Pretty Grasshopper
LD was very excited to catch this grasshopper. Up until now, we’ve only ever seen them at the Desert Park (zoo). Sorry, I don’t remember what they’re called!
Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Science / Where We Used to Live (Australia posts)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 28, 2010 · Last modified May 18, 2015
LD was very excited to catch this grasshopper. Up until now, we’ve only ever seen them at the Desert Park (zoo). Sorry, I don’t remember what they’re called!
Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Language Arts: Writing
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 28, 2010
Someone shared this wonderful link to an article on the benefits of teaching kids cursive writing http://www.donpotter.net/PDF/Cursive%20First.pdf Also, if you need a homeschool id (for teachers or for students) card, you can make one (free) at the homeschool buyer’s co-op. I need to update ours before we go on travel and thought I’d mention it here in case you hadn’t heard about them. The homeschool id card was beneficial when...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 28, 2010 · Last modified January 11, 2020
Last week we did a sorting activity on solids, liquids and gases. This activity was actually quite challenging for them, so we’ll have to repeat it a number of times in the near future. After they sorted the cards together (with help from me), we ran around the house and collected one example of each and presented it to the others. Click on the link to see more details about...
The kids were anxious to try these sheets out. DD saw me working on them last night and asked to do it this morning (she can recognize the numbers if I tell her what to look for, but doesn’t know about skip counting per se). This brought LD over and we spent quite a while doing the sheets together. I hope someone else enjoys them too.
I couldn’t find activity sheets exactly like Iwas looking for, so I made a few of my own.These sheets are for introducing skip countingfrom 3 to 36. The child simply connects thenumbers in order. I laminated the sheets sothat we can repeat them from time to time. (Sorryabout the poor quality of the photos, it was late!) By the way, I decided not to upload the chameleonpage where they simply...
Homemade Graham Crackers:I’ve been making our own graham crackers for a coupleof months. While they can made to look very authentic,I’ve recently been putting the dough into a large rectangularloaf in the fridge. Then I cut slices and bake them on asilcone baking sheet whenever we want them. Here is the graham cracker recipe if you’re interested. Here are a couple household hints you may or may notknow about. Getting...
It feels like I haven’t talked about LD’s math in a while.We worked quite a bit with our Right Start Mathcurriculum last week. Here are some things we reviewed today (using other resources): Above: Place Value to the hundreds (with a heart theme thatwe had for Valentine’s Day) Below: Number Family’s Games (These have been a hugehit with LD! Today we did 9s and 12s. Then we stoppedbecause ED was...
Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 23, 2010 · Last modified February 21, 2016
ED has been pouring with a pitcher since she was about 18 months old; she’s practiced with water, beans, rice, beads and so forth. In fact, she pours her own milk into her cereal every morning with the little pitcher you see in the bottom picture. One skill that is very diificult for her is to start/stop pouring. So, here are a couple of pictures of her using different types...
Here are the trays ready for our Monday morningscience center. All the various experiments lead towards the final M&M;color mixing experiment. There were about four differentmini-experiments leading up to that. I’ll talk about thatmore in the next posting.
Experiment 1:Add a teaspoonful of sugar to water. Stir. Observe. What happens when you add sugar to water? What happens when you add several more teaspoons? Experiment 2:Cut (or bite) an M&M; in half. What do you see? We talked about the three layers —the outer layer which was coloreda small thin layer of white (more of the sugar-outer coating)chocolate Experiment 3: Pour water into a white screw top lid....
Experiment 4: (above) Take drops of food dye/water and drop two colors ontoa piece of coffee filter. What happens when the followingcolors mix?red-yellowblue-redblue-green, etc. Experiment 5: (below) Pour water into a white screw top lid. Add four M&Ms;,one each of red, yellow, green and blue. Make a prediction. What do you think will happen whenthe colors meet? Observe. **When the colors meet, they will form a solid line (atleast at...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Language Arts: Reading
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 21, 2010 · Last modified December 31, 2014
This week I have some new games ready for DD. DD is reading simple words, but doesn’t quite have the patience to read Bob Books (or the equivalent); yet, she is beyond simple letter-sound activities. I’ve been trying to find simple word games to play with her. I found some lovely cards at Kelly’s Kindergarten that appeal to DD. I printed out the “Cinderella’s Ball” cards and “Sight Word Memory”...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Language Arts: Reading
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 21, 2010
Here are some of the Cinderella cards. The kids really enjoyed this game. Each player takes a turn turning over and reading the card. They keep any word they read. If a player gets a shoe card, s/he gets to take another player’s card. When the midnight card gets turned over, the round ends and the winner of that round is the player with the most cards.
LD and I played this today (while DD filled her cherry tree!)First we went over the value of the cards using thesandpaper notes (in black). Then as each player flippedover a card, s/he went the number of beats on the card(so LD is putting four cherries on his cherry tree becausehe turned over a whole note).
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.
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!).
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.
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!
How the body is organized from cells to tissues... organs to body systems