Homeschool Den

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Category: Homeschool Den

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History: Africa Unit / History: Geography Activities / Homeschool Den / Must Read

Geography of Africa–The Countries and Physical Features

Once again, we brought out our pin maps as we learned about the countries of West Africa. We used the flags of Africa from Montessori Materials  to create country pins for our pin map (African Flags-page 1;  African Flags-page 2). You can download and print out the map from the African Learning Pack I made back in September. I used a plain cork board underneath the map. As we were talking about the trade between...

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Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Earth Science Unit / Science: Rocks and Minerals

Earth Space Science: Topographic Maps

We read the second chapter in the geology book we have from Real Science 4 Kids.  It talked about the different tools that geologists use — including topographic maps.  I wasn’t sure the kids thoroughly understood how the maps worked and looked around for some resources to help them understand. I found a couple of wonderful activities! We actually started with this topographic map page from the USGS: I thought...

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Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Must Read / Science

Making Measurement Man – Our Measurement Unit on Gallons, Quarts, Pints, etc.

Last week we spent the week doing a brief unit on measurement — the imperial units.  We didn’t touch on the metric system at all.  I wanted the kids to come away knowing the basic facts like 16 tablespoons in a cup and 4 quarts in a gallon. Day 1: I brought out a number of different bottles, cups and measuring spoons and the kids and I went over what...

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Freebies / Homeschool Den / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets / Must Read

Grammar Practice: Possessive Nouns and Pronouns

A couple of days ago I went over possessive nouns and pronouns with the kids. This is a practice sheet I made for them. The second page has a couple of interesting tidbits about Australian wildlife that I thought the kids wouldn’t remember (the kids were all born in Australia). I shared a little bit about termite mounds, the cane toad and quolls… all critters you don’t hear that much...

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Homeschool Den / Must Read / Running

My Awesome 1/2 Marathon Weekend in Washington DC

While last weekend was terrific because of all the things I accomplished inside the house, this weekend was wonderful because I reached a big personal goal… I ran a half-marathon down in Washington D.C. It was SO fun!  Plus, the family did some fun (educational) sight-seeing. I ran the Rock-n-Roll 1/2 marathon.  It was jam packed with people and music and had bands and cheering people all along the course...

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Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Must Read / Workboxes

Being Realistic about Spring Cleaning – Chores and Organizing

This past week we’ve done a heap of fun activities, but I’ve been spending most of my spare time — not blogging — but doing some spring cleaning and organizing.  I was in the mood to put some music on and clean… but to be honest, I get overwhelmed by those long, long, looonnnnngg spring cleaning lists.  To make sure I’m feeling good about the process I make sure I...

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Freebies / History: World Religions / Homeschool Den / Must Read

Learning about the New Catholic Pope

I felt it was important to talk to the kids a bit about the newly elected pope, Pope Francis. We’ve been listening to the news and talking about it a bit, but I wanted to go into a little more detail tomorrow morning and made some pages for them to add to their history notebook. We are not Catholic, but Grandma is. My Mom died a couple of years before LD...

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Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Homeschool Den / Math: Preschool Math / Must Read

Preschool Math Activities (K4) – Montessori Math and More

It has been ages and ages since I’ve written about ED’s math activities.  A lot of ED’s math happens naturally over the course of the day — counting objects in a picture book, counting by 2s, 5s and 10s when we brush teeth and do dental floss, counting money together, looking at numbers at the store, in books, etc.  Numbers are a part of daily life and we take advantage...

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Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Rocks and Minerals

Sedimentary Rock Activities

Another day we read about sedimentary rocks in our books and filled in a bit of information in the  boxes on the sedimentary rock page, Three Types of Rocks Packet.  I brought out our rock collection. We had several different types of sedimentary rocks and the kids had to determine whether they were sandstone, limestone or shale by feeling the rock and grains.  We also filled in the next parts of...

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Homeschool Den / Science / Science: Earth Science Unit / Science: Rocks and Minerals

Igneous Rock Activities

This past week, we spent a lot of time delving into the three different types of rocks.  The first day we looked closely at some of the different igneous rocks. We started by reading about igneous rocks from a couple of books and filling in the boxes on our chart. (More about that free packet at this post about the Three Types of Rocks.) We then pulled out a rock...

Fast Track Multiplication Facts Game 2

Freebies / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math--Multiplication

Fun Multiplication Facts Practice

Last week DD played many, many rounds of Fast Track.  This is an idea I got years ago from Peggy Kaye’s wonderful book, Games for Math: Playful Ways to Help Your Child Learn Math, From Kindergarten to Third Grade (affiliate link). We used the little Pokemon-themed flashcards I made for her a month or so ago… she’s working hard on those multiplication facts! This is a homemade board with several...

Money $$ Allowance, Family Money, Saving and More 1

Freebies / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math-Money / Must Read

Money $$ Allowance, Family Money, Saving and More

Did you know that tweens in the U.S. spend about $15 billion of their own money each year? Wow! Hubby and I felt we’ve really not done a very good job on teaching the kids about money, saving and finances.  We definitely want the kids to have more responsibility and practice with money while they are young… saving for trips (to have spending money) and spending their money wisely. This week,...

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Freebies / Homeschool Den / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets / Language Arts: Spelling / Language Arts: Writing

Grammar Worksheets: it’s or its; they’re, their, or there

I made this practice sheet for the kids to practice choosing between its and it’s  or they’re, their and there.  If anyone else can use this, it’s free to download: Grammar Practice: its-it’s they’re-their-there     We’ve been covering quite a number of different grammar points lately (homophones, commas, apostrophes, underlining and so forth).  You can browse through all our (free) grammar worksheets by clicking on the categories button in...

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Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Interviews with other Homeschoolers

Homeschooling through the Teenage Years – Susan Wise Bauer

This morning I happened to come across an interview with Susan Wise Bauer.  She is a well-known author in the homeschooling community and she has homeschooled for 17 years.  She herself was homeschooled with her two siblings.  In this video-interview she discussed  homeschooling through the teenage years. Two of her children have now graduated and she talked a lot about her perspective on educating her kids through high school and college....