Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 20, 2012
Sometimes I’m not as patient as I should be. Perhaps I haven’t slept quite as much as I should have or one of the kids is having an off day. I feel grumpy, burdened, moody or cross at the world. On those occasions I know I’ve been guilty of not being as nice as I could. On those days I need to snap out of it, fake it, listen to good music...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 16, 2012
There’s an interesting article about what to do when your child is having a temper tantrum posted at Boston.com by Dr. Claudia Gold, a pediatrician and author — don’t leave your child alone, reassure them with hugs (or verbal comfort), etc. In our family, hugs or even a hand on the leg or back really does help to alleviate the temper tantrum. We also talk about the emotions she felt...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Mom Stories / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 11, 2012
It was a day that few of us will forget. I’m sure you remember where and what you were doing that terrible day. I was in my sister’s guest room in Nashville, Tennessee and watched in horror as the second flight flew into the World Trade Center. And then, glued to the TV, I watched it again and again and again as the news replayed it, as the towers collapsed,...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 9, 2012
Don’t be afraid to ask! On Saturday, Hubby and I spent time doing chores around the yard. Our house is set down among some very steep hills. Mowing the lawn on the ride-on mower can be harry and nerve wracking in a few spots. At one point, I tackled a tough, steep portion of the yard that is bordered by huge rocks (probably put in by the previous owners for...
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...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 28, 2012 · Last modified March 14, 2019
Yesterday I laid out some of the plans we have for this year. For those who are new to my blog I thought you might be interested in looking at some of the plans I had for last year (Fall 2011). Our focus in geography/history last year was on the USA and (some) American history. There was a lot of material that we covered that weren’t in my initial plans/post...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 27, 2012 · Last modified March 16, 2019
Lots of people have shared their school plans for this next year in the not-back-to-school blog hop: curriculum week. In fact, I shared our preschool curriculum plans several weeks ago. Now finally, here are our basic plans for DD and LD this next year. While they work on their own levels for math and language arts, we do most of our other units together. As you’ll see, much of our day...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Must Read / Workboxes
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 24, 2012 · Last modified March 14, 2019
I’ve spent a lot of time reorganizing our homeschool room this year. I know lots of other homeschoolers are sharing pictures of their learning spaces in the not-back-to-school blog hop. I thought I’d share some photos of our homeschool room as well. In the picture below you see our 3-ring notebooks, the craft table, LD’s writing desk, a bookshelf and DD’s desk (back by the window). A lot of our...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 22, 2012
The past month I’ve been trying to organize and tackle various parts of the house. Professional organizers have all kinds of hints for getting your life in order. Things like only handle paper once don’t organize clutter if you haven’t worn it for a year, get rid of it if they haven’t played with it for six months, box it up, if they don’t ask for it for another month...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Interviews with other Homeschoolers / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 13, 2012
I heard about a movie that is being produced out in Los Angeles that focuses on education, specifically the validity of homeschooling as an alternative to the industrial school model. According to their site, “the film will examine the numerous approaches to home learning, exploring both its history and recent growth.” The movie will follow an ordinary family in their quest to educate their children. You can read more about...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Interviews with other Homeschoolers
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 10, 2012
Yesterday on the Diane Rhem Show on NPR there was an interview with a homeschooling family. If you’re interested, you can listen to the podcast here: Quinn Cummings: “The Year of Learning Dangerously”. Quinn Cummings is an actor, author and inventor who has been homeschooling her daughter for four years.
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...
Homeschool Den / Homeschooling in the News / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 18, 2012
In a time when public schooled kids are being monitored and tested more and more closely and state (and national) standards are being put firmly in place, I was intrigued to read an article in the Concord Monitor (July 8, 2012) entitled Educators Watch Homeschool Changes. Homeschooling parents will no longer have to share evaluations of their students with public and private schools. According to a July 8th article in the...
Family Meeting / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 17, 2012
I have a confession. We have never found a chore system that works right for our family. It’s not that the kids don’t help out, but daily checklists, wall-mounted chore sheets, even our assigned chore system didn’t work. This summer when I got together with one of my best friends, she asked what we do for chores. I had to stutter and admit to her that we didn’t have a...
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.
