Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Active Math Games / Kindergarten Math / Math - Percents Fractions and Decimals / Math General Posts / Math--Addition / Math--Multiplication
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 27, 2014 · Last modified March 13, 2020
With the weather so beautiful, we’ve taken math outside. Don’t you love when the kids BEG and BEG for more math practice?!! So here are some of the games we’ve been playing outside… Math Sponge Toss: If it’s getting warm where you live, the kids might enjoy this activity. We hung math problems up on the garage door with painters tape. The kids took turns trying to SPLAT their card. If...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Nature / Outdoor Fun / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 25, 2014 · Last modified December 2, 2020
Are you looking for free Nature Scavenger Hunt printables? We have several fun options! Every spring, as the weather gets nicer and nicer we spend more and more time outdoors. We’ve been doing this scavenger hunt for years. I know we’re not alone because this printable has gotten well over 50,000 downloads since I first made it years ago!! We found a lot of cool critters that very first year we did...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Language Arts: Books: Children's Literature / Language Arts: Reading / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 18, 2014 · Last modified March 1, 2016
A couple of weeks ago, I shared a really cute idea for encouraging independent reading. I thought I would also share some books my girls have LOVED between the ages of 4-7 or so: The Wish Cat, Pinkerton, Behave!, The Clown of God, Stellaluna, Caps for Sale Tikki Tikki Tembo (affiliate links) And some more books: The Gardener, I Have a Sister–My Sister Is Deaf, Big Bad...
There are lots of free Springtime and Easter Units out on the web with activities for tots, PreK, K and beyond. I thought I would highlight a few freebies I have come across: 3 Dinosaurs has a Free Easter Pack Easter Pre-K Pack from Over the Moon There are tons of great printables for ages 2-6 over at a Gift of Curiosity: Easter Printable Pack Our Little Monkeys has an free Easter...
Kindergarten / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 4, 2014
We should really call this post “Going Crazy with a Stapler!” So, the picture below is the skip-counting chain ED did (free to download at the Coins, Coins, Coins post), but shows you what we did with the strips in this post! Going along with the “chain” theme that I talked about on Tuesday with the coins and skip counting, I made ED sheets she had to cut out, mix...
Ages 2-6: Pete the Cat Unit / Freebies / Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts / Math--Addition
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 24, 2014 · Last modified May 11, 2023
If you are doing a Pete the Cat Unit, your kids might enjoy these FREE Addition Subtraction Worksheets inspired by Pete the Cat! My daughter borrowed several Pete the Cat books (affiliate link) from the library last week. She’s been reading them over and over, so I made her a couple of math practice pages with a Pete the Cat type theme! She quickly used up those pages and I...
Active Math Games / Math General Posts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 24, 2014 · Last modified March 21, 2018
Now that we’re back in the swing of things, I thought I would post all these ideas again. I shared them originally in my series about “How to Start Homeschooling,” but all of these are fun for seasoned homeschoolers too!! Math can be so fun! What can you do to make math come alive? Go into detail about measuring cups when you bake and cook. Incorporate math in the grocery...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 14, 2014 · Last modified February 29, 2016
This activity was a huge hit with ED last year. I chose some words from ED’s phonics readers and wrote them out on some shamrocks and taped them on popcycle sticks. I covered an empty cereal box with construction paper and wrote the words out on the box as well and used a knife to create a slit for the popcycle sticks. I sat with ED each time she did...
Holiday: St. Patrick's Day / Kindergarten / Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 13, 2014 · Last modified February 17, 2016
ED is working on number words this week. These are some St. Patrick’s Day sheets I made for her. I thought I would share them with you. Just click on the link below: St Patricks Day Numeral and Number Words Activities There are four pages. The first sheet is a numeral-word matching page. The second is skip-counting page. The other two sheets are board games. ED rolled a number and...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Holiday: St. Patrick's Day
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 11, 2014 · Last modified March 1, 2016
There are such wonderful resources out there for those of you planning to do some St. Patrick’s Day activities with your kids. Here are some of the free St. Patrick’s Day units and printables I’ve come across: 2 Teaching Mommies: St. Patrick’s Day Preschool Pack; St. Patrick’s Day Kindergarten Extension Pack St. Patrick’s Day Play dough Activities at Living Montessori Now: Irish-themed letters (lower and upper case), numbers (0-20) and phonics cards...
Freebies / Holiday: St. Patrick's Day / Math--Division
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 9, 2014 · Last modified March 1, 2017
I made this division board game for my older two to review their math facts. They saw the addition games I made for ED and wanted one of their own! I thought I would share that here for anyone else might be interested in playing this with their kids! St. Patrick’s Day is Monday, March 17 this year. Download the free St. Patrick’s Day Division Board Game: Other Free St....
Freebies / Holiday: St. Patrick's Day / Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts / Math--Addition
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 7, 2014 · Last modified March 1, 2017
St. Patrick’s Day is coming up Monday, March 17th. I’ve made a number of math activities to get into the spirit! Today I’m sharing some game boards that I made for my daughter to practice some of her addition facts. There are three different game boards. One to practice making 9 (4+5, 6+3), one for making 14 (10+4, 7+&) and one for making 15 (7+8, etc.). There’s also a blank...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 22, 2014 · Last modified February 22, 2015
This is a list of some of the most useful homeschool and teaching resources from around the web. I have added in some free resources I found that integrate computer science concepts into science units, plus Engineering units for kids, and units from the CDC (Center for Disease Control). If you have any great resources and websites I should add to this list, leave a comment or leave me a note...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 20, 2014 · Last modified January 28, 2018
One thing about homeschoolers is that each family has its own style. Some people have quite a structure/routine to their homeschool; some people unschool and support and follow the passions and interests of their kids. Our days are fairly loose, but we follow fairly traditional subjects. Homeschoolers often fall into different categories… Charlotte Mason, Montessori, Classical, or use online-curriculums. I would say we are eclectic, hands-on homeschoolers — meaning we...
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.
