Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool Den / How to Start Homeschooling / Kindergarten / Science / Science Experiments / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 4, 2016 · Last modified September 29, 2016
A reader sent me an email asking about homeschool science for her daughter who is in kindergarten this year. She said she was feeling overwhelmed about science and wondered where/how to start. She said she hadn’t done any science yet and wondered if the States of Matter unit was a good place to start. I wrote her back and shared the free printable resource/checklist I made last year about some...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 3, 2016
Over the weekend I wrote a post about what I might do if I were starting all over again with toddlers and preschoolers in-tow (Homeschooling Multiple Ages). In today’s post, I wanted to share what our routine looks like these days. I have two kids in middle school (ie. grades 6 and 8) and one in grade 3. Our homeschool is considerably more structured than it used to be. When...
How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 1, 2016 · Last modified September 25, 2017
Reader Email (abridged): I have five kids from 8 years old down to a 1-year old. I would like homeschool, but I don’t know where to begin. Do you have any advice for me? This post is for a dear reader who has a very full house with five kids – from an 8-year-old she’s considering homeschooling, down to a 1-year-old! This amazing Mom deserves a medal!! She was wondering...
Ages 2-6: Fall Theme / Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Freebies / Kindergarten
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 30, 2016 · Last modified August 25, 2016
Today I have a very new math file folder game for you, Missing Leaves. Fill in the missing numbers between 123 and 158. Print out the three pages on card stock. Cut out the number leaves. Glue the two leaf number lines into the inside of a file folder. Staple a Ziploc bag to the inside, top of the file folder to store the loose leaf number cards. This is...
Homeschool Den / Science: Chemistry Unit / Science: States of Matter Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 27, 2016 · Last modified March 20, 2023
Our 50+ page packet on the three states of matter – solids, liquids, gases and changing states of matter includes worksheets, matching activities, vocabulary building pages and interactive notebook pages as well as hands-on activity ideas. We began the unit by talking about the characteristics of solids, liquids and gases. We also went into a lot of detail on the changing states of matter covering those six changes (melting, freezing,...
Homeschool Den / Science: Chemistry Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 26, 2016 · Last modified March 19, 2023
Sublimation and Deposition Activities – Making Chemistry Fun! This fall we’ve been studying the states of matter and changes of matter. Today I’m going to share some of our activities as we talked about the changes in states of matter from solid to gas–sublimation and from gas to solid–deposition. It was a day of Dry Ice FUN!! 🙂 While most kids know freezing, melting and evaporation sublimation and deposition are...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Freebies / Kindergarten / Kindergarten Math / Math-Money
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 23, 2016 · Last modified January 17, 2019
Do your kids know how to count coins? Today’s printable will help them practice this skill! Use the printable coin cards either to make a file folder game or as a memory game. It is currently FREE to download. 🙂 Younger kids in your family can use real coins and match them to the coin cards. (Be sure to supervise any children who might put coins in their mouths.) I...
Homeschool Den / Math--Multiplication
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 22, 2016 · Last modified September 21, 2023
Multiplication & Division Worksheet Packet in an Ancient Egypt theme! Last year, my daughter learned all of her multiplication facts but I knew she would need a lot of review this fall. I asked her over the summer what theme she wanted her latest packet to be and she chose Ancient Egypt. No, we’re not studying Ancient Egypt at the moment, but she loved the clipart! So, that’s what I...
These days the kids all tend to make their own breakfasts, but I still try to make something for all of us once a week. This past week, I decided to try a new recipe. They are called Donut Muffins, obviously they aren’t the most nutritious but boy did the kids jump out of bed quickly! They were really quick easy to make; a bonus for a busy homeschooling family!...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Writing
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 19, 2016 · Last modified July 1, 2020
Today I have some writing practice pages to share with you about the concept, “Show Don’t Tell.” The kids and I are spending a number of days talking about this writing strategy. “Show Don’t Tell” helps the reader to experience the story by using descriptions, actions, thoughts, feelings, & emotions. Using this technique helps readers feel like they are right in the middle of the action! Here’s how I explained...
Freebies / Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts / Math--Addition / Math--Multiplication / Math: Pre-Algebra
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 16, 2016 · Last modified September 11, 2018
This math printable can be used for any math practice. You can use any math fact cards, even for simple number recognition for younger kids. You can use any of the numbers that will work for your child or just create your own math problems on index cards. Use it for number recognition (for younger kids) and move that many spaces around the board addition facts (6+7) or subtraction problems...
Language Arts - Grammar Spelling Reading Writing Categories / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets / Language Arts: Reading / Language Arts: Spelling / Language Arts: Writing
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 13, 2016
Check out the NEW Language Arts Tab! I have created a resource page with links to dozens of our language arts posts. We have all kinds of resources: Our free grammar pages have always been among the most visited pages on the blog. You’ll find links to our Comma Rules and Practice Pages Apostrophe and Quotation Mark Practice There/They’re/Their and Its/It’s Worksheets and many more!! We have at least 20...
Homeschool Den / Science Experiments / Science: Chemistry Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 12, 2016 · Last modified March 19, 2023
In this part of our States of Matter unit we talked about some of the properties of liquids. A few days ago, I shared some of activities as we discussed gases. You’ll find that here: States of Matter-Hands-On Activities about Gases. We continued to talk about the structure of matter. Liquids have a definite volume, but no definite shape. Not only did we talk about some of the characteristics of...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 11, 2016 · Last modified September 14, 2016
This is a very quick post with some websites that someone else recommended for kids who are interested in learning computer programming. We are (hoping) to incorporate some computer programming into our homeschool this year, so we’ll be checking these out in the coming months: TechRocket.com YouthDigital. com Tynker.com CodeAcademy.com Khan Academy Intro to Javascript We also have Super Scratch Programming Adventure (affiliate link) that a friend recommended, but we...
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.
