Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 28, 2020 · Last modified September 29, 2023
I often like to start out the year by providing some regular freebies for my readers. My hope is to share some freebies with you regularly on Fridays. Today I have a new math freebie for you. Plus, I have also included links to a half a dozen other freebies down below! These mixed math practice pages include some basic clock/time practice, reviewing the days of the week, months of...
Homeschool Den / Science Experiments / Science Units
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 25, 2020 · Last modified August 24, 2020
The year in review posts are especially fun because it’s my chance to reflect back on the year and all the things we managed to accomplish! Sometimes in the short-run it can feel like we’re not getting much homeschooling done. You know how homeschooling can go… we’re interrupted for activities, illness, errands, appointments, or the occasional blahs. But then when we step back to look at the bigger picture, we’ve...
History: Geography Activities / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 15, 2020 · Last modified March 1, 2024
Hands-On Geography Activities appeal to all ages from tots to teens!! We often start off with geography activities, whether that’s at the beginning of the year or when we are starting new history units. Geography activities can be fun & hands-on and provide the framework for understanding history. I thought I would share age-by-age what kinds of geography activities we have done along the way. Way back when my kids...
Homeschool Den / Science: Chemistry Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 1, 2020 · Last modified March 20, 2023
I have just updated the Properties of Matter Chemistry Packet to include a new interactive notebook activity and chemistry review worksheet on pages 92 to 102 of the packet. The Properties of Matter packet covers topics such as elements and compounds, mixtures, physical and chemical properties, molecular vs. structural formulas and includes hands-on activities on some of these properties (viscosity, cohesion, capillary action, and density). We are going spend a...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 16, 2020 · Last modified August 10, 2023
Tips for How to Start Homeschooling! I field a LOT of email from readers looking for advice on how to start homeschooling. I wanted to give some tips and pointers from someone who has been homeschooling for a very long time! 🙂 We have been homeschooling right from the start and my kids decided to continue homeschooling right through high school! Are you starting to homeschool or need fresh inspiration?...
All About Homeschooling! / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 11, 2020 · Last modified January 1, 2024
Finding materials on the Homeschool Den! I wrote this post to help you find some of the pages, posts and homeschool resources within our blog that might be the most useful for you. Over the years, I have made homeschool packets on everything from history and science to spelling, math, spelling and foreign languages (German & Spanish). And, many of those are free! We have materials from preschool through high...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 6, 2020 · Last modified June 28, 2022
What supplies do you need to have on hand to homeschool? This post includes a free printable list of basic homeschooling supplies and science materials that you might want to have on hand. This list covers everything from office supplies & art materials to math manipulatives and science materials we have used in our homeschool through the years. Obviously, the first starting point is access to books and curriculum. No...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 1, 2020 · Last modified September 13, 2022
We have been using a writing workshop model in our homeschool for many, many years. It has brought a lot of joy to our writing time. My kids are not at all intimidated by writing now… even high school essays! I have a lot of posts about what a Writing Workshop looks like in our homeschool and also have a lot of posts about the various mini-lessons we used to...
Free Curriculum Resource Guides / Free Homeschool Planner / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 18, 2020
Homeschool Reflection Questions Have you finished your homeschool year? If you did, no doubt, this one ended more dramatically than any other one, right? Whew! What a year! I usually take some time to reflect how the year went for our family. I’m always curious to see what the kids think now that the year is over. A number of years ago, I made a questionnaire for the kids to...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / How to Start Homeschooling / Kindergarten / Must Read / Science Experiments / Science Units / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 23, 2020
Here are 12 Hands-On Science Activities that you can do with minimal preparation! It can be daunting to know just where to start with science, but in our household it has been one of the kids’ favorite subjects. Why? Because of hands-on activities! With so many parents now wondering what to do and how to get their kids intrigued and excited, turning to hands-on activities can be just the secret...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 16, 2020 · Last modified May 13, 2020
This page is just a record of information that I want to keep for my family and my kids. I’m not an expert by any means, so if you happen upon this page, please be aware that this is just a “diary” page for our family. I started writing this on Saturday, March 14 just a day after VA’s governor declared a state of emergency & our local schools were...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 23, 2020 · Last modified May 3, 2023
We have done a number of Chemistry Units over the years. Plus, we would often weave a bit of chemistry in with our other units. For example, if we talked about the water cycle we would build a water molecule with our Molecular Model Kit (affiliate link) or we would build carbon dioxide (or even glucose molecules!) when talking about photosynthesis. Molecular Model Kit: We have had our Molecular Model...
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Science: Dinosaurs Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 20, 2020 · Last modified October 25, 2022
I have just done a huge update of our Dinosaur Unit! This is a multi-age packet with roughly 75+ pages for ages 3-6 and 80+ pages for ages 7-9. This packet is perfect for homeschool families with mixed age students! There are lapbook & notebook pages, plus math games (for addition or multiplication), Montessori 3-part cards, activities, and more! I added in quite a number of new activities to Dinosaur...
History: American History / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 4, 2020 · Last modified January 16, 2024
Our American Revolution Unit is more than 60+ pages and includes worksheets and notebook pages, a booklet, review cards and new chronology cards. We started the school year with a unit on the Age of Exploration (see more about this unit here) followed by a study of colonial America (see our 13 Colonies Packet here). Then we moved on the the American Revolution! We actually started with a discussion of...
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.
