Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 2, 2010 · Last modified July 17, 2020
I needed to do something a bit different for my two and four-year olds, so I’ve decided to set up a theme collection each morning. It’ll help me rotate in some of the preschool games and toys we have and to bring a new selection of books out. And, while the workboxes work well, by having a display out on the craft table, ED (age 2) is much more drawn...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Math: Preschool Math
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 1, 2010
It’s amazing how many books and things you findin various nooks and crannies around the house.We had quite a large selection of dinosaur books,puzzles, animals (mostly from my childhood!).I added in a puppet, board game and made amath worksheet for DD. (You can download itat the right if you’re interested.) The wonderful thing about this was that ED andDD spent a LOT of time here today doing thingsindependently (though I...
Outdoor Fun / Where We Used to Live (Australia posts)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 1, 2010
Last night, our dog woke us up. She’s normally quietat night, but she barked and whined around 3am. Something seemed amiss and though I couldn’t findanything wrong, I had trouble going back to sleep. Ifinally got up and snuggled up with a book for therest of the night. This morning, we figured out what bothered our dog!
Outdoor Fun / Where We Used to Live (Australia posts)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 1, 2010 · Last modified May 18, 2015
It’s been raining a lot. This afternoon it was just a misty drizzle, though, so I decided to take the kids out for a little hike. This is just three blocks from our house, but leads out to expansive crown lands. There were hundreds of grasshoppers and LD and DD had a fabulous time tracking down little critters!
History: Geography Activities / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 28, 2010 · Last modified February 14, 2015
This post is best viewed here. I’ve added pictures and updated this post!! World Biomes Pin Map – Rain Forest, Desert, Savanna, Tundra and More I obtained permission to use the world biomes map and legend that I used to create our pin map. I went ahead and made downloadable pages for you to use. It is three pages long. The first page is the World Biomes Map and Legend,...
Where We Used to Live (Australia posts)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 28, 2010 · Last modified May 18, 2015
The river bed is normally dry. It has been pouring down rain for days (this is not common in our desert climate!!!) I actually love this kind of weather and made it a point to take the dog out for a good run today! Unfortunately, I suspect sports will be canceled this week! (LD plays T-ball and I play soccer.) We’ll still have the indoor activities (Kindergym for ED, dance/ballet...
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...
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.
