Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math--Addition
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 7, 2015
Today I’m going to share this Minecraft themed addition and subtraction packet that I made for my daughter. It’s free to download! It’s the beginning of the year, so ED definitely needs some review of some of the basic addition and subtraction facts. Combine math facts with her beloved Minecraft characters and she’ll beg to “play” more!! Although they are not presented in this order in the packet, we first...
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 a couple of years ago and I thought it was worth sharing again. After the Civil War, the availability of natural resources, new inventions, and a receptive market combined to fuel an industrial boom. The demand for labor grew, and...
Before I dive too much into our school posts, I wanted to share pictures from our last week of summer vacation. Back in the spring, we made camping reservations at the Blackwood Campground in Acadia National Park. We drove up to Maine and spent a week enjoying the beauty of that area! We did a lot of hiking! And the kids and Hubby even braved the cold ocean waters! We...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Language Arts: Writing
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 2, 2015 · Last modified September 7, 2015
Yesterday was our very first day school. We had such an amazing summer (and more about that in another day or so), but it is also great to be back in the groove again! I started the day with my new morning routine (I’ll talk about that more in another post too!), but it left me organized, energized, and ready to go with the kids! ED, of course, was the...
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Language Arts: Reading / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 31, 2015 · Last modified January 22, 2019
Are you looking for a phonics program to help your kids learn to read? I’ve put together some of the phonics readers that we used with my three kids. As you’ll see, all three of my kids had different preferences! I know I have a lot of new readers, and several people reached out to me recently who have preschoolers and are just starting out on this homeschool journey. I...
Elem-Children's Music 1 (6 yr old) / Homeschool Den / Music
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 24, 2015 · Last modified November 1, 2023
I had a realization recently. While the kids can play pieces on the piano, they cannot read music! So, the plan is to slowly but surely make sure they learn and build on those skills. I hope they learn at least two octaves of notes and their corresponding location on the piano/keyboard. I also want them to learn some of the basic music symbols and music notation. I gathered a...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 21, 2015 · Last modified September 24, 2015
For German this year, we are going to use a number of resources. If you have followed our blog for a while, you know that we used a lot of free resources to build up their basic skills… numbers, colors, animals, basic greetings, etc. You’ll find links to those at the bottom of this post. This year, we will be buckling down a bit more. Just so you know, I...
This past week, we did something really ausgezeichnet/fantastic!! We got in the car… and we drove and drove and drove… From the east coast…. …to Minnesota! We headed to the small city of Bemidji, visited Paul Bunyan and his Big Blue Ox… … before entering Waldsee (the German language section of Concordia Language Villages in Minnesota). There we spent an entire week immersed in the German language, culture, and food. Of course,...
History: Civics, Government and Economics / History: Geography Activities / Homeschool Den / Montessori (general info)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 17, 2015 · Last modified September 11, 2019
What are the top 20 World Landmarks? I’ve selected a number of famous buildings from around the world and created a set of Montessori 3-Part Cards. When we start back to school, we will be jump back in with some important geography facts… the largest countries, the countries with the largest population, the world’s largest cities… and more. We’ll also go over some of the impressive buildings of the world....
History: Ancient Greece Unit / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 12, 2015 · Last modified September 5, 2022
Ancient Greece Unit Many homeschoolers start off with a unit on the Ancient world. Our family was no different! 🙂 When LD was 6 (and the girls were 4 and 2), we started with units on Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. I thought I would share some of the activities and books we used for our Ancient Greece Unit. You’ll see that the way we pull units together hasn’t changed...
History: Geography Activities / Homeschool Den / Montessori (general info)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 10, 2015 · Last modified July 11, 2020
Today I’m going to share some free printable world maps and other images (like the world at night, etc.). These are pages that we’ll be using when we start back up with school again. The beautiful images are from NASA. I especially like the images of Earth and the USA at night. Hope someone finds this useful! ~Liesl Free Printable World Map, Outline Maps You can use the images in the printable...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / 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 August 5, 2015 · Last modified September 7, 2015
It’s that time of year again! Back to school sales are on and it’s a great time of year to stock up on homeschool supplies. This year, I have added to our original Back to (Home)school Shopping List to include some homeschool science supplies we have used (and are on our shopping list for this year). More about that below! Even though I’m sharing these very long lists now, I...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 29, 2015 · Last modified July 30, 2015
We’re definitely still in summer mode here… with swimming, camps, play dates, gardening… and an upcoming language immersion camp, but that doesn’t mean that homeschooling isn’t on my mind!! So here are the 10 steps we take to get ready for homeschooling: 1) Send in the official paperwork — the Notice of Intent to Homeschool (if your state require this). Half of my friends have sent theirs in… the other...
History: American History / History: Civics, Government and Economics / History: Geography Activities / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / History: World Religions / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 27, 2015 · Last modified September 14, 2021
When we start off the new school year, I want the kids to go over some basic world facts again. Do they remember… What are the four largest countries? (Russia, Canada, the U.S.A., China) What countries have the most people? (China, India, the U.S.A.) What are the world’s largest cities? (Tokyo, Jakarta, Seoul) Which countries have the longest life expectancy? (Monaco, Macau, Japan) What are the major religions? The packet...
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.
