Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Wow! I noticed just a few minutes ago that I was nominated for the HSBA homeschool blog awards in the category of “Best Super Homeschooler 2012.” I am so honored to be nominated, especially when I see the list of incredible homeschool blogs there. There are over 1,000 blogs nominated this year. Voting ends Nov. 18th, you can click here to go cast your vote (or click on the nomination box...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Chemistry Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 16, 2012 · Last modified June 26, 2020
Our chemistry textbook also talked about acid-base reactions. It explained how antacids can help neutralize the strong acids in your stomach. We contrasted this slow reaction… to the more impressive reaction of baking soda and vinegar! DD was putting her fingers in to see how her stomach would feel. If you haven’t already done Bubble Bombs with your kids, be sure to do that as well! You take a ziploc...
Ages 2-6: Flower Unit / Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math: Preschool Math / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 15, 2012 · Last modified March 7, 2017
ED loves math time right now and is whipping through all the sheets she can get her hands on. I haven’t found any math books or workbooks that suits her needs, so I’ve been creating things for her. Here’s one I made for her last weekend. I printed it out and put it in her workbox for when she asks for math time. They include a phone, fall leaves, acorns,...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 13, 2012
Every now and then I feel compelled to point out that our blog shows just the smallest snippet of our life. Sometimes we have great things going on, sometimes we’re just doing run-of-the-mill stuff and sometimes we’re overloaded with social commitments and activities. Life has been pretty hectic and crazy the past couple of weeks, especially with Hubby out of town. I’ve/we’ve been going full speed between school, activities, and...
Death and Dying / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 12, 2012 · Last modified December 11, 2016
We tackled the greatest lessons of all this past week… life, living, love, dying and death. It was a difficult week for our family… the final days of a beloved family member, the kids’ Great Grandmother, Vovo. Yesterday, she passed away. She was 93 and had lived an incredibly full life. She was well educated (had numerous Master’s degrees), well loved and made an incredible difference in the lives of...
Ages 2-6: Fall Theme / Arts and Crafts / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 10, 2012 · Last modified October 16, 2016
The last time we did spaghetti art, we simply colored strands different colors and made a free for all. This time, we had a specific goal in mind… barren trees. They turned out well! Cook spaghetti and cool with cold water. Mix glue and paint together. Dip the spaghetti into the glue-paint mixture and form into the desired shape We placed ours on wax paper, but you could also...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Spelling / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 8, 2012 · Last modified January 3, 2020
Today I’m sharing the Long E Spelling Sort I made for the kids over the weekend. I made two sets–one the Pokemon themed set here and a bird set for those not crazy about Pokemon. Last week the older kids went over the Long A spelling words (it was new for DD, but I had LD review them as well). This list includes not only words like made or sail but...
Homeschool Den / Homeschooling in the News / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 7, 2012
Over the weekend, an article was published in the Washington Post Magazine about homeschooling — and more specifically about the well-known author, Susan Wise Bauer. As many of you fellow homeschoolers probably already know, Susan Wise Bauer is the other of a number of books used by homeschoolers and schools alike including The Well Trained Mind, the Story of the World history series, First Language Lessons, Writing with Ease and many more. The article...
Ages 2-6: Fall Theme / Arts and Crafts / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 6, 2012
If your kids are home for election day, this is a quick craft that smells great!! These ornaments are SO easy to make and smell wonderful! The last time we made these (3 or 4 years ago!), we made them for our Christmas tree, but with the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg I thought they’d be the perfect craft for the fall season! We made them into necklaces and also...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Chemistry Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 5, 2012 · Last modified March 3, 2016
We did a lot of Montessori science when the older kids were little, so this is an experiment we did years ago. Now the older kids are studying chemistry and ED is the perfect age (4) to enjoy the action of this experiment. Using red cabbage juice as the indicator, you add various household ingredients and compare it to an acid-base chart to see where that particular item falls...
I loved the creativity of this 3rd grade girl who dresses as a new character every day. She gets her inspiration from books, people she learns about, and friends. Each day she dresses as someone new from Jane Goodall and Harriet Tubman to Emily Dickinson, Georgia O’Keefe and Hermione Granger. You can see photos and read more at CNN Living. We’ve been reading short biographical sketches of famous people from...
Ages 2-6: Fall Theme / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 3, 2012
The Beautiful Colors Hot Apple Cider Pumpkin Muffins! Here’s a post where I share our pumpkin muffin recipe. We make these all year long, but they are especially wonderful in the fall! Fall Decorations Roasted Pumpkin Seeds! We make ours by rinsing the seeds well and removing any extra pulp. Then we add 2 teaspoons of olive oil per 1 1/2 cups or so of pumpkin seed. We spread it...
Sandy-Crisis Map After a nerve wracking wait, we got in touch with my step-Mom’s relative who got in touch with my folk’s pet-sitter who drove over to their house to find that my Dad and step-Mom are fine. They still don’t have power (they’re in the huge stretch of New Jersey and New York that is still out of power). If you want to check on your loved ones and...
Ages 2-6: Fall Theme / Arts and Crafts / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 2, 2012 · Last modified March 17, 2016
The scent of this playdough brought even my 9-year-old running! So much for the schoolwork that was supposed to get done while ED was happily playing! I had to change course and do some read-alouds while the kids were occupied. Here’s how we made it: 1 cup flour 1/3 cup salt 1 1/2 tsp cloves 1 1/2 or 2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1 Tablespoon Cream of Tartar 1 Tablespoon...
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.
