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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...
Freebies / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Math General Posts / Math--Addition / Math--Multiplication
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 15, 2011
Late at night my brain often whirls with ideas. Last spring I put the skip counting patterns to familiar tunes since LD is working on his basic multiplication facts. For example, I put the 7s to the tune of ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat.’ LD learned that so well I went back and created another tune for the 6s and the 8s which he’ll be working on again this fall....
Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Arts and Crafts / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Science: Ocean Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 12, 2011 · Last modified February 3, 2016
ED’s Tuesday Routine: So you heard yesterday that I’m planning to use biome/habitat themes with ED this fall. This is what I have planned in a general way for Tuesdays: Arts and Crafts (based on the theme) Montessori Math Beads; Math Activities Science Sorts (Long post and link to my 30-pages of notes, etc.!) Arts and Crafts The girls painted boxes to make a diorama. Now all this needs is...
Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Montessori (general info) / Science: Ocean Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 10, 2011 · Last modified February 20, 2016
ED’s Monday Routine: The idea of planning all this is so that I can change up ED’s activities, keep them fresh, interesting with the minimum of thought on my part. I expect to skip days, but then I’ll just pick up on the appropriate day and continue on. The routine is (hopefully) to make it easier on me to keep things engaging for ED. Mailbox Letters and Scavenger Hunt Montessori...
Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Workboxes
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 9, 2011 · Last modified March 14, 2019
I often enjoy having a glimpse at other people’s homeschool setups. We had quite a small house over in Australia, but we are now blessed with this amazingly large, airy homeschool room. We have bright colorful workboxes. Each kid has their own row, but I do not fill them every day with new things. Instead their basic subjects get stored here (including the manipulatives, new games, activities and printouts). It...
Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 8, 2011 · Last modified March 8, 2017
Last week I set up the first few activities for ED. I’ve been working to get the homeschool room setup to make it easier and more routine for me to setup each day/week for ED’s preschool.We’re easing into school — so none of these pictures will be too much of a surprise, but one thing I did last week was to re-introduce and reinforce the routine of putting out a...
The kids’ cousins went to camp this year and taught DD and LD how to make these pony-bead snakes and lizards. I thought they were so cute I thought I would share the general procedure here. You need thin ribbon and pony beads. First take very thin ribbon and cut a strip about two feet long. Place a knot in the middle of the ribbon and slide a bead onto...
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...
Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Math General Posts / Math--Addition
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 3, 2011
I’ve had some good luck getting my curriculum used this year from http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com. I bought three books from homeschool classified and got prompt replies from the sellers. The books arrived quickly in the mail. The prices made me excited as I saved quite a bit buying them second-hand. Just wanted to mention that venue if anyone else was looking around for curriculum for this fall.
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). ...
Freebies / Montessori (general info) / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 1, 2011
This year I hope to introduce my older kids to researching things on their own. We’ll be going over a lot of the Montessori zoology curriculum again, so I thought I’d create a page to help guide them. For what it’s worth, I’ll share that with you all too.Animal Notebook Page (for the kids to do research on their own about animals they are interested in). Animal Discovery Notebook page...
I mentioned a few days ago that I’ve been seriously reassessing how our homeschool runs. I’m pretty excited about some of the changes I’d like to make– creating more structure yet giving them more independence, or another way of putting that… creating academic work time yet giving them freedom within that, working with them on goal-setting, creating the environment that gives them that autonomy.I read the book The Montessori Controversy...
I love these pictures of other people’s learning spaces. I learned about pinterest from Laura (of My Montessori Journey) who now homeschools her two boys over at Walnut Hill Homeschool.
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.
