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) / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Homeschool Den / Montessori (general info)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 17, 2019 · Last modified August 31, 2020
I know that I have a lot of readers with younger kids. This post includes a lot of activities we did when the kids were 2-5 years old or so. It can be difficult to balance kids of different ages… especially when you have a rambunctious, active toddler and/or preschooler in the mix!! You can read this post about homeschooling multiple ages, if you are interested. The Preschool Page, might...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Freebies
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 15, 2017 · Last modified March 1, 2017
Recently, one of our preschool posts called Bugs, Bugs, Bugs has been getting a lot of page views. I thought I would add a couple of fun tracing sheets to that unit. And, I also thought I would highlight some of the free PreK printables we have tucked away on the blog! So, this is quite a packed post if you have 3-5 year olds! The free bug tracing pages...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / 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) / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Freebies
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 23, 2016 · Last modified October 1, 2017
This is a huge, long list of more than 100 different activities that you can do with your 2-5 year olds. I originally compiled this list when ED was three or so. I compiled this list when I was struggling to balance the needs of my preschooler with my older two school-age kids. Here’s what I wrote when I first made this list: I am a list person! I love...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 21, 2016
When my kids were little, I made a felt board that we used almost daily for years! The kids used it for creative play. Free play (shapes) We used it for literacy props to tell and have the kids retell stories (I remember we did Billy Goats Gruff and Little Red Riding Hood). Here’s a post where we did The Emperor’s New Clothes. I set out various math activities. We...
Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 21, 2013 · Last modified February 9, 2017
This is a post from several years ago that had its own separate page. At the time the kids were about 18-20 months (or so), 3 years old and 5 years old (I’m not sure exactly when because the page wasn’t dated). We still lived in Australia at the time I wrote this post. A Day in the Life of Our Homeschool Someone asked me what our homeschool schedule looks...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 5, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
Over the break, I wanted to pull together a fun packet for ED with activities she can (mostly) do on her own when I’m working with the other kids. I settled on a winter-relating unit– snowmen, snowflakes and things like that. Here are some of the resources I pulled together for her: When I want to find some preschool resources for ED, here are some of the first websites I...
Ages 2-6: Pete the Cat Unit / Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Homeschool Den / Math: Preschool Math / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 30, 2012 · Last modified February 17, 2016
Last week I asked ED what she wanted to learn about. “Kittens!” she declared. I was thinking I would have her make a kitten lapbook, but the more I looked around, the more resources I found for some books called, Pete the Cat. I hadn’t heard of them before, but they seemed to be all the rage among the early elementary teachers who offered many Pete-the-Cat themed worksheets free on...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 27, 2012 · Last modified March 1, 2017
Last week I put together my huge list of activities to do with my preschooler. One thing I haven’t done in a long time is our “Theme Time” activities. It is such an easy way to incorporate those games that get shoved to the back shelf. Last week we did a lot of insect-themed activities. Here are some of the things we did together: ED did lots of different crafts....
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Science: Dinosaurs Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 30, 2011 · Last modified February 3, 2016
Two weeks ago, I read The Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark (affiliate link) to ED. This inspired a short themed unit on dinosaurs. Here are a few of the things we did, plus other dinosaur books and dinosaur puzzles that I don’t have pictured below. Last week we were lucky enough to top our theme-time unit off with a visit to the Gray Fossil Site in east Tennessee on our...
Ages 2-6: Penguin Unit / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 30, 2011
DD enjoyed this penguin computer game. The object was to move your penguin around to keep the egg warm by avoiding the other penguins and obstacles or predators that might get in your way. Here’s the link:http://www.nationalgeographic.com/marchofthepenguins/game/ Also at the national geographic website was a crittercam game. She had to spot the various animals of Antarctica — the Emperor Penguin, krill, skua and other things. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/03/crittercam/antarctica/ Finally, she played a...
Ages 2-6: Penguin Unit / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 30, 2011
If you are working on Arctic Animals, this first grade teacher made a very cute science journal which incorporates polar bears, penguins, walruses, the arctic fox and snowy owl: Oceans of First Grade Fun.She also has a set of penguin “What Comes Between” math cards. The child has to place the number that comes in between 31 __ 33 or 36 __ 38. What’s nice for us is that they...
Ages 2-6: Penguin Unit / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 21, 2011
It’s taken a while to sort through my pictures to show what we have been doing with our penguin unit. Most of the activities were for ED, though there were a few sprinkled in for DD and LD as you’ll see. DD has been working diligently on a penguin/Antarctica lapbook. We’ll share pictures of that soon. So here’s the first cute activity. I took bottle cap letters from Confessions of...
Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Workboxes
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 5, 2010 · Last modified February 20, 2016
I’ve had a hard time getting to the computer this week (more about that in another posting). I have about four posts I’ve been working on–Snippets of DD’s week–age 5, LD’s week – age 7 and my week, not to mention posting pictures of DD’s completed butterfly lapbook. But now these are rather looonnnggg because it’s taken so long to get these posted. So, in reality these are snippets of the...
Ages 2-6: Fall Theme / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 11, 2010 · Last modified October 23, 2015
We collected leaves in the woods to do a science experiment from education.com on why leaves change colors. This was such a great activity because we went over the types of leaves (let’s find a maple leaf, oak leaf, etc.) Then we chopped up the leaves, put them in glass cups, added rubbing alcohol and hot water. Then after a half-hour we put in coffee filters to see what other...
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.
