Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Nature / Outdoor Fun / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 25, 2014 · Last modified December 2, 2020
Are you looking for free Nature Scavenger Hunt printables? We have several fun options! Every spring, as the weather gets nicer and nicer we spend more and more time outdoors. We’ve been doing this scavenger hunt for years. I know we’re not alone because this printable has gotten well over 50,000 downloads since I first made it years ago!! We found a lot of cool critters that very first year we did...
History: China Unit / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 23, 2014 · Last modified September 5, 2022
We have been studying Ancient China this semester. We are using The Story of Ancient China (affiliate link) (see more about that below) as our spine, but also have read selections from the Story of the World (affiliate link) and the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia. This is the packet that I made to go along with some of our readings. These are now included in our 100+ page Ancient China Unit. Recently,...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Science / Science: Earth Science Unit / Science: Weather Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 21, 2014 · Last modified September 6, 2018
Layers of the Atmosphere Packet (Now Updated!) Worksheets, Notebook Pages and Hands-On Activities! The Layers of the Atmosphere Packet has worksheets, notebook pages and various hands-on activities. It has well over 50 pages of materials. Here are some of the topics we cover: Earth System Science — the “spheres” including the atmosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, biosphere, and magnetosphere the five layers of the atmosphere: Troposphere Stratosphere Mesosphere Thermosphere Exosphere The...
Holiday: Easter / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math--Division / Math--Multiplication
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 15, 2014 · Last modified March 26, 2018
Although a lot of the schools around us are having spring break, we have a family vacation coming up in another month so we’re homeschooling this week. Over the weekend, I made some multiplication and division pages for DD and LD to practice their math facts. You can download this free by clicking on the link below. There are 3 pages. Free Easter Themed – Multiplication and Division LD is...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Freebies / Holiday: Easter / Homeschool Den / Science / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 14, 2014 · Last modified December 5, 2018
This activity helps kids understand how very important it is to brush your teeth every day! For this activity we chose coke, grape soda (we didn’t have any grape juice) and coffee. You can use any beverage that you think will stain your teeth. The kids each selected two drinks and we let the eggs soak for several hours. As the kids “brushed” their eggs, they were amazed at...
Ages 2-6: Bird Unit / Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Homeschool Den / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 11, 2014 · Last modified January 26, 2017
EggSpect the UnEggSpected with this series of fun Science EggSperiments! In this series you’ll find a dozen terrific egg activities to do with you kids. So… for the first EggSperiment… Because Easter is coming up, we devoted the past week to some fun science EggSperiments. This experiments requires you to soak a raw egg for two days in vinegar, so I’ll share this experiment first so you have time to...
Homeschool Den / Math - Percents Fractions and Decimals / Math General Posts / Math--Fractions
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 10, 2014 · Last modified May 19, 2018
My son is starting a unit on percents. Below you’ll find some of the free resources I used with him as we dove into this unit. I explained that percent means “per hundred” or “of a hundred.” We started with these free sheets from worksheet fun that have some of the blocks in a hundred squared shaded in. It was easy to see that 84% was 84 of a hundred…...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / 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) / History: Geography Activities / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 9, 2014 · Last modified March 3, 2016
Yesterday, I shared a lot of activities that you can do with maps. Today I want to share some other geography activities that my kids loved. After reading through Me on the Map (which is just perfect for the 4-6 year old crowd), I had ED do an activity that focuses in on where we live. You have the kids color in and paste their location, pinpointing their location by going from...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / 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) / History: Geography Activities / Homeschool Den / Montessori (general info)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 8, 2014 · Last modified March 18, 2018
There are so many fun things you can do with your preschooler (or elementary kids) to help them gain an understanding of the geography of our amazing world! You can make all kinds of maps to enhance your preschooler’s knowledge of the world. Over the years we have made maps… with sand, dirt and grass seed like our Nile River Valley Out of clay, like our Ancient Greece (and Mediterranean...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 28, 2014 · Last modified March 1, 2016
Plato: Knowledge that is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind. One of the things my kids love about homeschooling is that they can spend long, leisurely amounts of time reading. The first thing they do in the morning is pick up a book and start reading while eating breakfast. My goal has always been for reading to be something that you do for pleasure, not for reward. One...
Just over a week ago, I had my fourth ear surgery since October. I was braced for a tough recovery. The surgery was a bit more invasive than the one three weeks ago so it was definitely uncomfortable afterwards. As far as we know the surgery went well. Right now we’re in a long waiting game to see how things settle down. If you have followed my story, you know...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Language Arts: Books: Children's Literature / Language Arts: Reading
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 20, 2014 · Last modified March 21, 2015
There was a really interesting article over at Edutopia last month about the worry some educators have about how technology and testing are affecting the amount of reading kids are doing. Educators have noticed that some kids are struggling to read deeply and comprehend longer texts. Are kids reading books deeply and for pleasure? Since the invention of the printing press, there has been a plethora of reading materials available. Granted, not...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / History: Geography Activities / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Montessori (general info)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 19, 2014 · Last modified October 16, 2022
World Animal Packet: This 70+ page packet helps kids learn about animals on every continent! It includes Montessori 3-Part Cards, Activity Sheets for every continent, printable continent cards, a world animal game, world animal pin map activity, and more! The last two weeks I shared some of ED’s animal-related activities. She looked closely at the vertebrate-invertebrate groups and we talked a lot about the characteristics of the animals of the...
Actually, this is my 11th ear surgery (plus 2 others for other things) if we’re truly counting… but tomorrow is the 4th surgery on my left ear since October. It’s supposed to be a doozy. I have been spending a lot of time day dreaming about all the amazing things I’ll do when… I can drive again. I can talk again (without the sound reverberating around my head). I can...
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.
