Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool Den / Nature / Outdoor Fun / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 11, 2012
I’ve always been an avid camper and backpacker. I’ve backpacked a number of stretches of the Appalachian Trail and backpacked for nearly a month in the Wind River Range in Wyoming. Hubby and I hiked quite a bit in the Outback in central Australia, did the Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair overland trek in Tasmania, Australia and even had the opportunity to hike along the Annapurna Trail in Nepal. All that’s great, but...
History: American History / History: American West Unit / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 10, 2012
We actually stumbled across this museum, but what a FABULOUS place to visit. Just had to shout that out, it was *that* good! From the time Arkansas became a state in 1836 to the mid 1940s cotton production was common in the Arkansas River lowlands. Men, women and children could be seen picking and stuffing cotton into long sacks in the fall. Tractors were not used for the preparation, planting,...
History: American History / History: Native American Indians Unit / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 9, 2012 · Last modified January 1, 2015
For the past two and a half weeks, I was on the road with the kids (we left hubby home working for much of the time). In yesterday’s post I talked about traveling with the kids in a general way. We did SO much on this trip! We visited 18 family members who are strewn throughout the midwest. I did some research before we left and fit in some educational side...
I went on a long road trip with the kids. It’s the first really (really!) long trip I’ve done on my own and the kids were great travelers! We did a bit of just about everything on this trip — visited family, met up with friends, visited a number of historic sites, went camping, hiking, boating and swimming! We traveled more than 2,500 miles! Since I was the lone driver, snack...
Active Math Games / Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math--Multiplication / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 6, 2012
Have you heard of File Folder Games? They are quick games to help build skills in math, reading, science, social studies and more. We use them lots and lots in our homeschool. Here are a couple examples that ED, my preschooler, has played recently. This File Folder Game has her practicing counting by 10s and 1s: Here are a couple other examples. One has the child fill in the missing...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 5, 2012 · Last modified May 18, 2015
I meant to talk about this a couple of days ago right after the lemon soda post, but life’s been full and fun and I didn’t get around to it. This is another great activity to do with ingredients I’m sure you have in your kitchen. We did this a while ago, but if the weather’s hot, your kids might enjoy being spies for the afternoon! We used two different...
History: American Colonies / History: American History / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 4, 2012
If you’re here in the U.S., I hope you have a fun 4th of July! Fireworks have been banned in lots of places because of drought, but so far it’s still a go for us this evening! Why is it we celebrate this day? In June and July 1776, a committee worked on a document that all the thirteen colonies could agree upon that formally told Great Britain that they would...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Arts and Crafts / History: American History / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 2, 2012 · Last modified June 9, 2018
These stars are wonderful for decorating your garden for Independence Day! We took a heavy duty paper plate and cut out a star. Then you decorate the star with toothpicks. As you can see we broke the ends of lots of the toothpicks to get the lengths we wanted. After the glue dried, we painted the stars. We used spray paint (and you can tell I didn’t get the hang...
We don’t have the kids enrolled in any formal art program nor am I an artist! I have really benefited from the expertise of an art teacher named Kathy who shares the projects and lessons she does with her elementary students at Art Projects for Kids. If you are looking for some wonderful lessons to do with your kids this summer, you might want to check out Kathy’s website. You...
History: American History / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 29, 2012
This June marks the bicentennial of the beginning of War of 1812. I saw there were some wonderful events this next week in Boston (I wish we could go!); I’ll share a few details about that below if you live in that area. Anyway, I’ve heard a few things about the War of 1812 on the radio lately and decided I should share some of that information with the kids...
Homeschool Den / Science / Science: Garden Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 28, 2012 · Last modified March 22, 2016
Who knew that our garden flowers could be so fascinating?! We have hydrangeas and only just now learned why they have different colors. They are affected by the pH of the soil and by the amount of sunlight they receive. A blue hydrangea means that there is aluminum in the soil. The flowers turn blue in highly acidic soil. A pink hydrangea means that the pH of the soil is...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 25, 2012
If you’re trying to find a way to keep the kids occupied this summer, why not turn to science?!! There are so many experiments you can do together with your kids. Or if you’re like me, you can hand them a book and they can do it on their own! LD (age 8) flipped through a science experiment book and was excited to make his own Lemon Soda! What to...
Fitness / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Outdoor Fun
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 24, 2012
This is just a proud Mama moment. When we moved to the States from Australia, we noticed a gym fairly near where we live. LD had enjoyed gymnastics overseas and it seemed like a good activity to have the kids in during the heat of summer and cold of winter. It helped fill the ‘phys ed’ part of our homeschool. Now two years later, the kids all still love their...
A couple of years ago we bought a geography board game called 10 Days in Europe that has been a wonderful addition to our homeschool. It is so much fun, I really recommend it for anyone looking for a new game to add to your collection. I play this game with my 6 and 8 year olds, though I would say it’s more suited to the 8+ crowd (wonderful even...
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.
