Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
We did some experiments with oil and water before, butthis had some pretty interesting results. You can findmore details at education.com which has a wonderfularray of science experiments for all ages.
At first, the dye was suspended in the oil, but quickly the“fireworks” began. The red separated out first, followedby the blue and yellow (which looked green). We alllay on the floor and said “ooooh” a lot! This really wasa good experiment for the littlies.
In the end, the water turned brownish. LDand I had a good discussion about colorcombinations.
After many of our experiments, LD and DD want tocreate their own experiments. They add all kinds ofingredients to see what happens. In this “experiment”they added (as I recall): water, vinegar, baking soda, margarine, flour, yeast,peppermint, cinnamon, food coloring and pepper. They took it out to the garden to see what it woulddo to the ant trail. I heard that their “ant poison”worked (I was cooking dinner and didn’t observe).
First let me wish everyone a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! — Then, I want to send a special welcome my Hungarian friends and visitors and wish them well in the coming new year. Many years ago, I lived and taught (English) in Hungary. I was in a small town/city near the border of Romania and was there for two years. Hungary and its warm, wonderful people have a very special...
Today we looked a bit more closely at Picasso’s “Still Life.”We did our versions of a still life (complete with lots of‘eyes’). I had the kids draw one continuous line that crossedover itself. Then they filled in the figures using oil pastels. The kids really like the vibrant colors of the oil pastels. You are looking at DD’s picture (and the small print Imade of Picasso’s painting).
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Arts and Crafts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 31, 2009
The new artist we put up in the calendar this week wasPablo Picasso. I remembered a wonderful Picasso artlesson at Art Projects for Kids that was aimed at firstgraders. There’s a similar lesson at Deep Space Sparkle.LD did well with it; he said it was hard, but he wasproud of his picture when he was done. DD colored inone that I outlined and did an impressive job too. Most weeks...
We’ve been having lots of play-dates and time at the poolwith friends who are on school holidays. We’ve beenpretty low-key here at home. LD has worked a bit on hishand-writing. We’ve played a few math games, done mazes,dot-to-dots and things like that, but we’re still on breakfrom the big units (and I continue to plan and prep behindthe scenes). Here are a few snapshots lately: 1) The kids both put...
LD told us the other day , “my favorite sports are soccerand mini golf.” Then he went on to ask, “can we make ourown mini golf course?” Today we pulled out lots of stuffand set up the back yard to be our own mini golf course.Luckily we have more than a few boxes from Christmas. LD’s mini golf course had 8 holes. We all had a greattime. Even ED played...
You can buy frozen bagels where we live, but they arevery thick/chewy and pretty horrible (in my opinion). This evening I decided to try making bagels based onthis recipe. It was faster than making bread since youdon’t have to let it rise very much. I was able to makethem while preparing the rest of dinner. They were done bythe time dinner was on the table. (A total of 50 minutes,I...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / History: Geography Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 27, 2009 · Last modified May 21, 2017
DD has been putting together the Australian states and territories foam map most every day (top picture). She’s very confident with that so I thought she was about ready for a pin map of Australia. I find pin maps pretty easy to make these days. I’ve explained how I make them before, but if you missed the world map post, I’ll briefly explain how again. 1) First I laminated a...
Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 25, 2009
During this break I’ve been looking into handwriting skills. I have a few minutes and thought I’d quickly share what I’ve come across lately. I found an extremely useful 32-page article about handwriting. It’s a handwriting resource for (pre-K and kindergarten) teachers in a Maryland school district. You can find it here: http://www.fcpsteach.org/docs/Handwriting.pdf It has some suggestions for building handwriting skills from a young age (preschool) such as activities that...
Our family went out to view the Christmas lights aroundtown last night. The winning families spent days settingup their display. The family pictured below spent 12 fulldays and 15 half-days putting up their display. Anotherfamily started putting up lights in September. In the second photo below you’ll see Santa on his sleigh with“Six White Boomers” (or kangaroos). This is in reference to asong by Rolf Harris. Since Santa’s reindeer can’t...
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.
