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 and Toddler Activities / Freebies / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Montessori (general info) / Science / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 2, 2011
Over the past few years, we have done a lot of Montessori science work. This year I compiled a review notebook and will let DD and LD work on this as they are interested (ED will be introduced to these for the first time this year). Mostly I expect the older ones to cut out pictures from magazines and write on these sheets (pages 5 and beyond in the pack). ...
History: Geologic Timeline (Montessori) / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 27, 2011
I’ve been doing some reading and re-reading of Montessori philosophy this summer. I thought I’d share my thoughts about how our studies — specifically our USA unit study — fits in with my interpretations of Montessori teaching in the early elementary grades. As I have three kids spanning the two age groupings (both 3-6 and 6-9), I use elements from both. **We will be starting the year by creating paper...
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 19, 2011 · Last modified March 3, 2015
I’ve been having a thoughtful discussion with a blogging friend of mine. We’ve been talking about the reality of homeschooling… how it really works with a three year old in tow, what curriculum we use and things like that. I would love, love, love to hear your comments about how your day goes — and how you arrive at your homeschool curriculum decisions!Here’s part of my email letter to my...
While on holiday it was time to think through our homeschooling plans for the next 5-7 weeks or so. I always have a running plan in my head, but sometimes it’s useful to put it down on paper, so to speak. As you will see, I am trying to include a lot more Newberry honor and medal winners now that DD is a bit older. I’ll continue to read lots...
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 12, 2011
I developed this blog in large part for me. It helps me keep a record of what we’ve done and it also helps me stay organized and keep track of websites where I’ve gotten activity ideas and printables. You should see my drafts!! Whenever I’m cruising around trying to find information and activities for new units I create a “draft” and link lots of the websites I come across. I...
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 December 26, 2010
I usually take opportunity over our December break to begin planning for the next semester. This last semester we learned a lot during our studies of Ancient Rome. We enjoyed watching bits of Spartacus and Ben Hur. LD and DD were entranced by the boat battles and amazing chariot race of Ben Hur! Now, as you obviously can tell by the clip art I’m planning for our next unit on...
Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Math General Posts / Workboxes
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 9, 2010
This post is a long time in coming; it’s taken forever to get this posted! I wanted to share some of the curriculum choices that are working well for our 7 year old this semester. MATH: These past five months or so, we have been using a math workbook for much of LD’s math practice. Only recently have started back on our beloved Right Start Math curriculum. It was written...
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: Preschool (Age 4) / Elem-Children's Music 1 (6 yr old) / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Kindergarten / Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts / Music / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates / Workboxes
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 28, 2010 · Last modified July 27, 2018
I’ve been meaning to put up a post about what we generally work on from day to day. But, with blogger not working for a while, I have a plethora of photos to share. So, here’s a glimpse of what DD (just turned 5) has been working on these past couple of weeks. Her “basics” include math, reading, handwriting, music/glockenspiel, arts&crafts; and another unit-study (a lapbook in this case, but...
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 6, 2010 · Last modified January 17, 2019
I love visiting people’s blogs when they share a good overview of their daily activities (workboxers call it “What’s in the Box?”). It’s been in the back of my mind to share what’s in our workboxes, but haven’t gotten around to that. Instead, I’ll share some the other aspects of our homeschool environment. Montessori talks a lot about having a prepared environment, one in which the children can choose from...
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 14, 2010
Today Daddy took the kids out to the playground leaving me with an hour or so to myself. I managed to clear stuff off of our craft/science table. Then as I was unpacking one of the boxes, I came across the roll of butcher paper our friends gave us. As I considered where to store it, I realized I could put it UNDER and ACROSS the craft table for an...
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Workboxes
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 17, 2010
We’ve pretty much resorted to ‘natural learning’ these past two months as we travel from state to state making our way to our new home. But in the meantime, I have been planning and preparing for the new school year to come. We use a smattering of curriculum resources which I distribute into workboxes and centers. While we do most workboxes, most days we don’t have a set orders to...
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.
