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
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 23, 2012 · Last modified August 31, 2019
“Huh?? Why do you need a robotic leg?” “Look, the frog lost its leg. We’ve got to help it!” “I’m not sure just how we’d do that.” “Okay, well, let’s just take it back outside.” And off the three kids went! I’m still chuckling!!
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Freebies / Holiday: Halloween / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math--Addition / Math--Division / Math--Multiplication / Math: Preschool Math / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 23, 2012
I made up a quick Halloween math riddle sheet for the kids’ math work this week. Solve the division problem, find the answer above and write the letter into the box. I also made this for simple multiplication, addition and numbers since I have younger kids as well. If you celebrate Halloween and want to print this off for your kids feel free. Here’s the link: Skeleton Math Riddle (All...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Freebies / Holiday: Halloween / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Math General Posts / Math: Preschool Math / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 22, 2012 · Last modified October 19, 2015
Because we’re so busy, I often blog a week or so in advance — then shuffle things around as seems appropriate. But in a way that’s bad because then I feel like I can’t just chit-chat about our homeschooling because there’s a post with a particular theme… hardly fitting for bantering about bad homeschool days or the house-stuff that hasn’t gotten done. So… I’m going to interrupt my own post...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Must Read / Science: The 5 Senses
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 20, 2012 · Last modified December 31, 2014
This isn’t breaking news, but it was new to me. I’ve been trying to catch up on some reading of a magazine we get called Science News, when an article caught my attention. It said that sleeping in a room with even very dim artificial light such as a night light, computer screen or TV may cause changes in the brain and depression. The results of a study from Ohio State...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science: Astronomy Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 19, 2012
Don’t forget that on Oct. 21, the annual Orionid meteor shower will hit its peak, offering stargazers a change to see dust from the famed Halley’s Comet light up the night sky. The meteors are debris from this comet that enter Earth’s atmosphere and vaporize as they fall. Experts said that the best viewing will be before dawn on Oct. 20th and before dawn on Oct. 21st. That holds true no...
Health / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Must Read / sports
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 18, 2012
You’ve bought the supplies, paid the dues, your child starts an activity… only to announce not long after that he doesn’t want to participate. The shoes are too tight, the coach is too mean, the drills are ‘boring,’ it’s just “not fun.” Yes, extracurricular activities can be enriching and rewarding, but sometimes your child wants to quit not long after he’s begun. What’s a parent to do? We’ve handled this...
Games for Thinking and Learning / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 17, 2012
We have several cooperative games that we play pretty regularly. I love that there is no winner or loser! A few weeks ago we borrowed another cooperative game from a friend called, The Secret Door. It was a huge hit with all of my kids! In this game there are clock cards and object cards. Set Up: Before the game starts you place three object cards behind the wooden door....
Freebies / History: Africa Unit / History: Ancient Egypt / History: World Religions / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 16, 2012 · Last modified December 19, 2016
We have been learning a lot about the myths of Ancient Egypt. While I read to the kids, they often work on their own art. I came across a wonderful drawing book Ralph Masiello’s Ancient Egypt Drawing Book (affiliate link) that the kids have been using to create their own Ancient Egyptian-themed drawings. Below they are drawing the Ancient Egyptian god, Osiris: Another day the kids drew Ra as they...
History: Africa Unit / History: Ancient Egypt / History: Geography Activities / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 15, 2012 · Last modified May 30, 2019
We started our unit on Ancient Egypt with a geography project. This is one we did about four years ago as well, but it was well worth repeating! We placed sand in an old plastic container. Then using toilet paper and paper towel rolls, we created the base for the winding Nile River. We covered that with aluminum foil. In upper Egypt we created the ‘mountains.’ We sprinkled potting soil...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 13, 2012 · Last modified December 31, 2014
About six months ago I made a huge list of things to do with my preschooler. This weekend I’ve been going through that list again for my daughter and I thought I’d mention it again on the blog for those of you who might have missed it. Here are some of the kinds of activities we’ve done: Again, here is the printable list if you would like to download a...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Chemistry Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 12, 2012 · Last modified June 25, 2018
We moved on from talking about atoms to talking about molecules and chemical bonds. Since my kids are pretty young, this is just a basic introduction to how bonds are formed and made. Building Molecules Worksheet: This is a free download. The screen shot below shows 2 of 3 pages. We spent several days building different kinds of molecules: On the first day we built water, oxygen, hydrogen and hydrogen...
Ages 2-6: Clocks - Telling Time / Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 11, 2012 · Last modified March 3, 2016
The kids are reviewing time in math at the moment. Going with the same kitty theme (see the preschool math sheets I made Counting Kitties from Monday’s post), I made clocks cards for ED. If you’re interested in these two pages, you’ll need to click on both links below: Kitty-Clock Analog Clock Kitty-Clock-Digital She is using them both for matching and to play a board game. This is the...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Critical Thinking Activities / Games for Thinking and Learning / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 10, 2012 · Last modified October 31, 2017
This is a series about the logic and critical thinking games we play in our homeschool. We have a table in our homeschool room and I rotate in new games a couple of times a week. These are all games we’ve acquired for schooling and/or for fun (I haven’t received them to review). Today I’m going to highlight a card game called Blink that is a great game for preschoolers on...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science Experiments / Science: Chemistry Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 9, 2012 · Last modified March 3, 2016
Matter is made of tiny particles that are attracted to one another. We did a series of experiments activities from Middle School Chemistry (the free, downloadable chemistry course) that show that water molecules are, indeed attracted to one another. We first used a medicine dropper to see how much water we could push out of the syringe. We also examined the pictures of the droplets we managed to photograph in...
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.
