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I just have to rave about the amazing morning we had! I have a very good friend who is a distant relative (12x Great Granddaughter) of Pocahontas. She is a member of the Powhatan tribe… and has quite a number of artifacts that have come down her family line that date back 400 years or so! I organized an event to have her speak to some of the homeschoolers in...
History: Native American Indians Unit / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 15, 2017 · Last modified September 19, 2023
This time of year, many people study Native Americans and/or the history of the colonies. We have a lot of free resources on the blog that I thought I would highlight again. I also thought I would include some of the books and resources we used along the way. We’ve covered the history and culture of different Native American tribes in different years, so you’ll find that the first resources...
History: Ancient Aztecs, Incas and Mayans / History: Native American Indians Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 12, 2015 · Last modified May 5, 2023
Columbus Day was set aside as the second Monday in October as a federal holiday in 1934. Slowly celebrations of Native American culture has been gaining recognition as well. For example, South Dakota renamed Columbus Day to Native American Day in 1990. This Columbus Day, more cities are recognizing Native Americans (see this CBS article). According to CBS News, nine cities will be celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day. Those cities include ...
History: Native American Indians Unit / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 7, 2014 · Last modified May 16, 2016
I got a little behind posting because it took so long to share our experiences visiting with Pocahontas’s Great-Great-Great (12th Great) Granddaughter. In the meantime, we’ve done another entire portion of our Native American unit. We learned about the Seminole Indians, their culture and removal (for many of them) from Florida. And, we also learned about the culture and tragic history of the Cherokee people. We started the unit with a...
History: Native American Indians Unit / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 15, 2014 · Last modified September 13, 2018
This fall we are doing a huge unit on Native Americans. We started with a study of the Native Americans of the Northeast. We learned about the two major language groups, the Algonquian (see this post for our activities) and Iroquois. Each of these groups consisted/s of a number of different tribes. Last week I shared some of our activities relating to the Powhatan Indians, a confederacy that lived in...
History: Native American Indians Unit / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 9, 2014 · Last modified May 16, 2016
This fall we are learning about different Native American groups. The past few weeks we learned about the two language groups of the Northeast — the Algonquian Indians and the Iroquois and some of the tribes that make up these groups. A few weeks ago, we went to Williamsburg, VA for homeschool week. That was truly wonderful and is the topic of another post! We went with some friends who...
History: American History / History: Native American Indians Unit / Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Books: Children's Literature
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 21, 2014 · Last modified November 14, 2017
I was looking for Native American children’s books written by and about Native Americans. I found Debbie Reese’s website, American Indians in Children’s Literature. What a great resource! Today I’d like to share some of the books we read together this past week. I went with the books that were available at our library and that were appealing to the kids. 1) Buffalo Bird Girl: A Hidatsa Story (affiliate link) This is a...
Living where we do, our kids really don’t hear orlearn much about Native Americans. (On the otherhand, we have learned a lot on Aboriginal culture.)Anyway, this week I introduced them to some ofthe Native American tribes (in a VERY basic way). We read The Magic Tree House: Buffalo BeforeBreakfast. We watched the buffalo hunting scenein the movie, Dances With Wolves. And we pulledout some of the Native American items we...
History: American History / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 8, 2019 · Last modified January 4, 2020
Today I wanted to highlight a number of American History Resources we have used in our homeschool. In the spring, we tend to do quite a bit of review. One really good overview of all of American History is a video called America, The Story of Us. The episodes are dramatized and really keep the attention of my kids. This is not an in-depth series, just a broad overview, but...
When we are doing history units, I’ve always tried to bring in a rich selection of literature. Historical fiction is a powerful way to make readers feel more connected to that period. A book like Johnny Tremain (affiliate link) has a rich cast of memorable characters that helps the period, in this case the American Revolutionary period, come to life. We have brought in a wide selection of books for...
History: American Colonies / History: American History / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 16, 2015 · Last modified January 4, 2020
There are lots of wonderful books and movies for kids about the American Revolution. In this post, I’m going to highlight some of the resources we used during our American Revolution Unit. Our kids are currently elementary and middle school age: 7, (almost) 10 and 12. You might be interested in our packet, American Revolution Unit. Click here for more details: Books and Resources we used for this unit study:...
History: American Colonies / History: American History / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 5, 2015 · Last modified September 19, 2023
American Revolution Unit: Worksheets, Review Cards, Lapbook Page, Books, Resources, and More! Our most recent history unit was on the causes and events leading up to the American Revolution. We went into quite a bit of depth on the French and Indian War and how the colonies then became the focus of England’s attention in the post-(French and Indian)-War period as Parliament struggled to cover their expenses and tackle their...
Last week, I talked a lot about our civics and government unit. Today, I thought I would briefly mention the American History books the kids have been reading this year. As many of you know, we started off the year with a unit on Native Americans (We shared a number of notebook pages that are free to download for that unit): Native Americans of the Northeast (Part I: Algonquins) Native...
Here are some fun summer activities you might enjoy doing with your kids this summer with everything from making pony-bead lizards and bead bowls to marbleized paper! Have a great summer! ~Liesl A Huge List of Summer Activity Ideas! Nature Scavenger Hunt: Send your kids outside to complete this scavenger hunt! This printable is free! 🙂We also have a photo hunt: Have them take photos of the things on the...
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.
