Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
These kinds of posts were really quite popular back five or six years ago. At that point, bloggers tagged one another — “You’re It!” and we’d all share bits of trivia about ourselves. I actually really loved reading those random fact posts. So, it’s 11:15 pm, the kids are sleeping and I’ve got a backlog of 8 or 10 posts that “should” be written. Instead, my Kindle is calling, so...
This post is a bit off topic in a way… I just wanted to share a little bit about how I squeeze exercise into our busy day. If you’ve been reading our blog for a while, you know that last year I had crazy ear/balance/dizziness/noise-sensitivity/vision problems all stemming from inner ear problems/ear surgery. I wound up having 6 surgeries and in the end they had to remove my ear drum/bones/balance...
Ear Surgery / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Mom Stories
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 20, 2014 · Last modified April 30, 2016
The past three months have been very difficult. If you’re a regular reader, you know I had ear surgery in October. I have more complications than I can count on one hand. Healing was very slow and a couple of weeks after the surgery I came down with something called BPPV in two semi-circular canals (in my ear) which causes vertigo, the entire world to spin, balance issues and incredible...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Mom Stories
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 25, 2013
So, a couple days ago I wrote a blog post about how are homeschool routine is working out this year. It’s going pretty well and I love being back into a routine. But as for life in general, it’s sometimes hard to juggle everything. Preparing and time with the kids homeschooling takes up a good chunk of my day, as you can imagine. Plus, writing also takes time. But there...
Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Mom Stories / Recipes
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 24, 2013
After we got back from our Colorado trip, LD had a birthday. It’s hard to believe he is now 10! As many of you know — and some of you probably don’t — LD and DD are IVF babies (not ED, though!!! She was our surprise baby!). We had trouble getting pregnant and there didn’t seem to be much of a cause for it. Oh my goodness, what a stressful,...
Homeschool Den / Mom Stories / Outdoor Fun
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 16, 2013 · Last modified April 10, 2016
Let’s face it, my life, especially when you look at the blog, revolves around the kids and homeschooling. I spend a lot of time preparing for homeschooling; the kids and I spend time working on their schoolwork, projects and activities; I blog about homeschooling; and I’m even (gulp) trying to write a book — not about zombies (though I did meet a woman at LD’s Parkour (sport’s) class who writes...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Mom Stories / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 3, 2013
Honestly, I will start posting about our homeschooling stuff again. In fact, I have all kinds of materials I’ve made for the kids and have a heap of new things to share with you all, but since I was on the topic of health and well-being (with yesterday’s post about LD’s horrible allergies) I thought I’d share with you some of the struggles I’ve personally had the past eight to ten...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Mom Stories / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 11, 2012
It was a day that few of us will forget. I’m sure you remember where and what you were doing that terrible day. I was in my sister’s guest room in Nashville, Tennessee and watched in horror as the second flight flew into the World Trade Center. And then, glued to the TV, I watched it again and again and again as the news replayed it, as the towers collapsed,...
History: American History / Homeschool Den / Mom Stories
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 28, 2012
Memorial Day was formerly known as Decoration Day and started after the Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union Soldiers. By the 20th century Memorial Day was extended to honor all Americans who have died in wars. Last week we spent the entire week with my family: my folks, my sister, brother-in-law and their three kids. We had some long conversations about the members of our family who have served...
Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Mom Stories
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 6, 2010
This blog is so often about the kids, but I was thinking today (last Sunday) about writing a blog entry about my life–as separate to the kids. Sometimes I feel quite discouraged. The house gets away from me, manipulatives wind up everywhere, but I know I do work hard… So kind of more to be affirming to me (Go Me!) — I wanted to jot down the things I’ve done...
This is another Mom-Story I’d like to share with my kids/family/friends (well for the kids, maybe I’ll share this when they’re MUUuuuuch older!). It’s a story about a scary drawing, potential kidnapping (and worse), and the police! Bear with me as I set the scene–it takes a few minutes before I get to the story itself. When I was at university, I studied anthropology. I started out being interested in...
Everyone has amazing stories that make them unique and interesting. I’ve had the itch for a long time to write down some of my stories for the kids. I had this “I can do it” moment on Sunday morning when I realized I could write up a few stories on the blog, collect them in a folder and sometime compile them for the kids. Why the blog? Well, this is...
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.
