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Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Biology Unit / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats / Science: Plant Unit / Science: Rain Forests
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 26, 2016 · Last modified May 10, 2016
Today I wanted to share a fun activity we did about rain forest plants. As many of you know, we are doing a large biology unit on biomes, ecosystems, biological interactions, animal relationships, and so forth. At the end of last semester we went over basic animal characteristics — the 5 vertebrate groups, the main invertebrate groups, and some fun activities for my youngest daughter — spiders vs. insects, domesticated...
History: Middle Ages / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 25, 2016 · Last modified March 23, 2022
We spent a couple of weeks studying the events of the 1300s. Today I’m going to share the worksheets I made for the kids about the Crusades, Hundred Year’s War, and the Black Plague. I’ll also share the simulation: Will you survive the Black Plague?!! To start, we covered the history of the Crusades, Hundred Year’s War and the Black Plague. We read the chapters in our history book. We...
We woke this morning to 18 inches of snow, with another 10 inches (or more) expected in the next 24 hours! The drifts we have around the house are considerably deeper! Since we live down in the woods, we were expecting to lose power (and were prepared for that), but as you can see, we’re still on the grid! 🙂 Here is a glimpse of our deck from noon yesterday...
Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 22, 2016 · Last modified February 24, 2016
This is another free apostrophe worksheet that I made for the kids last week. This worksheet is mostly about showing possession and touches on possessive pronouns. In general apostrophes are used to show possession to show that a letter or letters have been omitted (ie. contractions) the plural of letters, numbers, and symbols If you can use it, this apostrophe worksheet is free to download. There is an answer sheet...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 21, 2016 · Last modified January 20, 2016
It has been a while since I just wrote about one of our days. I thought I would write up a quick post about the flow of our day. In our homeschool, no day is exactly like another. 🙂 Today I had to drag myself out of bed. I was up until nearly 3am last night working on the computer (on some school stuff for the kids and some behind...
Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 19, 2016 · Last modified February 24, 2016
Today I’m sharing a very quick homophone worksheet I made for the kids. Some of the words they have to use correctly include: they’re/their/there it’s/its you’re/your way/weigh fare/fair witch/which new/knew right/write This homophone worksheet is free to download. There is an answer sheet too (though I don’t show it below). Hope someone else finds it useful! 🙂 ~Liesl Homophones Worksheet: they’re/their/there, it’s/its, you’re/your, etc. Other related posts that may be...
Science: Biology Unit / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 18, 2016 · Last modified July 25, 2021
As you know, we’re working on a biology unit. I thought I would share a little bit about the animal activities ED (Grade 2) is working on before talking about our biome activities (in the next post). In the animal packet that I shared at the end of December, there is a whole section on animal tracks. ED pulled those back out again and was working on those the past...
Engineering - STEM Activities / Engineering Challenges / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 15, 2016 · Last modified January 14, 2016
You know how we often like to start back into homeschooling with some engaging, out-of-the-box activities? Sometimes we’ve done engineering challenges, other times we’ve done some fun critical thinking activities. Last week, I challenged the kids to make their own marble maze. They each took a big piece of cardboard, sticks (or whatever) and a glue-gun and went to work! They had fun trying to complete each other’s maze courses! ...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 14, 2016 · Last modified November 3, 2016
Recently I came across these multiplication game boards I made for LD years ago. Originally I made it for LD to practice his 7s, but then I made another for the 6s. I thought ED would have fun reviewing her 6s and 7s facts when we start back to school. We’ve been playing these daily since the holidays! I’m going to share this game again for those who might be...
Homeschool Den / Science / Science: Biology Unit / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 13, 2016 · Last modified September 5, 2017
We are studying biology right now. Last week, the kids had to choose one of the biomes, do research about it, and prepare a 3 to 5 minute speech. They did a great job! This week, they are going to do another short research project. This time, I thought I would have the kids do another of the CDC units. Previously (a couple of years ago) they did projects on...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Kindergarten / Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts / Math--Addition / Montessori (general info)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 12, 2016 · Last modified January 5, 2020
Today I’ve got some free Montessori-style addition pages to share with you! There are some pages with no regrouping and some with regrouping (ie. carrying). These are similar to the pages I made for ED a couple of years ago. It really helped her with the columns laid out and in the Montessori colors. I used pages like these for all three of my kids as they moved on to...
History: Middle Ages / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 11, 2016 · Last modified September 19, 2023
The kids learned so much from our hands-on activities about feudalism. We did a simulation of feudalism that helped the kids understand the roles and responsibilities of the various members of society. And we also studied of some well-known medieval paintings from that period. So first, a bit about our feudalism worksheets. For this unit, we are using Early Times: The Story of the Middle Ages, (affiliate link) by Suzanne...
Math--Division / Math--Multiplication
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 8, 2016 · Last modified January 5, 2020
ED is working hard on division. She has now learned almost all of the multiplication tables (except for the 8s). These winter-themed worksheets are mostly for division practice, but there are a few pages of general multiplication worksheets too. There are 9 pages total. These are free to download. 🙂 Hope someone can use these! If you use them we’d love to hear from you. ED always loves when she...
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / How to Start Homeschooling / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Biology Unit / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats / Science: Cell Unit / Science: Chemistry Unit / Science: Digestive System / Science: Dinosaurs Unit / Science: Earth Science Unit / Science: Human Body Unit / Science: Ocean Unit / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates / Science: Water Unit / Science: Weather Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 6, 2016 · Last modified December 11, 2016
When I think about all we’ve done this past year in 2015 in science, I’m really pretty amazed! It’s been a fun, full year! This post has links to dozens of our science experiments, printables and hands-on activities. You’ll find direct links to the posts in the table below. We managed to squeeze in various engineering (STEM) type activities here and there. In January of 2015 we were in 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.
