Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 29, 2011
Another reason to by thankful this month… About a week before we went down to visit my sister and her family, my niece found a stray kitten. They took her to the vet, gave her shots and generally looked after her. Although they just bought a farm, they couldn’t really keep the kitty. They asked if we’d like her. So on the return trip home we stopped in to pick...
I was chatting with a friend of mine whose daughter is in ED’s gymnastics class. She mentioned that her Mom was down-sizing and getting rid of lots of stuff. At one point they homeschooled and had some “kits and stuff” they wanted to get rid of. Since LD is so into science I went to have a look. I don’t know if you can tell, but this is PERFECT for...
History: Geologic Timeline (Montessori) / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 27, 2011
I’ve been doing some reading and re-reading of Montessori philosophy this summer. I thought I’d share my thoughts about how our studies — specifically our USA unit study — fits in with my interpretations of Montessori teaching in the early elementary grades. As I have three kids spanning the two age groupings (both 3-6 and 6-9), I use elements from both. **We will be starting the year by creating paper...
Freebies / History: American Colonies / History: Geography Activities / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / Montessori (general info)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 26, 2011 · Last modified March 14, 2019
I made some Montessori 3-part cards for the kids for our study of some of the well-known landmarks and symbols of the United States. These cards include landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, the White House, Mount Rushmore and more. You can download the US Landmarks and Symbols Cards at this link. We used these cards by talking about where they were located and placing them on our giant...
Freebies / History: American Colonies / History: Geography Activities / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / Science: Earth Science Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 25, 2011
When we start back into our school year LD and DD are going to learn some basic facts about the world in which we live — the largest continent-Asia the largest country-Russia the largest ocean-Pacific the largest desert-Sahara the tallest mountain-Mt. Everest the longest river-the Nile has been long thought to be the longest river, but an expedition in 2000 found the Amazon River to be 64 miles longer. world...
Freebies / History: American Colonies / History: Geography Activities / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 23, 2011
American Landmarks, Symbols, Basic Facts We are going to study some basic facts and symbols of the United States with this unit study. Things like US geography (rivers, mountains, time zones) famous landmarks American patriotic songs the US flag the Liberty Bell the Statue of Liberty, the Great Seal etc. etc. Here are the topics we’ll be covering over a two or three week period (or so) in this introduction...
I have been doing lots and lots of planning and preparation for this next year. One thing I fell short on this past year was utilizing the amazingly wonderful art resources at Art Projects for Kids and Deep Space Sparkle. I went through Kathy Barbro’s website, Art Projects for Kids and printed out a lot of her lessons on how to draw…a lighthouse a bunnya cator another cathens and chicksa...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 19, 2011 · Last modified August 2, 2020
Are you looking for German materials for kids? I found a goldmine!!!! I am SO excited about the German language flashcards and resources I came across. If anyone is teaching their young ones a foreign language, you might want to check them out. The drawings are cute cartoon style. They offer flashcards/word sheets in German, French, Spanish, Italian and Japanese (a few of these sheets are even in Portuguese and...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 17, 2011 · Last modified November 4, 2016
Her are a few of the printouts I’ve made for when we start back up with German after our summer holiday. The kids know very, very little — just the numbers 1 through 12, some animals and some of the colors. Basically, we need to start over. Our German-learning is pretty much all conversational. That said, it’s been useful having DD’s poems hung up in near the dining room table....
We set up two slip-and-slides on the “not so steep” section of our yard. The kids had a blast! LD went so fast he’d shoot past the the end of the second slide and continue onto the grass another 7-10 feet! And by the way, LD is blurry because of speed!
DD has been devoted to harvesting the garden. She goes down almost daily to gather lettuce, carrots and snap peas. She washes everything, cuts it up and makes us a salad. It’s so sweet — and wonderful to get them so excited about eating veggies! She makes ED wash her hands to come eat a salad. “It’s like I’m the Mom,” DD told me proudly. Look how tall the sunflowers...
Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Language Arts: Writing
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 12, 2011
Last year my sister’s three homeschooled kids each wrote a novel. I hope to get a chance to read their work when we visit them. Her kids are 8, 11 and 13. Amazing! It’s not yet our season for writing things like that, but someone in one of the groups I visit shared this link for kids who plan to write their first novel. Here is the elementary “Young Novelist”...
Math General Posts / Math--Addition
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 11, 2011 · Last modified December 4, 2015
This activity was made by a teacher named Debbie. It’s called Feed the Dog and has problems such as 10-7, 12-8, 2+5 and 3+2. I saw it at Oceans of First Grade Fun. You’ll find the link to print out the game there. You might be interested in this related post: Kindergarten Math (addition games/place value activities) You might also be interested in: Free Montessori Style Addition Sheets (No Regrouping):...
The past few weeks, we’ve been reading through many of Patricia Polacco’s books. I know as an adult, I get fixated on one or two authors (Paullina Simons–The Bronze Horsemen series, Jodi Picoult, Philippa Gregory, Rick Riordan). And LD has his favorite series too reading through all the Magic Tree House books, Beast Quest series (he’s on number 36), Andrew Lost and the A-to-Z Mysteries. We have all really enjoyed...
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.
