Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
We had fun on our nature walk and found such beautiful things!! We have a full grocery bag of acorns and pine cones for crafts in the coming weeks. The kids have never seen fall leaves (and Daddy and I haven’t seen fall for 14 years or so!) It is so, so amazing to be experiencing autumn again! Gorgeous! And the kids are so excited to see the white-tailed deer...
We’ve had a lot of mosquito larvae in our make-shift frog/toad habitat. We watched a fascinating, informative video about the mosquito’s life cycle here. We didn’t know that the mosquito larvae breathe through a tube at the surface of the water. Also we learned that mosquito eggs can live through the winter and hatch in the spring. Meanwhile, we have about 20-25 tadpoles that have survived in our habitat and...
On Monday we spent several hours out in the woods exploring. The weather is perfect — low humidity and comfortable 70-80 degrees (22-25 C or so). Do you have those — knock your hand against your head moments? Well we suddenly realized why these are called Yellow Poplars! (Below that is a purple maple leaf DD wanted in the picture as well!) There aren’t anywhere near as many mushrooms out...
We had a lot of fun outside yesterday. We caught lots and lots of little tadpoles (and then let most of them go), as well as a couple of 3-inch frogs. We came across a snake which I’ve tried and tried to identify. My best guess is that it is a water snake (another book to borrow from the library!). And finally, we found another quite amazing looking mushroom growing...
We have lots and lots of empty boxes out on the porch. Today it was time to break down lots of them and we found this seven-inch lizard in one of the boxes. We think it is a ‘common five-lined skink’ — probably the adult version of the smaller, blue-tailed lizards we see all over (the Internet indicates that the blue tails fade as they mature.)
“This is the best day of my life!” That’s what LD had to say about the nature journaling we started a couple of days ago. He was SO excited about drawing all the things we had discovered in the woods that he kept begging for more and more time. WHAT?!!! Our son said that?! It’s wonderful to find somethings that is so appealing to him (especially if it involves writing/drawing)....
We are thoroughly enjoying our new environment. It is completely different than the Outback, but has so much to offer in its own beautiful way. These next few postings will show how much we’ve enjoyed exploring! We are so, so happy in our new home. We just wish Daddy weren’t having to work such long hours. 🙁 LD found this cute orange salamander. We see lots and lots of blue-tailed...
I am being challenged to learn about our surroundings just as much as the kids. Every time I turn around, there’s something else to look up and learn about. Some of these pictures are reminders to myself to “go look it up!!” Up until this summer, the kids hadn’t ever seen moss. Now they point it out everywhere and notice how different it can be. DD examined a bird’s nest...
A very small creek runs behind the house. The kids have spent hours hunting for frogs, salamanders and water bugs. We continue to find new things in the woods near our house. We went on a short hike the other evening and came across yellow, red and purple mushrooms too. These are the only new photos to add to our growing mushroom/fungi photo collection, though! Last year, we studied the...
Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Nature / Outdoor Fun
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 23, 2010
We made it to our new state last Wednesday and settled on our new home on Monday. Yay!!! It’s been extremely busy unpacking and sorting through the belongings we had in storage for twelve years. We also had to get new driver’s licenses and things like that. But in the mean time we are really amazed by our beautiful new surroundings. What contrast to the Outback; it is so humid...
Earlier today LD, DD and I went out to collect some fossils for some cyber-friends. As LD reached under a rock he got stung by something pretty terrible. I know there are scorpions in Missouri as hubby once stepped on one here in Grams and Gramps’ house. We don’t know what it was exactly that got LD today, but cold ice compresses and benadryl spray seemed to alleviate most of...
Nature / Outdoor Fun / Outdoor: Fossils / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 12, 2010
We walk Boomer around Grams and Gramps’ neighborhood several times a day. Now that we know there are fossils around we keep our eye out for new discoveries. This morning, ED wanted to jump off a big, flat boulder. I leaned down to have a closer look and noticed these delicate fossil impressions. The rock face was a different consistency than rocks in which the crinoids (see the posts below)...
Nature / Outdoor Fun / Outdoor: Fossils / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 8, 2010
Grams uses rocks from the area to decorate her garden. As LD was exploring and looking around he noticed a brachiopod fossil embedded in one of the rocks. The more we looked around, the more amazing fossils we found in the rocks around their house!
Nature / Outdoor Fun / Outdoor: Fossils / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 8, 2010
We all walked up the hill from Grams and Gramps’ house and looked around at the rocks in the field there. LD found an amazingly well preserved, complete brachiopod fossil! It’s about two inches across. From what I can tell, this fossil and the others we found are well over 300 million years old. I find that simply astounding.
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.
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.
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