Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Here in Australia, most kids will be starting a new schoolyear at the beginning of February. We follow the Americanschool year, so LD will still be in first grade and DD is stillin preschool. Since we take days off as we need to, I generally continueat half speed after the holidays (getting together for play datesor going to the pool at the drop of a hat). Still, I’ve beenspending time...
Holiday: Christmas Activities / Math General Posts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 20, 2009
Because of our road trip and swim lessons, we haven’t been doingmuch in the way of academic school work lately, but I thoughtI’d share a math-game I put together this weekend. This is a place value game I made using two sets of dominoes pictures fromhttp://www.activityvillage.co.uk/christmas_dominoes.pdf Both LD (6) and DD (age 4) enjoyed playing the game, thoughI only had LD tell me the number value of the dice(ie. saying...
Holiday: Christmas Activities / Math General Posts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 20, 2009
Each player gets one figure (Santa, Rudolphor the snowman in each of the four colors) On the player’s turn he/she rolls all four dice and placesthe proper color on the dice board. (See 2nd picture) The player moves each of his/her Rudolphs (orSantas or Snowmen) the number of spaces indicatedby that color dice. I have my older child say one thousand, two thousand, etc.or ten, twenty, thirty, etc. as he...
I love this recipe and it’s really easy to make, especiallyif you need something quick and easy for holidaycelebrations. They are VERY rich. MELT:1 cup semi-sweet choc. chips2 oz (2 squares) unsweetened choc, chopped2 Tbsp. butter ADD and MIX:2/3 cup sugar2 eggs1/4 cup all-purpose flour1 tsp. vanilla1/4 tsp. b. powder1 cup chopped pecans or other nut BAKE:8-10 minsat 170/350 in the oven By the way, you can store this dough...
Just to let you know we posted more of our SouthAustralia trip pictures, but you’ll have to scroll downbelow the Coober Pedy pictures.
Here’s a little activity I put together for theseason. I got some cheap little ornamentsto hang on this little Christmas tree. I madethe tree out of pipe cleaners and placed someself-hardening clay in a little plastic cup sothe tree would stand up. I wound up needinga bit more support for the tree, so used thebottom of a paper cup to make it a little morestable.
The girls have been enjoying these Christmas lacingcards from http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/christmas_lacing_cards.htm. I used some yarn with a short pipe-cleaner twistedtogether at the end instead of a needle.
LD has always loved jets (his grandpa was a propulsionengineer and worked on the development of the JointStrike Fighter). He and I worked on this paper plane,a model of the Nighthawk.
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / History: Geography Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 18, 2009
Here is a foam map of Australia that DD and LD enjoyputting together.
Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 18, 2009
The older kids are always given a small pitcher to pourtheir milk into their cereal. ED now has a very smallpitcher of milk to pour into her bowl. (She’s been doing thisfor a couple of months now, probably starting around 20months old, I think.) If she dribbles any milk she knowswhere the washclothes are and will go grab one out of thedrawer to wipe the table.
One question that I’ve been asked pretty regularly is “how do you homeschool with kids of such different ages?” My first response lately has often been, just imagine taking your three favorite students out of a class of 25. They have different needs and abilities, but so do the kids in a traditional classroom setting. I get to work every day with the kids that I most enjoy being with...
Homemade Graham Cracker Recipe
While we were away, I was doing some browsing online and found a recipe for graham crackers (which my kids love — I even have had people send us boxes from the States!) We gave the recipe a try and they turned out wonderfully. In fact, we made TWO batches in the past couple of days. I rolled ours out really thin, so they are very crunchy. LD said they...
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.
