Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
I have just started my second year teaching a Hands-On Science class for lower elementary students K-3 (ages 5-9 or so). This is an in-person class that I teach once a week and I teach three different sessions (same material/different group of kids). I thought I would share some of the activities I am doing this year with my students in science class – so in this series I will...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Kindergarten / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 11, 2025
Our 100+page Animal Worksheet Packet covers the different types of animals (vertebrates, invertebrates), animal characteristics, 5 animal groups, invertebrate groups, insects vs. spiders, domesticated vs. wild animals, animal tracks, Feather Fur or Scales, animal homes, animal classification, and much more!
Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Science: Animal Characteristics / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 10, 2025 · Last modified September 11, 2025
This 30+ page Farm Animal Unit includes matching pages, tracing, cut-and-paste activities, Farm Animals (and their babies) Montessori 3-part cards, as well as interactive notebook (lapbook) pieces. It is FREE to download through Oct. 10, 2025!
Free Homeschool Planner / Freebies / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 7, 2025 · Last modified September 10, 2025
I have just shared our FREE Fall 2025 Homeschool Planner! This printable planning packet is FREE to download with the button below! This free 75-page PDF includes planning pages for August through December 2025. Some planning pages include the monthly calendar; others include checklists and/or planning boxes. This is what we use to keep tabs on our weekly topics and upcoming events. Be sure to grab our FREE Fall 2025...
Free Calendar Planning Pages / Freebies / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 9, 2025 · Last modified August 7, 2025
Are you looking for a free printable 2025-2026 Calendar that includes holidays, seasons, day light savings, etc.? Be sure to grab our free printable 2025-2026 calendar! Today I wanted to share our (latest) free calendar printable for the 2025-2026 school year. This free calendar printable covers June 2024 through August 2026. I like having a calendar that includes the holidays, the change in seasons, and things like day light saving...
There are a number of different Earth Science BUNDLE options and I wanted to highlight the options are available (like I’ve done for the Big Animal Bundle, Biology Bundle , Chemistry Bundle, Human Body Bundle, a new Nature Studies Bundle and Spelling Bundle). You can still purchase these units separately or in various combinations depending on your need. These units are PDF downloads. Be sure to check your PayPal email...
QUICK NOTE: Our Fall 2025 is ready and now shared! The Add to Cart Button below will give you access to the newly updated file! QUICK NOTE: Spring 2025 – This was a difficult semester for our family and I didn’t get the Spring 2025 Planner or School Year Calendar shared (even though they were both done behind the scenes). I will try to share those as soon as I am...
Ages 2-6: Fall Theme / Science: Garden Science / Science: Nature Studies
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 16, 2024 · Last modified September 11, 2025
Happy Summer! I have just added a new Sunflower Packet to the Nature Studies Bundle! This Sunflower Mini-Unit is for students to learn all about sunflowers: how tall they grow, where they originated, and other sunflower facts. It also covers what plants need, the different parts of a sunflower and the sunflower life cycle. This Sunflower Mini-Unit includes lapbook or interactive notebook pieces, life cycle cards, and more! I hope...
Before I share everything that is going on with me, I wanted to share a few FREE printables that you might find helpful as the school year comes to a close! First, is a free printable End of Year Homeschool Questionnaire. One is for Students, the other is for Parents. I have used this for many years to really think about what went well. I tried to take some time...
Free Calendar Planning Pages / Free Homeschool Planner / Freebies / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 15, 2024 · Last modified September 11, 2025
The new 2025-2026 School Year Calendar is now available! Visit this 2025-2026 School Year Calendar Printable page for the link to download! Hope this free printable calendar is helpful! ~Liesl Are you looking for a free printable 2024-2025 Calendar that includes holidays, seasons, day light savings, etc.? Be sure to grab our free printable 2024-2025 calendar! Today I wanted to share our (latest) free calendar printable for the 2024-2025 school...
My kids *loved* playing games to help them learn their math facts. I made a fancy version of a math fact game we used to play. Use this free printable to practice Addition, Subtraction or Multiplication Facts! It’s free to download! This game takes less than 10 minutes to play (though perhaps more if your kids are like mine and beg to play again and again!!). To play this math...
Homeschool Den / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 7, 2024 · Last modified August 12, 2024
Our Cicadas Unit includes worksheets, notebook pages and a lapbook about the cicada life cycle, the differences between annual and periodical cicadas, and information about the cicada broods. There are newly updated notebook pages about Broods XIII and XIX as well! Some facts about cicadas: Did you know that there are over 3,000 types of cicadas? While most insects live less than a year, cicadas can live as long as...
20th Century History / History: Civics, Government and Economics / History: Geography Activities / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 1, 2024 · Last modified March 7, 2024
I have added more than 25 new pages of World Landmark and Topographic Map Activities to the World Facts Packet! This packet covers many of the basic world facts I wanted my kids to know such as the largest countries, population facts, the major world religions, as well as geography terms such as gulf, bay, atoll, peninsula, cape, estuary, isthmus and so forth. There is a huge section on the...
Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Montessori (general info) / Science: Nature Studies
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 22, 2024 · Last modified June 16, 2024
I have just added a new Producer Consumer Decomposer – Detritivore Packet to the Nature Studies BUNDLE! This 50+page packet includes worksheets, notebook pages and other activities that cover some of differences between producers, consumers, decomposers and detritivores: Producers make their own food. Consumers eat other living plants and animals for food. Detritivores eat dead organisms and wastes. Decomposers break down dead, organic materials into even smaller nutrients. The Producer...
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.
