Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Family Meeting / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 10, 2011
We started something new in our family this year. We decided the kids were old enough for a monthly family meeting. Here are some of the things we do in our family meeting: We gathered and went around the circle and said one nice thing about somebody else at the table. We brainstormed on something fun to do together as a family after the family meeting. We wrote down our...
These are wonderful! We make these at Christmas and Easter, but I made them a couple weekends ago after running my first half-marathon in many years. (I kept forgetting to post this, it’s been in my drafts for ages.) Ingredients: 1/4 cup water1/4 cup melted butter1/2 package instant vanilla pudding mix (1/4 cup)1 cup warm milk1 egg, room temperature1 tablespoon white sugar1/2 tsp salt4 cups flour (I used 3 cups...
Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Math General Posts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 7, 2011
Life’s been rolling along, but it’s been hard to find time to post. Partly because odd jobs have taken up my spare time — painting a hallway, cutting wood for the wood stove in our homeschool room, creating a new garden for some more blueberry plants, mountains of laundry and trying to clean and catch up with the house. It’s left little time for the computer. One thing I haven’t...
Long a Words — Spelling Practice SentencesWe have gone over the long a words such as a (able, acorn) ai (sail, maid) a–e (cake, mate) ay (day) eigh (weigh, neighbor)ea (steak, break) ey (they) aigh (straight). This sheet uses these long a words in a sentence. They should be able to figure out the word by context, but if not you can tell them the word to write. Click herefor...
History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 3, 2011
Adjacent to the landing where we caught the ferry to Liberty Island we came upon the Empty Skies Memorial. This was beautiful site and an emotional place to visit. We walked silently down the corridor with the kids. When we came to the end I explained to DD why there were so many names on the walls we had just walked through. She reached out and buried her head...
History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 1, 2011 · Last modified January 11, 2015
Last weekend we took an extended trip to see some famous sites to go along with our studies of US symbols and landmarks. We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa in New Jersey and used them as a base to go into Philadelphia to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell and to travel up to New York to take the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. And,...
We don’t have a Magic School Bus, but we did make a pretty wonderful field trip this past (extended) weekend. One of our first stops was the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Part of the reason we studied the heart/circulatory system last week instead of going on to muscles and joints was to take advantage of the spectacular interactive science display at the Franklin Institute. You enter this huge heart on...
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...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 22, 2011 · Last modified January 11, 2015
We have been working steadily on our USA landmarks and symbols unit study. This is a unit that doesn’t lend itself as well to pictures since I have pulled it together using history resources I have on hand. The kids each have a notebook and we’ve been adding to it steadily. Funny enough, LD has said he LOVES history and has been really into this unit. That amazes me a...
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...
My friend shared this really terrific video that talks a bit about how octopus and squid camouflage themselves by changing their skin color AND texture. It is astounding how much the octopus in the video blended into the bush. What an amazing world we live in!
Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 12, 2011
We have had a day of the week for each child for several years now. We call it L-day or D-day or E-day. On that day that child gets to go into the car first and a couple other things, but also they have some extra responsibilities on that day like emptying the dishwasher and doing a bathroom swish-and-swipe (which they love, believe it or not!) Well, I decided L-day...
I ran and finished a half-marathon this morning. It was a trail run with intense hills, but I did it and finished strong. Hooray! It’s been nearly 10 years since I ran my last race, so I feel pretty proud of myself this afternoon (if not a bit tired and sore!).
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.
