Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 22, 2014 · Last modified February 22, 2015
This is a list of some of the most useful homeschool and teaching resources from around the web. I have added in some free resources I found that integrate computer science concepts into science units, plus Engineering units for kids, and units from the CDC (Center for Disease Control). If you have any great resources and websites I should add to this list, leave a comment or leave me a note...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Kindergarten / Science / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 21, 2014 · Last modified March 20, 2018
The kids participated in a science fair event a couple of weeks ago… where kids and adults could share their favorite science-related collections, photos, experiments, and knowledge. Some adults set up a slide show of their astronomy photos, sharing bone collections, a cartographer shared some of her materials, kids brought in their rock collection and more… My kids set up a science activity station with the Color Explosion in Milk....
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 20, 2014 · Last modified January 28, 2018
One thing about homeschoolers is that each family has its own style. Some people have quite a structure/routine to their homeschool; some people unschool and support and follow the passions and interests of their kids. Our days are fairly loose, but we follow fairly traditional subjects. Homeschoolers often fall into different categories… Charlotte Mason, Montessori, Classical, or use online-curriculums. I would say we are eclectic, hands-on homeschoolers — meaning we...
Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 19, 2014 · Last modified March 1, 2020
Here is the free math lapbook ED (and I) made together. It has all kinds of different activities she was working on from the days of the week and months of the year to the concept of odd-even, more-less, doubling, and other things! At the end of the year last year, I had ED cut out and put together a math lapbook. We didn’t go over much of the material...
Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Writing / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 17, 2014 · Last modified January 30, 2024
How do you help a child who throws his hands up and declares he can’t write, refuses to write, only writes “I suck at writing” or prose of that sort? Well, it has been a long hard journey for my son (10), but things have started to turn around this year and I wanted to share how we’ve made it over that hump… most of the time. *Have a space where...
I know several people who balance working outside the home with homeschooling. For each of them it requires a lot of juggling, some outside help, flexibility on when the “academics” happen, but ultimately is working well for their families. Each one of them (two friends and my sister) enjoys being a professional and also values being able to create a challenging learning environment for her kids. Their kids are involved...
Someone in one of my yahoo groups said that there was a 10cent sale on one of the publishers I have used a lot in the past, Homeschool Bits. She makes and sells lapbooks, unit studies, time lines and more. Her work is reasonably priced (most lapbooks are $1.00), but for the next day her work is on sale for 10 cents. Wow! I think the sale ends on Saturday...
Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 14, 2014 · Last modified January 29, 2017
To Homeschool We Need… Love The most important ingredient of homeschooling is simply love. Homeschooling is about the relationships, not the curriculum we use. Some days will be wonderful, other days… not as noteworthy, but at the end of the day did we connect wit the kids, snuggle with the kids, help them find their own voice and strengths. I help motivate them and support them. I try to keep...
Like so much of the east coast, we spent a lot of time today digging out from the huge snowfall. ED is the youngest and often the hardest worker! She was out there shoveling (and playing) for hours. Boomer said, “No way I’m going down those stairs.” So, we created a potty spot for her, shoveling a path into the back yard from the garage. It’s snowing again right now...
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Math: Preschool Math
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 13, 2014 · Last modified February 20, 2016
Have you heard of a seguin board? It’s a Montessori math tool for helping young kids understand place value. When ED was little (about 3), I made a printable and used it to work with her when she was ready to tackle the teen numbers. She used to skip some of the numbers after 13. I used a homemade version of the Montessori seguin board (download the seguin board activity...
Freebies / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 12, 2014 · Last modified April 13, 2016
I noticed in the kids’ writing journals that they weren’t using quotation marks correctly. I wanted to go over how to set up dialogues–the use of quotation marks and commas. I also wanted them to think about all the alternatives to using said or asked… there are dozens and dozens of great words. Grammar Quotation Mark Worksheet Said-Asked-Words List My kids love the song and video, What Does the Fox Say? ...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Holiday: Valentine's Day / Kindergarten
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 11, 2014 · Last modified January 22, 2015
I wanted to share this printable I made for ED a couple of years ago. Below you’ll find the link to print out and make your own activity. It took a bit of cutting, pasting and laminating, but ED loved this activity!! Anyway, here is the post from a couple of years ago with various Valentine’s Day activities and links: Make Your Own: Valentine’s Day Clothes Pin Word Match-a-words ED...
Engineering - STEM Activities / Homeschool Den / Science / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 10, 2014 · Last modified April 29, 2017
There is an amazing engineering curriculum that is put out by the Museum of Science, Boston. It’s called Engineering is Elementary. My friend first told me about their hands-on curriculum units and we actually have two of their units lined up for the next month or two. Why study engineering? Their website explains it this way: Hands-on, project-based learning is the essence of engineering. As groups of students work together...
Holiday: Valentine's Day / Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 8, 2014 · Last modified April 13, 2016
This morning I made these Valentine’s Day Math Addition pages for ED to work on this next week. There are five pages. You can download them free by clicking on the link: Valentine’s Day Addition Pages If you found these helpful, I’d love to hear from you over on my Homeschool Den Facebook Page. This is also a great way to browse through past posts you may have missed. Hope...
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.
