as well.

Again, if you are interested in joining our Homeschool Den Newsletter, feel free to subscribe here. The Welcome Series includes 5 packed emails… with tips on homeschooling, keeping motivated, finding various resources and freebies tucked away on the blog and more!

Plus, you’ll be the first to hear about new packets (generally offered at a discount when they are first released), seasonal resources and more!

It’s a great way to hear about our latest packets and to learn about many of the hundreds of printables & other materials we have tucked away on the blog!

Happy Homeschooling!! 

~Liesl

P.S. Feel free to ask me questions! You can email me here.

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.