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Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Mom Stories
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 25, 2013
So, a couple days ago I wrote a blog post about how are homeschool routine is working out this year. It’s going pretty well and I love being back into a routine. But as for life in general, it’s sometimes hard to juggle everything. Preparing and time with the kids homeschooling takes up a good chunk of my day, as you can imagine. Plus, writing also takes time. But there...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 23, 2013 · Last modified November 17, 2015
We’ve been back to school for about a month, I wanted to share how homeschool life is going. I love the posts where other homeschoolers share what they aspire to each day — and that’s what this post is. Not that everything on the list get checked off, but if we were to have an ideal day it might look something like this (this is the list that floats around...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 18, 2013 · Last modified February 24, 2016
Sometimes I need some homeschooling encouragement. Here are some things I need to remember as we race through our day… Think about dinner in the morning — That tops my list because having dinner planned (or better yet, waiting in a crockpot!) makes the end of my day SO much better! The education is important, but keeping the family healthy, happy and on track really has to top my...
Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschooling in the News
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 10, 2013
A report was released in last month which focused in large part on parent and family involvement in the students’ education during the 2011-2012 school year. This was based on data reported by the students’ parents. It included questions relating to homework, parental involvement in the school, school-initiated communication, and participation in other educational activities. Here are some interesting highlights from that report: Homework: According to their parents, 96% of...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Interviews with other Homeschoolers / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschooling in the News
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 9, 2013
In August 2013, a new study was released showing a continued increase in the number and percentage of students who are homeschooled in America. The last time the U.S. government released data about the number of homeschooled students was back in 2007. How many homeschoolers are there? In 2007, 2.9% of students were homeschooled. In 2011-2012, 3.4% of students were homeschooled. In 2007, the number of homeschooled students was about 1.5...
Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Workboxes
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 5, 2013
Yesterday, I mentioned that my friend and I had some really lengthy conversations about homeschooling. We both really want to change up our writing time. I’ve been spending months and months reading books about writing and feel like I have some really wonderful ideas and direction for this part of our homeschool. When I got back, I decided I really wanted a spot where I could feature some of the...
It’s Labor Day and there are so many reasons to be thankful that our family lives here in this country and at this time! This is a post I wrote last year and I thought it was worth sharing again. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics this is how American adults spend their time: And according to the statistics, most American high school students spend very little time working (in employment):...
Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Mom Stories / Recipes
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 24, 2013
After we got back from our Colorado trip, LD had a birthday. It’s hard to believe he is now 10! As many of you know — and some of you probably don’t — LD and DD are IVF babies (not ED, though!!! She was our surprise baby!). We had trouble getting pregnant and there didn’t seem to be much of a cause for it. Oh my goodness, what a stressful,...
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...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 20, 2013 · Last modified August 19, 2018
Someone asked what our typical homeschool day looks like. Actually, no day is really ever like another, but I’ll do my best to share the general rhythm of our day… that is, if we’re home all day. Kindergarten Day: ED (now in kindergarten) is still the first one up most days. She and I sit down together to eat at the dining room table and I read her a book...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Kindergarten
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 9, 2013 · Last modified December 12, 2016
I had to submit our Notice of Intent to Homeschool and even though I don’t have to go into much detail about our curriculum, I use that as my deadline for roughly mapping out the school year. The kids are in Grades 5, 3 and Kindergarten this year. I pulled out some (but not all) of the resources we’ll be using for a quick photo: Here are some of the...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 7, 2013 · Last modified December 31, 2014
Not too long ago the categories section of my blog was disabled. I’m trying to get that up and running, but in the meantime I wanted to be sure people could cruise through the various topics we’ve done while planning for the fall. I’m sure homeschoolers all around the country are gearing up for the new school year! Update: We have just moved to homeschoolden.com… I have not yet provided the...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 5, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
At some point soon I’ll be sharing some of my plans and the curriculum choices for this next fall. But before I do that, I really wanted to write a post with advice to new homeschoolers. I want to stress how different each and every homeschool family is! So without further ado, here’s some of my thoughts about homeschooling for those who are new to the adventure: *In many states,...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschooling in the News / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 31, 2013 · Last modified January 28, 2018
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been asked by people “What about socialization?” or something to that effect. Depending on the tone of the person asking I’ve responded in different ways. My answer has also changed as the kids have gotten older. These days in answering that question I often start with my own thoughts about socialization… “well, I want the kids to be good listeners, polite, well-rounded,...
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.
