Welcome to the Homeschool Den! Check out our latest packets at Our Store (click here!)! New to our website? Click here! Check out our packets and bundles at these pages: Earth and Physical Science Page; Human Body Systems; Zoology/Animal Units; Biology Units; Chemistry Units; History Units; Multiplication/Division 2s thru 12s ; Spelling Games and Activities; Grammar worksheets

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Scholastic Dollar Sale on Hundreds of Books!

Update Tuesday morning Jan. 15th: I just checked and it looks like the sale has now ended. I want to spread the word that the wonderful Scholastic Dollar Deals sale is back! I’ve bought and downloaded dozens of books and resources over the past couple of years and use lots and lots of them in our homeschool. I’m not sure when the sale ends. The website states “we have extended the...

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Equivalent Fraction Cards (Pokemon Theme)

I made a set of equivalent fraction cards.  LD has to figure out the correct answer and then moves that many spaces on our homemade Fast Track Gameboard. You can download these Equivalent Fraction Cards (pokemon-theme) here. They are free to download. 🙂 We made our own gameboard years ago and still have it tucked in the corner to pull out!  This was an idea I got from the wonderful book, Games for...

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German Worksheets (free) and Our Plans for Learning German this Semester

Last semester, we spent time reading simple stories together in German.  There are a couple of stories we downloaded from Amazon, Peter und das Huhn and Der Kartoffel-troll.  We read them aloud together and I had the kids do a few activities related to those stories. Peter und das Huhn ($0.99) is considerably easier than any of the stories in Der Kartoffeltroll ($1.50), but the kids enjoyed them both. We still regularly read...

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Free Multiplication Cards — Pokemon Theme

DD is learning her multiplication tables. Yesterday, I shared the multiplication practice worksheets I made for her in the Pokemon theme. I made her some cards with some of her beloved Pokemon characters.  I’ll share it here in case anyone else is interested! Click here to download the Pokemon Multiplication Cards  We’ll use these cards to play a game called Fast Track that we made years ago.  This was an idea...

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Multiplication Practice Sheets 3s through 6s (Pokemon Theme) and other Multiplication Resources DD Uses

I asked DD to choose a few of her favorite Pokemon characters and used these to add a little flavor to her multiplication practice sheets. If anyone is interested, you can download and print them off for your own kids. Multiplication Practice Sheets 3s through 6s (Pokemon)  DD has been using a bunch of different resources in starting to learn her multiplication tables.  She still has another page left of...

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Winter Theme Preschool Unit

Over the break, I wanted to pull together a fun packet for ED with activities she can (mostly) do on her own when I’m working with the other kids.  I settled on a winter-relating unit– snowmen, snowflakes and things like that.  Here are some of the resources I pulled together for her: When I want to find some preschool resources for ED, here are some of the first websites I...

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General Homeschooling Plans for Spring 2013

I spent a lot of time over our winter break thinking about what we will cover this spring. Our kids are  in grades 4, 2 and preschool although as homeschoolers this doesn’t mean much as they cover what they are ready for and go at their own individual paces. I wrote up a general set of plans and you can take a glimpse at what is in store for our family....

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The Sweetest, Nicest Thing Happened Today!

I was touched by a Random Act of Kindness today!! With Grams and Gramps still visiting, I wanted to have a special “date” with each of the kids on their own. ED and I went out for breakfast.  We giggled and played tic-tac-toe and talked… and when it came time to pay, someone had already paid for our meal!!  Isn’t that just the loveliest thing?!! Thank you, kind stranger! It...

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Don’t Read This If You Don’t Want to Read About Hormones and Female-Stuff!

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...

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LD’s Health Issues… and the Impact on our Homeschool Life

I’ve been alluding to our health issues here at the Homeschool Den. There’s nothing too terribly major thankfully, but LD has had illness-induced asthma since he was little.  Since we moved back to the USA he’s been steadily having more and more asthma attacks. Some land him in the hospital and some have been controlled at the doctor’s office.  Our pediatrician suggested that we look into some underlying triggers, so...

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Time and the Busy Parent

Do you ever find yourself saying to yourself (or to others for that matter) “there’s not enough time in my day.”  I’ve been thinking about that a lot and how my attitudes about time affect the relationships I have with my loved ones. There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing.” –Brian Tracy One of my New Years...

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Looking Back at 2012 – Favorites from the Homeschool Den

Wow, it’s the end of 2012… a great time to reflect on the year we’ve had.  Here are some of the highlights from this year: our favorite homeschool activities: It’s hard to choose just two, but I guess these are the ones that really stand out for me at the moment… the Black Plague simulation we did. None of us ever made it to our destination!! The kids really loved...

Self Reflection Questions for New Years 4

25 Self-Reflection Questions for New Year’s

Are you into making New Year’s Resolutions?  I find the process of self-reflection quite helpful when it comes to our family life and homeschooling.  I tend to do this twice a year — at the end of each semester in December and again in June. Last June my self-reflection had a lot to do with our short term and long term homeschooling goals. This season I seem to be pondering...

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Helping Kids (and Yourself) Cope with Trauma; Crisis Planning Materials

I wasn’t sure just quite when to share this material with the holidays and all, but I thought it was definitely worth spreading the word about these useful materials.  The U.S. Department of Education has put out a number of publications in the past few years on the topics of safety, crime and violence. Personally, I didn’t want to tell the kids about the tragic events in Newtown, Connecticut… but...