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Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Homeschool Den / Math: Preschool Math / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 7, 2012
We incorporate a lot of Montessori math into our preschooling days. There are lots of great websites, but Living Montessori Now is a wonderful place to start as Deb has compiled ideas from all around the web. I also play lots of board games that require counting, we jump and play and sing about numbers. Here are some of the math activities we did a couple of weeks ago. I had this...
We’ve been using the fraction chart and a pencil a lot to look at equivalent fractions. I have the kids line up the pencil on 1/2 and then ask them what some equivalent fractions are. We also have spent a lot of time building equivalent fractions with our manipulatives. Again the fraction table pictured below is from Right Start math (a math curriculum that uses Montessori concepts and hands-on math manipulatives and games),...
Ages 2-6: Fire Safety / Health / Must Read / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Human Body Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 5, 2012 · Last modified August 23, 2018
Germ Experiment: When I saw this germ experiment, I knew we had to add this into our unit on First Aid. After all keeping ourselves healthy is as important as patching up the injuries, right?! The experiment called for gelatin, sugar and petri dishes. We didn’t have petri dishes so used paper cups and covered them immediately with glad wrap in lieu of a cover. Boil 1/2 cup of water...
I once read about the concept of a time-in. Well, at this stage of life I have to be really mindful to do this for my four year old… Sometimes I even need to turn on the stopwatch on to be sure I’m stopping and focusing on ED for a good solid ten minutes. I do this for my older kids of course too, but at times it’s easier to...
Engineering - STEM Activities / Engineering Challenges / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 3, 2012 · Last modified March 5, 2019
Engineering Challenge – Week 2 The kids did their second Engineering Challenge this week. Each day I spend time reading a book aloud to the kids. Right now we’re reading a wonderful book about the Oregon Trail. On Thursday I had them try this challenge while I read. The Goal: Build a tower with post-it notes. Make it as sturdy and high as you can. Here are some of the solutions...
Health / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Human Body Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 2, 2012 · Last modified April 14, 2015
Our germ unit took about a week to complete in part because of the amazing germ-experiment we did (more about that next week… the experiment was awesome!). We talked about the major types of germs: bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa. While fungi can produce athlete’s foot and protozoa can cause giardia and malaria, we didn’t go into much detail about those. Some sources also consider helminths (worms) a germ as...
About ten days ago we started a new fractions unit in math. I did these activities and games with both LD (age 8) and DD (age 6). We did these activities at the beginning of our math time and then the kids went on to do their daily work in their math workbooks. The kids’ math workbooks both have a chapter on fractions, but I wanted to go a...
History: Geography Activities / Montessori (general info)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 29, 2012 · Last modified February 17, 2016
I brought out the materials to help ED (my 4 year old) learn about the seven continents again (though of course everyone joined in). Below is about a week’s worth of geography activities we did together. We went over the fact that a map is really a flat version of a globe. Then we went on to sing the continent song together. I was surprised that ED knew the entire...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 23, 2012
On any given morning you’ll find our family trickling out of bed one by one and heading to the kitchen. Usually my youngest, ED, is the first one awake. As I get her breakfast I put away dishes, grab my coffee and then finally sit down to read with her; she’s usually asked me a half-dozen times by then! Most of the time the other two kids (DD, 6 and...
Homeschool Den / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets / Language Arts: Spelling / Language Arts: Writing
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 22, 2012
I’ve been printing out our own customized writing paper for DD when she does her spelling and narration work. She loves this paper and you can choose from all kinds of themes (animals, holidays, seasons, cartoon characters and more). You can also choose the size of the writing paper (from larger lines for beginner writers to standard rule for more seasoned writers). Anyway, since we get SO much use out...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 21, 2012 · Last modified February 20, 2016
Today I want to share a couple of amazing preschool board games that ED really loves! ED turned four a couple of weeks ago. I always ask the kids what kind of cake they want. ED wanted a Beyblade cake (the spinning top that you see down to the right of the cake). Funny, huh?! I’m no major cake maker but the kids love helping to make their own birthday...
I can’t say we did an entire unit on Antarctica, but we revisited it briefly this past week and a half as we read Mr. Popper’s Penguins aloud together. The kids really loved the book and it was a relatively quick read (about 4 or 5 days for us). I wanted to touch on Antarctica again partly for ED since we’ve been going over the seven continents for her and partly because...
I really try to make sure the kids spend time outdoors. We don’t have a playground, but they manage to find things to entertain themselves. It’s been a funny winter here with lots of mild days and only a bit of snow now and then. A couple days ago the kids decided they wanted to do some “hard work.” (I kind of wonder if that is because of all the...
History: American History / History: American West Unit / History: Geography Activities / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 10, 2012
Our next topic was the Louisiana Purchase. Prior to 1803, the United States territory went only as far as the Mississippi River. Napoleon Bonaparte, the ruler of France, needed money for his wars in Europe and sold the Louisiana Territory to the U.S. for $15 million (3 cents an acre!). This nearly doubled the size of the United States. We’ve been using a map that shows the Louisiana Purchase and...
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.
