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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...
History: American History / History: Native American Indians Unit / Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Books: Children's Literature
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 21, 2014 · Last modified November 14, 2017
I was looking for Native American children’s books written by and about Native Americans. I found Debbie Reese’s website, American Indians in Children’s Literature. What a great resource! Today I’d like to share some of the books we read together this past week. I went with the books that were available at our library and that were appealing to the kids. 1) Buffalo Bird Girl: A Hidatsa Story (affiliate link) This is a...
Homeschool Den / Outdoor Fun / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 20, 2014 · Last modified June 24, 2015
This game instantly became a family and friend favorite! Kick the Can is cross between hide-and-go-seek and tag with a “jail” thrown in for those who are captured! This was such an amazingly fun game to play in the woods where there are places to hide everywhere! This is a great game for 4-7 players. To begin, designate a place to be the “jail.” Not far away, the can should...
Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Books: Children's Literature / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 16, 2014 · Last modified January 1, 2016
I was recently asked if we planned to homeschool throughout the summer. We often start back to school a bit earlier in August than our public school friends, but our family has decided that we need most of the summer off… at least from our more formal approach to school. For one thing, the majority of the kids’ friends have “off” during the summer, so we set up more playdates...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 15, 2014 · Last modified June 25, 2015
Have you ever made popovers? They are very simple to make as long as you follow the instructions carefully. My kids absolutely LOVE these! These are simple to make and don’t require many ingredients: >2 eggs, well-beaten 1 cup milk 1 cup flour <1/2 teaspoon salt 1 Tablespoon melted butter Beat until smooth. Fill well-greased silicone muffin pan cups 1/3 full. It is very, very important not to over-fill...
Our approach to Kindergarten has changed a lot over the course of this year. We had to add in curriculum and change things up as ED grew and matured this year. ED turned six in February and she was demanding more work… and work that looked more like what her brother and sister were doing. She is such a different student than my oldest! So here are some of the...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 10, 2014 · Last modified June 18, 2020
Yesterday I shared the end-of-year questionnaire I wrote up for the kids. There are some end-of-year things that I need to think about as well. Not only is it time to reflect on some of the things that went well (or didn’t), but it’s also time to take stock of what we/I need to do to get ready for next year. I’ll jot down supplies we need, things I need to...
Ages 2-6: Fairy Tale Unit / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 6, 2014 · Last modified May 14, 2015
Today I’m sharing activities we did a few years ago to go along with The Emperor’s New Clothes. The kids would have been 6 1/2, 4 1/2 and 2. Emperor’s New Clothes Craft: Shopping for the Emperor’s New Clothes This activity was a big hit! I cut out a felt emperor, shirts, pants, shoes, a robe, and a crown. Each had a set price (see the sheet below). Then I gave...
Ages 2-6: Fairy Tale Unit / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 4, 2014 · Last modified May 14, 2015
Last week, I wrote a post about all the books that DD (age 8) has been reading lately. You may have noticed that she really enjoys fairy tales. She has read a number of Gail Carson Levine’s books including Ella Enchanted and Fairest (affiliate links). She also LOVES Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin and Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk. (affiliate links) That got me to thinking about the Fairy Tale...
While we have had a really wonderful few weeks homeschooling, the past several weeks have been extremely challenging for me in other ways. I never imagined all the medical difficulties I would face. Tomorrow morning (today as you read this), I am going in for my 5th ear surgery since October. Along with other things, I seem to have semi-circular canal dehiscence in the horizontal canal. My last surgery in...
Freebies / History: China Unit / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 2, 2014 · Last modified February 20, 2017
Most every kid has heard of Genghis Khan, right? Boy, do we have some good books and videos for you! Plus you can download our free notebook pages about Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan! If you are looking for an engaging unit to do with your kids this summer — this could be it! My kids LOVED this portion of our China unit. We skipped forward almost 1,000 years (from 200AD...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Science: Water Unit / Science: Weather Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 30, 2014 · Last modified April 30, 2016
As I mentioned yesterday, we started a new unit on water (jumping off onto a new tangent for our weather unit). I made a couple of pages for the kids’ science notebooks. They go along with some of the resources I shared yesterday. I had the kids try to brainstorm as many uses for water as they could and then had them study a printout of the USGA water use poster...
Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Books: Children's Literature / Language Arts: Reading / Must Read / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 29, 2014 · Last modified March 21, 2015
My daughter reads all the time. She will grab anything that’s out and about… from the easy readers that ED brings home from the libraries to books that LD recommends. I thought I’d share some of the series that she’s flown through this semester. Dog Diaries: She’s read them all… Ginger, Buddy, Barry, Togo, Dash. She said they were wonderful. I notice there is also a series called Horse Diaries...
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.
