Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 1, 2016 · Last modified September 25, 2017
Reader Email (abridged): I have five kids from 8 years old down to a 1-year old. I would like homeschool, but I don’t know where to begin. Do you have any advice for me? This post is for a dear reader who has a very full house with five kids – from an 8-year-old she’s considering homeschooling, down to a 1-year-old! This amazing Mom deserves a medal!! She was wondering...
Freebies / Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts / Math--Addition / Math--Multiplication / Math: Pre-Algebra
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 16, 2016 · Last modified September 11, 2018
This math printable can be used for any math practice. You can use any math fact cards, even for simple number recognition for younger kids. You can use any of the numbers that will work for your child or just create your own math problems on index cards. Use it for number recognition (for younger kids) and move that many spaces around the board addition facts (6+7) or subtraction problems...
Happy Labor Day! This is a post you definitely don’t want to miss. It has links to dozens of freebies in science, history, language arts, math, PreK, German and Spanish!! Today is a holiday that honors the hard work of men and women across America. This blog has been my labor of love for more than seven years! It started as a way for me to document our homeschool journey...
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 10, 2016 · Last modified July 10, 2017
Welcome to Day 3 of the Back to Homeschool Challenge!! Today, let’s tackle the Subject Planning… I don’t know about you, but I really mull things over in the summer. I generally have tentative plans at the end of the year for the new school year, but given some time, I often change course slightly. Do you need to add in a different topic? Last year in history, for example,...
When we were planning our trip out West, I purchased a book of some of America’s best geological sites. I read about the Crater of Diamonds state park and the kids were beside themselves at the thought of being able to search for *real* diamonds!! This state park is the world’s eighth largest diamond-bearing volcanic crater. We camped in the state park and tried our hand at diamond mining! Many...
Engineering - STEM Activities / Homeschool Den / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 6, 2016 · Last modified May 6, 2016
Here are some fun summer activities you might enjoy doing with your kids this summer! Today’s post highlights some fun engineering, science and math activities you can do this summer! Summer Fun: Science, Engineering, and Math Ideas Egg Drop Challenge: Give the kids various supplies (cups, paper bags, yarn, scissors, hole punch, tape, and some coins). Have them design a parachute that will safely let an egg drop to the...
There are so many amazing activities that kids can do that don’t involve electronics. This is a HUGE list of fun activities that will get your kids ENGAGED! Here are some examples: Cabin Camping, Camp Fire Songs, Candle Making, Candy Making, Candy Tour, Canning, Car Wash, Card Games, Card Making, Cardboard Boat Race, Carnival, Caroling, Cave Tour, Cemetery Walk, Ceramics Mug Pottery Wheel, Challenge Course, Chemistry Day, Chess, China, Chili...
Earth Day is April 22nd! The celebration of Earth Day began over 40 years ago. It is a day to celebrate our planet and think about how we can help our environment. Did you know that the Environmental Protection Agency was established not long after that first Earth Day in 1970? The Clean Air Act also passed that same year. Now Earth Day is celebrated in more than 175 countries...
Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Science / Starting to Homeschool / Videos
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 29, 2016 · Last modified April 18, 2019
How do I start teaching science to my kids? This is a very different answer if your kids are K-2 than if they are a bit older. Here are some of the science topics you might want to consider if your kids are in early elementary. I put together a video of some of the activities we did when the kids were in early elementary. Some of these activities my...
I made a new set of mixed math worksheets for ED. These include multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction problems. She is just starting double-digit multiplication so there are a few of those on each page as well (but only with a few problems at the bottom of each page as she catches on to the idea of carrying). There are 7 pages. These are free to download. Hope someone else...
Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / How to Start Homeschooling / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Ocean Unit / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 8, 2016
Last week we did some pretty fun science experiments for our ocean unit. We always get so pumped up doing hands-on activities & the salinity experiment was especially impressive. I thought I’d talk a little bit what a big impact these kinds of experiments add to our day… the kids get excited and engaged they ask a lot of good questions the activities and projects are memorable so they often...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 9, 2016 · Last modified February 8, 2016
DD is working on percentages at the moment which she said she’s really enjoying. 🙂 I made a couple of percent worksheets in a Valentine’s Day theme. She was happy for that (rather than her same-0ld, same-old math workbook!). I might add to the file later, but wanted to share this sooner than later with Valentine’s Day quickly approaching! Hope someone else can use these! 🙂 They are free to...
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 / Holiday: Valentine's Day
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 29, 2016
How to Make Chocolate Play Dough! The same day that we did the Chocolate Making Kit, (boy did my kids love that!!) I had a surprise for the kids. We made an enormous batch of chocolate play dough! Then, while I read aloud I let the kids have fun. This was such a huge hit — even my 12 year old came over to check out the action for a while...
Holiday: Valentine's Day / Homeschool Den / Science / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 28, 2016 · Last modified May 6, 2017
Chocolate Making Activity We did this Make Your Own Chocolate Kit (affiliate link) a number of years ago and we all loved it! After we went over the Rain Forest Plants, it was the perfect time and excuse to make our own chocolate again! The write-up they have in the kit is well done. We read that aloud together before actually making the chocolate. It explains the history of chocolate...
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.
