Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Ages 2-6: Bird Unit / Montessori (general info) / Science / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 7, 2011 · Last modified October 11, 2018
We have had so much fun with this forest unit so far. We’ve done a ton of crafts and coloring. The kids colored in these cute owl pages (which are no longer available – http://katibura.xyz/printable/printable-coloring-pages-for-adults-owls). The kids did a simple fall craft we got at oriental trading: All the kids have been doing the forest animal sorts and we talked once again about vertebrate and invertebrate animals. The kids sorted...
Science / Science: Human Body Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 26, 2011 · Last modified February 21, 2022
Our study of the heart and circulatory system started with a listen to our own heartbeats. We measured our heart rates when resting and after walking, running and skipping. Then using a graph put out by Texas heart institute(4th grade curriculum, p. 25, no longer available), we graphed our results. Heart as a Pump: We did this experiment: When your heart beats it acts like a tennis ball filled with...
Science / Science: Human Body Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 19, 2011 · Last modified February 21, 2022
Our Study of the Human Hand Why do we have so many bones in our hand? We talked about the fact that there are 27 bones in the hand. First, to demonstrate why this is important I did an activity we had done a couple years ago. We pretended that we just had one bone per finger by taping popcycle sticks to their fingers. Then they had to pick up...
Science / Science: Human Body Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 15, 2011 · Last modified February 21, 2022
Last spring we started learning a bit about the human body, but then we stopped as summer activities took over. We have re-started our human body unit. Before I knew I was going to luck into a zillion human body kits (see my post about being lucky!), I bought the Squishy Human Body by Smart Lab. The kids just loved this! We talked about how the skeleton protects all of...
Freebies / Science / Science: Ocean Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 25, 2011 · Last modified April 2, 2021
I made this activity for my older kids (5 and 8). You can download and print these sheets here: Ocean Animals and Their Groups You can download and print these sheets here. There are two pages. You might want to make a colored circle on the back of each of the three related cards. Use a different color for each animal. That way, the kids can check their own work as needed. ...
Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Freebies / Science / Science: Ocean Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 22, 2011 · Last modified February 18, 2016
I made a preschool math game for ED. ED worked hard to cut out all the pictures. In the picture to the left, she rolled a 10 and I rolled a 1. We each chose that many ocean animals to put on our gameboard. Then ED spun the spinner and it came out “even.” I showed her how to make partners and that she had all partners, so she had...
Freebies / Science / Science: Ocean Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 18, 2011 · Last modified April 2, 2021
The ocean is divided into different layers. The zones differ in temperature, water pressure and available nutrients. Marine organisms live in different zones according to the amount of sunlight that reaches there. Sunlight Zone: More than 90% of marine life lives in the Sunlight Zone. Twilight Zone: Animals that live in the twilight zone must be able to survive cold temperatures, an increase in water pressure and dark waters. There are no plants in...
While ED has some basic ocean matching out, DD and LD are working on slightly more challenging work. They’re learning the parts of the fish, parts of the shark and the zones of the ocean and the animals that live there. (More about the zones tomorrow.) The kids can check their work by folding down the answer key under the picture. I got the parts of the fish page from...
We’re still not doing any formal work.. though believe me our days are full. Sometime I’ll get around to posting new pictures! Meanwhile, I continue to read and get inspired for the coming semester. Someone mentioned that they had used this chemistry curriculum: http://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/and that they were very impressed with it. Since my kids love science I had to check it out. It seems wonderful and I suspect we will...
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Freebies / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Montessori (general info) / Science / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 2, 2011
Over the past few years, we have done a lot of Montessori science work. This year I compiled a review notebook and will let DD and LD work on this as they are interested (ED will be introduced to these for the first time this year). Mostly I expect the older ones to cut out pictures from magazines and write on these sheets (pages 5 and beyond in the pack). ...
Science / Science Experiments / Science: Garden Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 8, 2011 · Last modified March 22, 2016
Plants, plants, plants!! That’s still the main focus of our homeschooling life. The kids are enthralled by the growing process this year. The kids tenderly attend to their plots in the garden. We watch each strawberry ripen eagerly. They rush to inspect the blueberries and peas forming! They help bring in the lettuce for our supper each evening.And, they/we are loving the Junior Master Gardener handbook — and are enjoying...
LD pulled out his microscope this week and has been using all the science slides and rushing outside to bring things to look at. “MOM!!” he shouted at one point. “You’ve gotta check this out.” “Wow. What is it honey?” “My booger. I never knew it would look like this.” “Umm… yeah. Neat.” Glad to know he’s so inquisitive, but yucko. (I made HIM wash the slide and slip cover!)...
Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Recipes / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 22, 2011
There is so much to consider about buying salmon. I sure didn’t realize any of this so thought I’d share. 1) Salmon are carnivores. In the wild they start eating microscopic plants and animals. As they get bigger they eat tiny crustaceans (krill) which gives them their pink color and then larger fish. 2) Farmed salmon is a nice gray color. Hmmm… but salmon farmers resort to cosmetics to change...
I heard an interview on NPR this past week about a live camera feed in Iowa on an eagle’s nest. As the gentleman was speaking he panned in and out on the eaglets. As of few days ago two of the eggs had hatched (one April 2nd and one April 3rd) and one more had yet to hatch: http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles **Update — the third egg hatched last night. You can see...
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.
