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: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 21, 2016
One topic that I don’t hear discussed much in my homeschool circles (or online) is taking time for review. My guess is that it’s not quite as exciting to talk about going backwards (so to speak) as finding new topics and new curriculum. But I find it important to review some of the topics and units we’ve covered in the past. We do that on a daily/weekly basis (with cards...
Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Science / Starting to Homeschool / Videos
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 29, 2016 · Last modified April 18, 2019
How do I start teaching science to my kids? This is a very different answer if your kids are K-2 than if they are a bit older. Here are some of the science topics you might want to consider if your kids are in early elementary. I put together a video of some of the activities we did when the kids were in early elementary. Some of these activities my...
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Science / Science Units / Starting to Homeschool / Videos
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 21, 2016 · Last modified April 5, 2016
This is a video post about Homeschool Science in the Elementary and Middle School Years. It highlights some of the activities and experiments we’ve incorporated in our science units over the years. How do we know what science units to cover? I created a homeschool science checklist that I think about as we move from unit to unit. I have a general goal of what I’d like for the kids...
Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / How to Start Homeschooling / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Ocean Unit / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 8, 2016
Last week we did some pretty fun science experiments for our ocean unit. We always get so pumped up doing hands-on activities & the salinity experiment was especially impressive. I thought I’d talk a little bit what a big impact these kinds of experiments add to our day… the kids get excited and engaged they ask a lot of good questions the activities and projects are memorable so they often...
Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 2, 2016 · Last modified October 25, 2018
Most every year around mid-semester, I wrestle with some of the same problems. Maybe you’ve noticed this too: Being tired Feeling overwhelmed Letting things slide Having too many commitments Feeling like the kids aren’t “doing” enough Feeling doubt Feeling really critical or cynical, irritable or impatient Feeling frustrated or anxious I find myself reaching for education and teaching books, hoping to find the perfect motivational nuggets to get me through...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Outdoor Fun
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 19, 2016 · Last modified February 18, 2016
A lot of the time I write posts focused just on one topic… like the Renaissance sheets I just shared on Wednesday or the comma worksheet I’m going to share next week. But other times, I just want to chit-chat about what’s going on… and that’s what this post is going to be! Homeschooling has been going pretty well lately. We are trying to keep going at a steady pace...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 11, 2016
When things get disorganized I feel really scattered and wind up dropping the ball. There’s a lot for homeschoolers to keep track of, right? So, how do we keep on top of everything? Being brutally honest here… I/We can’t always do it all! Homeschooling is challenging because there are so many different areas to juggle, not just the academics. We just do the very best we can! I’ve found there...
Free Calendar Planning Pages / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 10, 2016 · Last modified February 8, 2016
As many of you know, I use a notebook and calendar to keep our homeschool and family life organized. I make my own printable calendar pages and print them out about 6 months or so ahead. I needed to add in new pages to update my calendar/planning notebook for later in the summer and early fall 2016. I wanted to share that with you today if you can use it....
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 21, 2016 · Last modified January 20, 2016
It has been a while since I just wrote about one of our days. I thought I would write up a quick post about the flow of our day. In our homeschool, no day is exactly like another. 🙂 Today I had to drag myself out of bed. I was up until nearly 3am last night working on the computer (on some school stuff for the kids and some behind...
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / How to Start Homeschooling / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Biology Unit / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats / Science: Cell Unit / Science: Chemistry Unit / Science: Digestive System / Science: Dinosaurs Unit / Science: Earth Science Unit / Science: Human Body Unit / Science: Ocean Unit / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates / Science: Water Unit / Science: Weather Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 6, 2016 · Last modified December 11, 2016
When I think about all we’ve done this past year in 2015 in science, I’m really pretty amazed! It’s been a fun, full year! This post has links to dozens of our science experiments, printables and hands-on activities. You’ll find direct links to the posts in the table below. We managed to squeeze in various engineering (STEM) type activities here and there. In January of 2015 we were in the...
History and World Cultures Units / History: American Colonies / History: American History / History: Civics, Government and Economics / History: Middle Ages / History: Native American Indians Unit / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 30, 2015
What a successful year! As the year draws to a close, I love taking a look at what we’ve accomplished not only in school, but in life in general. I’m not one to make “resolutions” per se, but I do enjoy thinking about what’s to come and seeing just how to make that happen! This year was a *huge* one for my blog. January 5, 2015 was my last official...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 3, 2015 · Last modified December 2, 2015
We all want those things in our homeschool or classroom, right?! In this series, Thoughts on Teaching, I’ve been diving into some of the deeper issues we have as educators. How do we create an environment that helps students blossom and reach their full potential? Today I’m going to talk about the fear of failure and the struggle that can create for some students. In some ways, I notice that...
Holiday: Christmas Activities / Holiday: New Years / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 23, 2015
The holiday season is here! This time of year, I really have to keep a close eye on our calendar and plan things out in advance to help keep the stress (and extra errands/shopping) to a minimum. At the same time, I want to make sure we schedule in the fun traditions that make this season special for our family. That takes some planning and organization, especially since we continue...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 19, 2015 · Last modified November 17, 2015
This week I’m changing our “Thoughts on Teaching” series up a bit to write about how our homeschool days flow in general. Each day is pretty different from the one before and is usually a result of what we didn’t get to (or got to only minimally) the day before. But I keep a general running tab (mentally if not by checklist!) of what we’re doing in each subject. So...
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.
