Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
I gathered a number of items from around the houseand put them all into a ziploc bag with a flashlight. Thenbefore letting the kids sort, I made sure they saw examplesand understood the difference between something thatwas transparent: you can see obects clearly through and light passes throughtranslucent: you cannot clearly see objects, but light passes throughopaque: light does not pass through I was surprised by a number of objects...
This activity would be easy to create by clippingfood items from an advertisement. I got mine on saleat some point. There’s also a free file folder game athttp://filefolderfun.com/FirstGradeHealth.htmlwhere kids can sort items into grains, fruit, vegies,milk and meat. Anyway, here is DD sorting foods into the variousfood groups. PS — When I was talking to my hubby about the“food pyramid” he said, “Oh no, that’s outdated.” HappilyI could say that...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Arts and Crafts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 28, 2010
For this activity we needed cooked spaghetti (we usedfettuccine), bits of yarn or string and glue. We had onebowl of plain glue, and a bowl of glue + red food coloringanother with glue/yellow and another with glue/green. This activity worked best when I had them use a fork.My kids didn’t dip it in well enough to get a lot of glue.They really needed to stir it around a bit (and...
ED turns two next week! Wow! She continues to do many of the same tonging,spooning and sorting activities with ever moreconcentration. I love this picture below whereshe is just so intent on getting the eraser ontothe right spot! I usually set up one new activity for her on thelittle table in the kitchen each morning. I didn’tget a picture of the rice/bean tub in action, butput in a picture of...
This tub used to be considerably fuller, but over timelots of the rice/beans have been tossed! This is a sensoryactivity. ED (and the others!) have to feel through therice/beans for the hidden objects.
The workbox yahoo group I participate in had a great discussion last week about “fun” boxes. I wrote my own comments and thought I’d share them here too: I’m a little late adding to the discussion, but I really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments and thoughts about fun boxes. I always enjoy hearing how things are working for others. I think I’m different from many in that my kids do their...
I have lots of science experiments that we didn’tget to this past month. Since we’re going on toother units, I didn’t want to do science experimentsdaily. Instead, I have decided to set up a new sciencecenter every Monday. That gives me time over theweekend to gather the materials I need and to getthings set up. On Thursdays, I plan to set up an “old” experimentthat we’ve done already out on...
Part III: Float a Penny Test how many pennies can be placed on an index cardbefore it sinks. Do the same with a popsicle stick. See how many rocks/pennies can be placed on a pieceof bark before it sinks or tips over. Part IV: Float AND SinkTry to make the following items float. Then try to makethat same object sink. Do not place anything on it. Try: aluminium foilclaya plastic...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 25, 2010 · Last modified July 14, 2015
When we looked at the geography of Greece last week we had talked about the importance of boats both for trade, transportation and as warships. Our science center led naturally to the construction of their own “Greek” boats. We looked at a couple of books we have, brought out LD’s saw, glue, tape and off they went! We tested their boats in our pool afterwards. Related Posts you May Be Interested In: Ancient Greece Geography...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 24, 2010 · Last modified February 10, 2021
I think I mentioned last week that we started a new unit on Ancient Greece. (We studied Ancient Egypt last semester.) We’ve been quite busy reading and crafting and LD seems to be having a lot of fun with this unit! LD and I worked together to on this wonderful Parthenon craft that we found at http://www.stormthecastle.com/paper-castle/paper-parthenon.htm. All we needed was a printer, scissors, glue, tape and a cereal box! We visited this Art History...
We learned about the ancient Greek olympicsand talked about the modern Olympics. Wewatched a video of the 2004 Olympics inAthens and LD made an olympic victorywreath. Of course the 2010 winter Olympics beginFeb. 12 and we will do some activities totie into that. Activity Village has some activitiesand website links about the Vancouver olympics.Here are a couple other resources that I mightcheck out in more detail about the winter Olympicssoon:...
History: Ancient Greece Unit / History: World Religions
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 24, 2010
We read a wonderful book about the Ancienct Greek gods and goddesses of Olympus by Aliki. The book had very visual pictures that went along well with the short myths about each god or goddess. It captured LD’s imagination and he really learned a lot from its simple retelling. We read through the entire book and LD has asked me to re-read sections again. We also read the myth of...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 24, 2010 · Last modified July 14, 2015
Today the entire family sat down to make scary Medusa masks. LD was the only one who had the patience to glue his snakes onto the top piece. DD said to put it into her workbox for later and spent the next hour playing with the three masks she had made.
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 24, 2010 · Last modified July 14, 2015
Related Posts you May Be Interested In: Ancient Greece Geography Project (part 1) Ancient Greece: The Importance of the Seas Ancient Greek Unit — Read Aloud Books (The kids were 2, 4 and 6.) Parthenon Craft
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.
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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.
