Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Here’s a quick glance DD’s math work for the day (she just turned 5). I had her set up the numbers. She counted from 10 to 100 several times before I had her build double-digit numbers. I put a large handful of tiles in front of her and asked her to figure out whether there were an odd or even number of tiles (meanwhile, ED is making a tower!!). Also,...
I was looking for the alphabet and number cards with certain themes — fall leaves, snowflakes, and penguins. I stumbled across this terrific website that has all kinds of beautiful free printables: Communication 4 All.co.uk. Some of the early learning themes include space, pirates, minibeasts, animals, dinosaurs, under the sea, castles, India, months and seasons, the water cycle, and other themes. Just thought I’d share my discovery in case someone...
Someone on one of my yahoo groups shared this link to Valerie’s Slideshow of Fall Crafts. There are lots of colorful fall and Thanksgiving related craft ideas. I was impressed!
It has been a LOOooong time since I have consistently sat down with LD to listen to him read. Instead, he has been doing independent reading primarily on his own. This week I was pretty impressed with his intonation, rhythm and general reading ability. Grams gave us a children’s encyclopedia set and among other things he read some articles to me on birds and fossils. He’s also reading through a...
Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Kindergarten Math / Math: Preschool Math
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 19, 2010 · Last modified April 12, 2016
I brought out a dice game to play with DD called Sunny Side Up. The dice have the numbers 1-5 and a smiley face. I made little cards that have 9 numbers using just those digits (such as 51, 42, 14, 3, 5…). We each have our own card and take turns tossing the dice. We try to build numbers using the value on each die. So you need a...
We enjoyed a visit with Auntie W, Uncle J and Cousin R to the beautiful Garden of the Gods. Auntie W. got a kick out of LD, who did hand stands continually along the path (middle picture).
This box held the doll house my Grandfather made for my Mom when she was a little girl. Once we removed the doll house (to pack into the trailer we’ll be bringing east), the kids jumped right in and played!
As I mentioned before, we had a lovely time with our cousins. One of the things we did while we were with them in California was to go to a working farm. The kids got to feed animals and pick their own strawberries. The farm also had a mine set up and LD and Cousin B thoroughly enjoyed panning through a bag of rocks for gems. Hours later, LD could...
Homeschool Den / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 19, 2010 · Last modified July 9, 2017
We spent time at the LaBrea Tar Pits in California. We saw fossils of some of the ancient American mammals, got to look into the fish-bowl science lab and watch scientists clean and sort small fossil pieces.
We’ve now been on the road for more than a month. I have a few minutes on my own and thought I’d take the opportunity to write a brief update. Not much to report on the homeschooling front, but life in general has been full to overflowing!! Our first stop after leaving Alice Springs/Sydney was California. We spent two weeks there and enjoyed time at Legoland, the La Brea Tar...
Here’s another picture sent by my sister. This is the livingroom/study and dining room — looks out on the backyard. Yes, that’s insulation hanging on the lamp chain. And on the right, that leg stick up near the far door, that’s the piano. Again, this is one of the rooms on the first floor. The water went at least 5-7 feet higher than this room. This level of the house...
My sister sent this picture of their den/library/study. This area had their computers, a number of tall bookshelves and so forth. The ceiling used to be finished, but this room was fully submerged under the waters; you can see the collapsed ceiling over the top of the other stuff. (The flood waters reached the second story beds, another 5-7 feet above this room.) My sister said they don’t know yet...
My sister, her husband and three kids live and homeschool in Nashville, Tennessee. They have just lost most everything they own when floods rose to above the beds in their second story. The first floor (living room, kitchen, library, den, hobby room) was fully submerged when creek flood levels rose. (We’ve been there, and the water must have risen at least 50 feet to have gotten that high!) Considering that...
I noticed that there are free “guess what” cards at http://www.shop.montessoriprintshop.com/SALE_c69.htm. For example, there’s a close-up picture of a sunflower and one picture from farther away. These cards would probably be appropriate for 2-4 year olds. It’s probably only available for another day or so, but thought I’d mention it here. Also there are some new free cards at http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/assets/PDF/From_Plant_to_Food.pdf showing the food and its product (tomato and ketchup, for...
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.
