Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 10, 2017
Does your homeschool change a lot from day to day, week to week? It’s been a busy semester and the flow of our homeschool has changed quite a bit. That’s not really surprising, though is it? We’re always adapting and changing things up in our homeschools. One of the joys and benefits of homeschooling is flexibility. We have the ability to go on tangents, dive deep, reschedule things, go faster...
Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 26, 2017
I have a new (free!) Mid-Year Homeschool Assessment Packet to share with you today! You might be doing this kind of evaluation and planning over the winter break, but I wanted to share this packet with you sooner than later. This Thanksgiving break, I took the opportunity to really reflect on our homeschool year so far and assess how things are going. This was a natural time for me to...
Freebies / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 4, 2017
Back in the summer, I shared a large 100-page homeschool planner & discovery journal which is free to download. My daughter really likes having a checklist to work from and this weekend I added a holiday background to those pages. She’s excited about them. Just thought I would share them here for you as well. I also added in the calendar pages for the next 4 months (because I print...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 1, 2017 · Last modified August 29, 2018
Do you have what it takes to homeschool? Of course you do, but let me tell you a little story! There is a shadowy figure that lurks outside of our homeschools. At the beginning of the year, this figure is so distant, we don’t realize it’s there. But just about this time of year, it starts to make an appearance. Sometimes it just pokes its head around the corner. Sometimes...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 27, 2017 · Last modified September 28, 2017
What strategies work for you when your kids are extremely upset, angry, or frustrated with something (or someone)? This was the discussion question I posted last spring as a discussion topic over in our Homeschool Den Chat FB group. As homeschoolers, we are with our kids much more than the average family. I know that my kids can become grumpy, frustrated, angry, resentful… and wrestle with a wide array of emotions…...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 11, 2017
We’ve been in school for a couple of weeks now and creating good routines has been on my mind a lot. I think we all want to harness the energy and excitement we feel these first few weeks of school and keep that going all throughout the year, right?! Coming up with a homeschool routine that works well for your family can be really challenging. Some homeschoolers have a fairly...
Free Calendar Planning Pages / Freebies / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 18, 2017 · Last modified August 19, 2017
Hi everyone! As the school year begins again for many of us, we’re all trying to keep ourselves organized. I use google (online) calendar for many of our activities, but I still keep a traditional paper calendar as well in my homeschool planner. I wanted to share the updated printable calendar with you all. This is FREE to download and print out, just click to link or picture below! This...
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 7, 2017 · Last modified August 4, 2018
The Back to Homeschool Challenge: Daily missions to make sure we’re on track for an awesome year! Can you believe that the summer is winding down?! I hope you’ve had a restful, adventurous summer (for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere!). Are you getting ready for the new Homeschool Year? The Back to Homeschool Challenge gives us 10 days of small daily tasks to make sure we’re ready for...
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) / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 3, 2017 · Last modified May 6, 2023
I am excited to share our new Homeschool Planner and Discovery Journal! This unique homeschool planning packet is currently FREE to download! It is nearly 100 pages! Not only does this packet include daily and weekly planning pages, checklists and record keeping pages, but it also includes various homeschool journaling pages… think gratitude journal meets homeschool goal setting! What is unique about this planner? We all want to be the...
History and World Cultures Units / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 11, 2017
Last week, I managed to get our Science Year in Review post done. I had hoped to get the history post done too, but life got away from me! It’s ready for my this week, though! So, here’s our HISTORY year in review! There are quite a number of freebies in addition to the more in-depth packets I made this year. 🙂 This year my kids were in Grades 8,...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Science / Science Experiments / Science Units
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 4, 2017 · Last modified June 3, 2017
I love looking back at the year and everything we managed to accomplish! Sometimes in the short-run it can feel like we’re not getting much homeschooling done, but when I step back to look at the bigger picture, I’m amazed at what we managed to cover. This year my kids were in Grades 8, 6, and 3. We do our science activities together. Sometimes I focus a little more on...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool High School / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 2, 2017
Like so many of you, I have been busy planning for next year. I think I have things mapped out enough to write a post and share our (tentative) plans! 🙂 My oldest, LD, will be in 9th Grade in the fall. SCIENCE: The first big decision for us (for me and LD) was to look at science in the coming years. We want to follow a more traditional model...
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) / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 16, 2017 · Last modified September 23, 2022
Homeschool Vision Planner (This 50+ page pdf is FREE to download!) For many of us the school year is coming to a close and we’re thinking about next year. We’re tossing around ideas and trying to determine just what subjects and units we’ll be covering next fall. I thought I would share the process I go through… and also will share the planning pages that I’ve been using the past...
All About Homeschooling! / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Homeschooling in the News / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 13, 2017
This time of year, many people are looking into homeschooling for the first time. It can feel momentous to make the decision to homeschool. I thought I would share some stats so you know that you are not alone! This post shares some graphs and statistics about some of these topics: How many homeschoolers are there in the U.S.? How do the numbers of homeschoolers compare to the numbers of...
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.
