Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Here’s an activity DD (age 4) and I played together today.It is good for reinforcing number recognition. Theobject is to be the first person to turn over the cardsfrom 0 to 12 in order. To set up we turned the numbers 0-12 upside downin a row (one row for each player). When it was a player’sturn she got to turn over two cards (Mom actually onlyturned over one card). If...
Here’s another flower project we did for our flower unit.
The Crafty Crow mentioned this great flowerproject. You can find more information about how to makethese flowers at —http://filthwizardry.blogspot.com/2009/08/kitchen-paper-and-baby-wipe-kanzashi.html Dry out some diaper wipes. Cut them into a large square.I then cut square into four pieces. Fold the small square into a triangle. Then fold the endsup. Fold and sew the two points and middle section togetherand sew five or six pedals together tightly. Staple the back sides together. Paint...
After letting our cornstarch beads dry for a few days,we painted them and strung them on string to makenecklaces. Here’s the link again to cornstarch clay:http://thehomeschoolden.blogspot.com/2009/09/cornstarch-clay.html
Here’s an easy activity everyone probably does with theirkids — stickers! Oriental Trading sells rolls of round stickers that all threeof my kids have LOVED as toddlers (ED is 20 months now).Search within the Oriental Trading website under “sticker rolls.”ED’s using some Halloween stickers, but there are allkinds of sticker themes from holidays, animals and dinosaurs,to Bible and religious stickers. If your child is young, I wouldrecommend using the round...
We took a handful of mini erasers and put them on the table.Everyone had to make an estimate of how many erasersthere were in the pile. I guessed 75, LD guessed 90 andDD guessed 97, though she wrote it backwards. “Don’tLOOK!” she admonished me as she bent over her paper.It was the first time she’s ever written numbers and shestudied our numbers carefully to do it and to make herown...
We went to the nursery and bought flowers to plant in ourplanters. Every winter I stop watering the outside plantsand (gasp!) they die off. Everyone really enjoyed going tothe nursery and LD was very excited as I let him get aVenus Fly Trap (usefulu here in the Outback!!)
Ages 2-6: Flower Unit / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 1, 2009
The girls really enjoyed the flower arranging this week. Theidea to use pipe cleaners and foam beads came fromhttp://mymontessorijourney.typepad.com/my_montessori_journey/2009/04/my-entry.html
The kids have really enjoyed games this week — we’ve playedCandy Land, DinoMath Tracks, Hungry Hippos, the marblerun (not really a board game, but stored with the games!), LetterSoup, and several card games (Rat-a-tat-Cat) being the favorite!
Art for the relatives to admire!! This week I put colored paper and a couple markers inDD’s art workbox. She’s been doing two drawings each day.One day she asked to use the buttons too. Here are a coupleof her creations. The first picture is all one project. Thesecond picture is a picture of her and her brother and sisteralong with the 75 story world tower, where we stayed inSydney (on...
Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Arts and Crafts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 1, 2009
When we were on holiday the kids saw a showcalled “Playschool.” LD saw how to make alieneyes and yesterday he got all the materials heneeded and made himself and the girls alieneyes. I didn’t help in any way shape or form (noteven to find the glue)… a first!!
Every now and then we bring out this map activity (fromwhen we studied pirates, maps and treasure hunts). Forthis activity we map out our house with all the rooms and thebasic furniture. They get a favorite toy and I hide it somewhere inthe house. Then I put an X on the map to mark the spot wherethe item was hidden. They are real pros at this activity now andI have...
ED has really enjoyed painting this past week. She’s gottenher paint shirt and asked to paint numerous times this week. Shedidn’t really get into the marble painting, mostly she likedholding the marble in her hand. Then she laughed and signed“yucky” over and over and over with her bright blue hands!
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.
