Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 22, 2013 · Last modified March 9, 2018
Planarian are a type of small flatworm. My homeschooling friend had some Planarian she had ordered and shared some with us! What a great friend to share her worms! 🙂 Heh heh! Let me first share a picture of these little creatures and then I tell you some really cool things about them!! Planarian are amazing because they have the ability to regenerate! If you cut a Planarian in half...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 21, 2013 · Last modified March 29, 2016
Once we went over the classification of animals (I shared that post and our Montessori Activities here), we got into the exciting hands-on stuff! We looked at earthworms and a type of flatworm called Planarian. There are some interesting differences in their body systems so we spent time comparing the two. Our first step was to go out to the garden and find ourselves some earthworms. It was chilly out...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Reading / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 19, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
We read a lot of books here at the Homeschool Den. I thought I would highlight some of our current favorites. The girls have actually been reading a lot of the same books. I’ve been reading to the girls together at night and more often than not, DD climbs into my lap in front of the wood stove in the mornings when I’m reading to ED! The girls are 4...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Arts and Crafts / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 18, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
We made some play dough together at the beginning of the week and ED has been playing with it every single morning! Play dough is really easy to make and has a wonderful consistency. Here’s how we made made ours: 1 cup flour 1/3 cup salt 1 Tablespoon Cream of Tartar (in the spice aisle of your grocery store) 1 Tablespoon oil 1 cup of near boiling water almost...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets / Language Arts: Spelling / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 17, 2013 · Last modified January 3, 2020
I made this spelling review sheet for the /er/ sound. We use All About Spelling Program (affiliate link) (which we love, love, love!) and this goes along with several of the lessons from books 2 and 3. Spelling has never come naturally to LD in particular, so he needs a bit more review from time to time. Feel free to download this for your child/students! Spelling: sound /er/ — er...
We’re looking for some great blogs that you think will inspire Parents readers! Do you have a favorite blog? Do you write a blog? Do you have a blog that pushes you to be a better person, touches you, has helped you reach your goals? We want your nominations — not mine, of course– but other blogs that truly inspire you!! Between now and January 27th we’d like you to...
Between January 16 and 22nd, there is a 50% off sale at Mr. Q’s Science Classic Science curriculum. He offers Life Science (FREE: see the note below) Earth Science Chemistry Physical Science To get a flavor for the curriculum, you can download the Elementary Life Science Curriculum for free at any time. He also has lots of samples for each science curriculum before you buy it. We have not used...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Human Body Unit / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 15, 2013 · Last modified September 23, 2022
Continuing on with our vertebrate-invertebrate unit… One day last week we learned a bit about the backbone and nervous system. We talked about the importance and function of the vertebrae and did some activities to explore how/why the vertebrae work. The kids liked this almost as much as they liked Harold (when we did the circulatory system)! Here’s a picture of vertebrae man–then I’ll explain what we did… I made...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Homeschool Den / Montessori (general info) / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 14, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
Homeschooling is so great because you can be flexible and go with the flow when the need arises! We were all prepared to start school with a unit on rocks when my wonderful homeschooling friend offered to give us some flatworms called Planarian. Her family had studied them and their amazing properties. We jumped at the chance to do something new and delved into a week-long study of invertebrates. It...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschooling in the News / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 12, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
Because of the holidays I missed this article about homeschooling in The Economist until today. The article explains that homeschooling has increased dramatically over the past thirty years. One thing I didn’t realize is that there are about as many homeschooled students now (estimated to be about 2 million) as there are students who attend charter schools. Another interesting statistic I hadn’t heard was, ” In 2007 a report found that...
Update Tuesday morning Jan. 15th: I just checked and it looks like the sale has now ended. I want to spread the word that the wonderful Scholastic Dollar Deals sale is back! I’ve bought and downloaded dozens of books and resources over the past couple of years and use lots and lots of them in our homeschool. I’m not sure when the sale ends. The website states “we have extended the...
Active Math Games / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math--Fractions / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 11, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
I made a set of equivalent fraction cards. LD has to figure out the correct answer and then moves that many spaces on our homemade Fast Track Gameboard. You can download these Equivalent Fraction Cards (pokemon-theme) here. They are free to download. 🙂 We made our own gameboard years ago and still have it tucked in the corner to pull out! This was an idea I got from the wonderful book, Games for...
Freebies / German / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 10, 2013 · Last modified February 9, 2020
Last semester, we spent time reading simple stories together in German. There are a couple of stories we downloaded from Amazon, Peter und das Huhn and Der Kartoffel-troll. We read them aloud together and I had the kids do a few activities related to those stories. Peter und das Huhn ($0.99) is considerably easier than any of the stories in Der Kartoffeltroll ($1.50), but the kids enjoyed them both. We still regularly read...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math--Multiplication / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 9, 2013 · Last modified March 23, 2017
DD is learning her multiplication tables. Yesterday, I shared the multiplication practice worksheets I made for her in the Pokemon theme. I made her some cards with some of her beloved Pokemon characters. I’ll share it here in case anyone else is interested! Click here to download the Pokemon Multiplication Cards We’ll use these cards to play a game called Fast Track that we made years ago. This was an idea...
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.
