Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Garden Science / Science: Plant Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 6, 2012 · Last modified March 29, 2016
After doing a couple projects that talked about things that live above ground and below ground, we then delved a bit more into plants. We did a cute sorting project from Kidssoup (a paid membership website) which shows where certain fruits and vegetables grow: ED also sorted a whole series of cards into fruit and vegetable baskets. I’m not sure where I got these cards, but I made a set...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats / Science: Plant Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 4, 2012 · Last modified March 3, 2016
In ED’s preschool science we are still talking about plants and animals. On this day we talked about animals and plant parts that live above or below the ground. We talked about how some animals like the grub or the cicada live part of their life under the ground, then live another stage above the ground. Some animals shelter under the ground when it is cold (like frogs and turtles)....
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Montessori (general info) / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 30, 2012 · Last modified March 22, 2016
We’ve been having a discussion of what makes something living. Living things eat drink (need water) breathe grow reproduce We’ve been observing mealworms for the past couple weeks. We saw evidence of their growth because they shed their exoskeleton. Yesterday we noticed they had transformed completely into darkling beetles! We’ve been keeping track of the growth of three sunflower plants out in the garden. Our sunflowers have grown an inch...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Language Arts: Reading / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 29, 2012
In our daily biography a few days ago we learned about Aesop, a Greek slave and story teller who is said to have lived 620-565 BC. Each fable contains a cautionary, ageless moral. And just in time for us, the Library of Congress released Aesop’s Fables Interactive Book. When you click on the link you can either read the fables on your computer or you can get the app for...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Reading
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 23, 2012
We found these play mats on sale at Michaels for $2.50. I turned it into a sight word game and ED’s been leaping and jumping all week! It’s been a huge hit!
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Reading / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 21, 2012 · Last modified March 21, 2015
It’s been a while since I talked about the books we’re reading. We have lots of books around, plus we check out lots of books from our local library (50+ at a time!). I thought I’d highlight ten books that have been on the repeated request list. While we’ve read other books in the past couple of weeks, these are the books that I have read again and again (and...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 20, 2012 · Last modified November 13, 2020
The science curriculum I’m using this year suggests letting the kids observe and work with mealworms. This is part of our discussion of what makes something living or not living. I purchased some from a local pet shop and came up with a few activities for the kids to do as they observe and learn about their mealworms. Before I even uttered a word, I simply handed the kids their...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math--Addition / Math: Preschool Math / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 15, 2012 · Last modified March 9, 2016
This week we’ve added in a bit of domino math to ED’s math time. I know there are lots of domino math sheets out there including the domino mats and cards from mathwire.com, at Making Learning Fun (domino addition, subtraction or multiplication), and a domino worksheet made by Erica over at Confessions of a Homeschooler. I needed one that wouldn’t overwhelm ED, though. I wanted just a few problems on the...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math--Geometry / Montessori (general info) / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 10, 2012
As I mentioned last week, we started a new unit on geometry. We’ve been busy talking about rays, intersecting lines, parallel lines, line segments, angles and more! Over the weekend, I came across a set of geometry cards made by Homemade Montessori that will come in handy! I thought I’d share this great find in case anyone else finds them useful. I am always so grateful to people who share...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science: Human Body Unit / Science: The 5 Senses
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 9, 2012 · Last modified June 26, 2020
Five Senses Unit – The Sense of Taste All week the kids have been waiting impatiently for the taste activities! LD remembered doing this three or four years ago and couldn’t wait! We first talked about the tongue and where you sense different tastes. We made a cute tongue model and labeled the different areas. I’ll show you how we put it together with a quick picture collage: How we made a...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: The 5 Senses
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 8, 2012 · Last modified March 7, 2016
On Friday we revisited an activity that we’ve done a number of times before, making pairs of scents and trying to find the match. To set up for this activity, I taped a piece of paper with matching symbols on sets of 2 Q-tips. Then I dipped the Q-tips into various liquids (vinegar, vanilla, fish sauce, almond extract, and lemon juice). You can also do this with a cotton ball...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 7, 2012 · Last modified March 9, 2016
Last week we started back to school, but I thought I’d spend a few minutes sharing our overall goals this for this next semester. I’ll start off sharing our plans for ED’s preschool. Early next week I’ll share the plans for DD (age 6) and LD (almost 9). Math This year I decided to go with Right Start Math Level A for ED (age 4). I did this curriculum with...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: The 5 Senses
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 3, 2012 · Last modified March 7, 2016
ED is doing a brief unit on the 5 senses. I’ll talk a little more about our general activities below, but first I wanted to share this wonderful sound game we played! One of the activities we did together this week was called Sound Bingo. I downloaded the sound files such as a baby, guitar, monkey, fireworks, scissors (41 sounds in all) onto my laptop and printed out bingo cards...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Fitness / Health / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Must Read / Running
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 27, 2012
A couple of months ago I featured a fitness board game called Flip2BFit. My kids really loved it. Today I’m going to review a similar product they put out called Bakari. It is a fitness memory game. The kids have been itching to play that as well and we finally got a chance to play it. It was a huge hit too! I thought it’d be perfect to feature today as we’ll...
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.
