Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Last week, I talked a lot about our civics and government unit. Today, I thought I would briefly mention the American History books the kids have been reading this year. As many of you know, we started off the year with a unit on Native Americans (We shared a number of notebook pages that are free to download for that unit): Native Americans of the Northeast (Part I: Algonquins) Native...
Homeschool Den / Nature / Outdoor Fun / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 8, 2015
Every spring for years now, I’ve sent the kids out to do a Nature Scavenger Hunt. This year I thought we’d add in something new… an Outdoor Treasure Hunt with the QR Code reader. We’ve been having a lot of fun with these QR Codes and this is a way to get the kids outside and enjoying nature at the same time. How does it work? Well, someone needs to...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Language Arts - Grammar Spelling Reading Writing Categories / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets / Language Arts: Spelling / Language Arts: Writing
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 3, 2015 · Last modified May 6, 2017
So, what does our family do for our homeschool language arts curriculum? I’ll share what we’ve been using for 1st through 6th grades. Over the past week, I’ve gotten three separate emails and FB messages asking about what we use for language arts — spelling, grammar and literature. It must be that time of year again when we start thinking about our plans for next year. 😉 I’ll start with...
Active Math Games / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math--Addition / Math--Multiplication
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 2, 2015 · Last modified May 15, 2016
Over the past couple of weeks, ED and I have been having a lot of fun with her math and she’s made some really good progress with her subtraction facts and with her skip counting. I thought I would share some of the activities she’s been up to. It had been a while since we pulled out our Fast Track math board game. That definitely infused a lot of energy and enthusiasm...
History: American Colonies / History: American History / History: Civics, Government and Economics / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 30, 2015 · Last modified February 22, 2021
This Civics and Government Unit covers the 3 Branches of Government The Constitution & Bill of Rights The Presidential Cabinet Positions How a Bill becomes Law Civics Review (symbols, landmarks) Federal vs. State Governments and more! We are doing a Civics and Government Unit. I made this packet for the kids because I couldn’t find a homeschool unit that covered everything I wanted to include. Not only are we covering the...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 24, 2015 · Last modified March 22, 2015
Sometimes homeschooling is a delicate balance of Mom’s energy, the kids’ energy, and all the other things we have going on. It’s not unusual for us to take an abrupt, unscheduled detour along this educational journey of ours! As many of you know, we are studying the Middle Ages this semester. But, with everything else we had going on we stepped away from history for a couple of weeks. (We had...
A lot of the time I share our latest homeschool activities, but sometimes I like to share a bit about what’s going on for us. 🙂 Despite the high traffic on the blog now, it’s still the place I tend to chronicle our family’s adventures! March is usually a very busy one for our family. A couple of weeks ago, DD had her aerials showcase. Aerials is a neat sport because it...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 16, 2015 · Last modified March 15, 2015
Today we’re off from school because I’m on my way to Baltimore — to Johns Hopkins — for a six month follow up after my 6th ear surgery last year!! (Okay, in reality I’ve had about 15 ear surgeries in my lifetime, but six of those were last year!!). I had a terrible year last year which resulted in my becoming deaf in that ear, but it has a good...
Homeschool Den / Science / Science: Cell Unit / Science: Garden Science / Science: Plant Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 10, 2015 · Last modified March 23, 2023
This Cell Unit Packet is over 100 pages and includes worksheets, interactive notebook pages and even a “Build Your Cell” game! We have had such an amazing time with this cell unit. The goal has been not only to help the kids learn the parts of the cells (organelles), their function, and the difference between animal and plant cells, but also to understand the process of protein synthesis (on a...
Homeschool Den / Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts / Math--Addition
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 9, 2015 · Last modified April 15, 2015
I made this set of Montessori-Style subtraction pages for ED to practice borrowing. She started using these last week. I know lots of people have downloaded our Montessori Style Addition pages and thought some of you might find these pages useful too! They are free to download: Montessori Style Subtraction with Borrowing Other Montessori Style Math Worksheets You Might Be Interested In: Free Montessori Style Addition Sheets (Without Regrouping)...
History: Middle Ages / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 6, 2015 · Last modified March 5, 2015
The last week or so we have learned a lot about King Arthur and Charlemagne. Last week, I shared our monasteries worksheets. This week we finished reading a fabulous book about King Arthur. I’ve read a lot of King Arthur stories/books over the years, but this one was absolutely perfect for our homeschool… with rich exciting tales that the kids and I all loved! I mentioned it last week, but it’s...
Homeschool Den / Lapbooks / Science: Dinosaurs Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 2, 2015 · Last modified October 25, 2022
DD had an amazing time with this Dinosaur Unit! She did everything from learning many of the dinosaur’s names, to finding out what they ate, what period they lived in, and a number of dinosaur games along the way! This packet covers 15 dinosaurs: Allosaurus, Ankylosaurs, Apatasaurus, Brachiosaurus, Herrerasaurus (one of the earliest dinosaurs), Iguanodon, Parasaurolophus, Plesiosaurus, Pteranodon, Quetzalcoatlus, Spinosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Velociraptor. There are Montessori 3-Part cards...
Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Writing
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 27, 2015 · Last modified February 26, 2015
How are we introducing note taking and research skills into our homeschool? One skill that middle and high school students (and beyond!) need is the ability to take notes–either by picking out important key points from books and resources they read or from listening to a speaker or lecturer. In the elementary years, I’ve slowly been trying to help the kids build these skills. I wanted to write this post...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 26, 2015
Hi Everyone, Not everyone uses Facebook and with the way Facebook works now, the majority of my readers don’t see what I post to Facebook. So, I thought that I’d highlight some of my older posts here on the blog as well every now and then. 20+ Thoughts for the Busy Homeschooling Family: 11 Year Old Shares Her Thoughts About Homeschooling Last winter on a snowy day like this one, I...
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.
