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Ages 2-6: Bird Unit / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 18, 2010
To make our bird unit especially appealing to LD we, of course, had to add in some science egg-speriments! While DD and I were unable to smash our eggs… LD did!! We’re not quite sure why, but then when he tried it with a second egg he couldn’t break it no matter how hard he tried. Anyway, this experiment was designed to show how strong egg shells are and how...
Ages 2-6: Bird Unit / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 18, 2010
We looked at the air bubbles coming out of this egg when it was placed in vinegar and talked about why the shell is porous. This lets the growing embryo get oxygen. We then talked about how since it is porous it can let things through — like acid (vinegar), acid rain and pollutants. We talked about DDT (how eagles nearly became extinct)– and how poisons, pesticides and so forth...
Ages 2-6: Bird Unit / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 18, 2010
This summer, I saw a really interesting tool for studying chickens at My Montessori Journey. It was a chicken hatching set that you can buy for about $35. It was a great idea, but I decided the kids might get more out of it making their own. So, earlier this summer at Grams’ house, I printed out some chicken embryo pictures. One set has the developing chicken embryo with the...
Ages 2-6: Bird Unit / Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 17, 2010 · Last modified February 23, 2015
Last night I set up the table with a few more bird-related activities. These are activities for my 2 1/2 and 4 year olds: In the middle of the table are styrofoam eggs. The girls decorated them with plastic push pins (I don’t know what else to call them!) and colorful brads. I also set out a bird identification set and the bird lapbook we made years ago. The girls...
Ages 2-6: Bird Unit / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 16, 2010
I showed this picture last week, I think, but what better visual to go with our bird unit! We have started off the year with a new bird unit. We did a pretty extensive bird unit last year and learned all about galahs, magpies, Murray magpies and Port Lincoln parrots (lots of pictures in the “Where we Live” label). We did a lovely lapbook to go with those (I just...
Here are a few pictures of the bird lapbook we did last year. We’ve had this out and have chatted a lot about how different the birds sound (galahs make a really distinctive ruckus). ED did the coloring last year; DD did the cutting activity (cutting the slits in the feathers). Hmmm… this would be PERFECT for ED right now. She really loves practicing with scissors. I’d better head off...
Ages 2-6: Bird Unit / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Arts and Crafts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 16, 2010
This activity would probably be perfect around Easter! This summer as I wandered around Hobby Lobby I saw all the cute colored brads. Not just the plain round ones as were available in our town last year, but flowers, hearts and things like that. I picked up a couple boxes of brads, a push-pin looking thing I also saw at H-L or Michaels and a bunch of styrofoam eggs. All...
Ages 2-6: Bird Unit / Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Math: Preschool Math
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 16, 2010
So aside from learning about the birds in our area (which are all new to the kids), I also selected a number of general bird and chicken activities to slip into their workboxes. Here are a couple they did today: DD had this chicken grid game from prekinders.com in her workbox today for math. We played with two dice and she had to try adding them together. That’s quite challenging...
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 14, 2010
Today Daddy took the kids out to the playground leaving me with an hour or so to myself. I managed to clear stuff off of our craft/science table. Then as I was unpacking one of the boxes, I came across the roll of butcher paper our friends gave us. As I considered where to store it, I realized I could put it UNDER and ACROSS the craft table for an...
We have lots and lots of empty boxes out on the porch. Today it was time to break down lots of them and we found this seven-inch lizard in one of the boxes. We think it is a ‘common five-lined skink’ — probably the adult version of the smaller, blue-tailed lizards we see all over (the Internet indicates that the blue tails fade as they mature.)
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 13, 2010
The kids have really enjoyed their summer activities. Just a five minute drive from the house is a really nice gym. LD has been taking gymnastics classes and always glows afterward. “That was SO hard, but SO great,” he tells us! A dance teacher also offers classes at the gym. DD participated in a little dance camp this week. They made all of their props — frog feet, a duck...
Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Language Arts: Reading / Recipes
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 11, 2010
Life indoors still isn’t quite as tranquil as it is outdoors. Still, I have various parts of the house that are really coming together. One of the first areas we tried to get organized was the homeschool room. This is our new book nook. I came across LD reading a long chapter book to DD last evening and just had to take a picture! I thought about picking up the...
“This is the best day of my life!” That’s what LD had to say about the nature journaling we started a couple of days ago. He was SO excited about drawing all the things we had discovered in the woods that he kept begging for more and more time. WHAT?!!! Our son said that?! It’s wonderful to find somethings that is so appealing to him (especially if it involves writing/drawing)....
We are thoroughly enjoying our new environment. It is completely different than the Outback, but has so much to offer in its own beautiful way. These next few postings will show how much we’ve enjoyed exploring! We are so, so happy in our new home. We just wish Daddy weren’t having to work such long hours. 🙁 LD found this cute orange salamander. We see lots and lots of blue-tailed...
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.
