Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 8, 2014 · Last modified June 9, 2015
Yes, literally! After 10 months of ear problems , I am heading into my 6th (and hopefully) final ear surgery this morning at Johns Hopkins. [You can read about the previous 5 surgeries to address my semi-circular canal dehiscence and the crazy symptoms here.] My symptoms these past months include severe dizziness and balance issues, vision problems (things blur when I turn my head and bounce around when I walk/move), problems with...
Active Math Games / Freebies / Homeschool Den / How to Start Homeschooling / Math General Posts / Must Read / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 7, 2014 · Last modified March 23, 2017
This is the second part in my talk about math curriculums. In the previous post, not only did I list some of the better known homeschool math curriculums, but I shared 15+ ideas for making math engaging and fun! (Math Curriculums and Active Engaging Math Activities) Today I wanted to share some of the materials I’ve made for the kids. I’ve found that the kids really enjoy when I make...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 6, 2014 · Last modified March 10, 2016
In this series, I thought I’d try to offer new homeschoolers a starting point for finding homeschool curriculums that works for your family. Today I’ll be talking about math. It’s sometimes tricky to find the curriculum that works well for you and your kids. It’s helpful to ask around (online and in your community) to see what will work for your child. If you can go to a homeschool curriculum...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Must Read / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 5, 2014 · Last modified March 17, 2016
I’ve been asked fairly regularly, “How do you know what to teach the kids?” That is definitely a daunting task, especially if you are pulling your child out of public/private school mid-year. Homeschool does not have to look like traditional school and there’s no rule saying that learning has to come from books or a certain set of books. There are a lot of homeschool curriculum options out there… and...
Homeschool Den / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 31, 2014 · Last modified April 10, 2015
This is the question our family gets asked most often… or some variation of it… Will you homeschool through high school? How will you teach the tough subjects like calculus? My son will be entering 6th grade this year… In our area he would be entering middle school. DD is a 4th grader and ED will be in 1st grade. (You know, we’re homeschoolers so really they do work on...
Homeschool Den / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 30, 2014 · Last modified June 26, 2015
As I start off this series, I realize there might be some readers who are fairly new to our blog. I thought I’d share how we got started homeschooling (and blogging about our adventures). Homeschooling was on our radar even before we had kids. My older sister had kids before we did. They decided to homeschool their kids just about the time we had our son, LD. Also, my cousin...
Homeschool Den / Nature / Outdoor Fun / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 25, 2014 · Last modified December 31, 2014
Rivers, lakes, streams, ponds… we’ve enjoyed them all this summer! The kids had a blast at our friend’s floating dock… They got a real kick out of the fish who would come and nibble on their fingers and toes! The kids have spent lots of time exploring and playing in the creek behind our house and looking out for critters. The tadpoles have turned into little froglets and the skinks...
Arts and Crafts / Homeschool Den / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 14, 2014 · Last modified June 23, 2015
Here’s a fun indoor activity that takes under 20 minutes. All of my kids and my niece (13) enjoyed making their own stationery. All you need for this activity is shaving cream, tempera paint and a thicker paper. We used medium weight drawing paper. Here are the easy steps: Spray the shaving cream, Add spoonfuls of the desired paint, Mix lightly with a finger or spoon, Press the paper down...
Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Books: Children's Literature
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 12, 2014 · Last modified May 19, 2015
Some of you may not know that we lived overseas for many years. In fact, all three kids were born in Central Australia. ED was just young enough when we left that she doesn’t remember very much about Australia any more. We’ll be doing a short unit on Australia when we start back up with school. With the help of one of my Australian friends, we came up with a...
Family Meeting / Games for Thinking and Learning / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 8, 2014 · Last modified April 10, 2016
In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony. — Eva Burrows Does your family hold a regular family meeting? We started holding one a couple of years ago and started some traditions that are still family favorites… “candle night,” the “smiley under the plate” and getting downright silly with the kids in “knock your socks off.”...
Homeschool Den / Outdoor Fun / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 2, 2014 · Last modified June 24, 2015
Slip-n-Sliding is really fun when it’s hot out, just as long as there are no water restrictions. For some reason, ED asks all year long when we’re going to go slip-n-sliding… It will be mid-January, snow everywhere and she’ll ask when it’ll be time! This year I promised myself I’d bring it out as soon as it was warm enough. So, we set up the slip-n-slide a week or so...
Arts and Crafts / Homeschool Den / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 25, 2014 · Last modified January 18, 2015
When I was at camp years ago, we made sun prints using photo paper and photography chemicals. I remember being thrilled to work in the darkroom. This isn’t quite as exotic, but it is a quick and easy version of that with sun sensitive paper… no chemicals needed! We got our paper at Oriental Trading. It was $6.25 per dozen sheets. (Nature Print Sun-Sensitive Paper). I sent the kids outside...
Arts and Crafts / Homeschool Den / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 25, 2014 · Last modified June 24, 2015
When I was at camp years ago, we made sun prints using photo paper and photography chemicals. I remember being thrilled to work in the darkroom. This isn’t quite as exotic, but it is a quick and easy version of that with sun sensitive paper… no chemicals needed! We got our paper at Oriental Trading. It was $6.25 per dozen sheets. (Nature Print Sun-Sensitive Paper). I sent the kids...
Homeschool Den / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 23, 2014 · Last modified June 23, 2015
I’ve seen these activities all over the internet, but we have never given them a try. What a huge, huge hit these two activities were! The bubble solution was easy to make, I just had to make sure I ordered glycerine ahead of time. I mixed up another batch in under than five minutes when we (quickly) ran out of our first bowlful. This is the solution we used: 1...
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.
