Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Must Read / Recipes
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 28, 2013
I just read about the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge and wanted to spread the word! Does your child like to cook? Kids ages 8-12 can submit original recipes to win tickets to a state dinner at the White House to eat some of these winning dishes with first lady, Michelle Obama. The challenge is to create healthy recipes that include the five food groups either in one dish or in one...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 27, 2013 · Last modified January 4, 2015
My kids are quite involved in after-school sports and I worry a lot about them over-doing it as youngsters. I really want to make sure that when they are in their 20s, 30s, and 40s they can be active and do the sports and activities they’re interested in. I really love running and backpacking and am thankful that my high school and college sports didn’t leave me with any...
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Freebies / Math: Preschool Math / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 26, 2013 · Last modified February 17, 2016
The last few weeks I’ve been trying to put together some posts for those who are interested in doing some preschool activities at home with their kids. Today, I thought I’d highlight a few things I did with my kids for math in the 2 1/2-3 1/2 age range. Here are some activities I did with ED when she was 2 1/2. She was just learning to count up to...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 25, 2013 · Last modified February 24, 2016
I made a few matching worksheets for the kids to go over the concepts of synonyms (words that have a similar meaning) and antonyms (words that mean the opposite or nearly the opposite of each other). Although the kids probably know most of these words, I’m going to have them work together to fill these out. If you’re interested you can download your own copy of these free grammar worksheets:...
History: Africa Unit / Must Read / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 23, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
As I mentioned yesterday, the kids are raising money to buy some livestock for Heifer International. When I looked on the map, I saw that the Heifer has various learning centers around the country. We called and made arrangements to visit Shepherd’s Spring in Maryland. Oh my goodness, what an amazing trip we had!!! The program director was so engaging with the kids and she led us on a 3+...
History: Africa Unit / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 22, 2013 · Last modified February 20, 2017
One of the lovely things about homeschooling is that we can reach out to our community — both near and far. The kids and I helped a bit here in our community by volunteering at the local food pantry during the fall. They bagged apples and passed them out to people who came to the bi-weekly food bank. This semester, we’re doing a service project that spins off from our...
History: Africa Unit / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 18, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
The Internet is so wonderful because you connect with and make friends with people from all over the world. I’ve made some good friends through my years of blogging with whom I email pretty regularly. One of the friends we’ve had for years live in the Gambia… and they sent us a care package that fit in absolutely perfectly with our studies of West Africa!! The kids were SO SO...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math: Preschool Math / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 15, 2013 · Last modified April 29, 2016
It’s been a while since I talked about ED’s preschool math work. Here are some of the things we’ve been working on together during her math time. We’ve been starting by blasting off to space… 10, 9, 8, 7… or counting down from 20. (Yes, ED is in her pjs!) She’s practiced using tally sticks to lay out (or identify) numbers up to twenty. I’ve also been having her identify...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Digestive System / Science: Human Body Unit / Science: The 5 Senses
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 8, 2013 · Last modified August 21, 2022
To start off our unit on the digestive system, I had the kids look at a diagram and write down all the parts of the digestive system. That was the first section of the pack I made (more about that below). Then we took a closer look at the mouth. We did these activities over the course of several days: I asked the kids what the mouth’s role is in...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Recipes
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 6, 2013 · Last modified April 10, 2016
My sister has never, ever bought a box-mix of brownies. Can you believe it? With this recipe, you can see why! The kids are able to make this on their own now without any help from me… Now I’ll pass it along to you if you like baking with your kids! The only unusual ingredient that you might not have on hand is baker’s chocolate — in powder form (pictured...
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 5, 2013 · Last modified February 21, 2016
I frequently get questions from parents who wonder just what to do and where to start with their preschoolers. I thought I would spend a few posts sharing some of the things I’ve done with my kids along the way. Many of the things we did are things most parents do naturally in their home: free play with toys, time exploring and playing outside, dancing to music, reading books aloud...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Human Body Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 4, 2013 · Last modified February 21, 2022
After we did an overview of all of the different body systems, we spent a couple of days reviewing the skeletal system. The skeleton provides support, structure and protection for the body and its organs… and because it had been nearly a year since we went over the names of the bones it was time for a review. The kids put together our skeleton puzzle and then identified all the...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Digestive System / Science: Human Body Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 3, 2013 · Last modified February 21, 2022
Today I’m sharing our Human Body Systems Worksheets with you. This set provides an overview of the Body’s major systems. It also talks about human cells, tissues and organs. Once a year, we usually learn about one of the human body systems. One year, we went into great detail one year about the Skeletal System. Another year, we studied the digestive system. And recently, we learned about the circulatory system. We...
Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets / Language Arts: Writing / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 1, 2013
This year, we added in a new subject to our day — independent writing. My eldest has always been a reluctant writer. I was taken by surprise because he learned to read extremely early… by 5 he was reading easy chapter books… by 7 he was reading long novels. But his writing lagged behind; he seemed paralyzed to try writing. Mistakes made him freeze up, no matter how much I...
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.
