Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 16, 2020 · Last modified August 10, 2023
Tips for How to Start Homeschooling! I field a LOT of email from readers looking for advice on how to start homeschooling. I wanted to give some tips and pointers from someone who has been homeschooling for a very long time! 🙂 We have been homeschooling right from the start and my kids decided to continue homeschooling right through high school! Are you starting to homeschool or need fresh inspiration?...
All About Homeschooling! / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 11, 2020 · Last modified January 1, 2024
Finding materials on the Homeschool Den! I wrote this post to help you find some of the pages, posts and homeschool resources within our blog that might be the most useful for you. Over the years, I have made homeschool packets on everything from history and science to spelling, math, spelling and foreign languages (German & Spanish). And, many of those are free! We have materials from preschool through high...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 6, 2020 · Last modified June 28, 2022
What supplies do you need to have on hand to homeschool? This post includes a free printable list of basic homeschooling supplies and science materials that you might want to have on hand. This list covers everything from office supplies & art materials to math manipulatives and science materials we have used in our homeschool through the years. Obviously, the first starting point is access to books and curriculum. No...
Free Homeschool Planner / Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 13, 2020 · Last modified September 23, 2022
Tips and Strategies for Doing School at Home Around the country and around the world, there are widespread school closures because of the coronavirus. Students and parents are facing a huge transition from a daily school routine to life at home. How can you help your students transition and even thrive given this huge change? Assuming (and that’s a big assumption here!) that you are able to take time off...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 3, 2019 · Last modified May 29, 2019
As homeschoolers we wrestle with a lot of questions, issues, and challenges: planning, preparing, organizing, scheduling, juggling, managing (moods/squabbles) AND getting things done. Plus, we have the added challenge of having our kids watching us and learning from us every moment of the day! “Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.” ~John Cotton Dana As we look at a new year (or even when we look at the...
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 31, 2019 · Last modified June 17, 2020
This past week I’ve had a couple of emails from readers who will be homeschooling Kindergarten or Grade 1 for the first time. It’s hard to know where to start, right?! There are lots of possibilities and picking a starting point can be overwhelming! I hope this post will give you some ideas and inspiration for a wonderful homeschool year ahead! For us, homeschooling was not a big change from...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 4, 2019
Life has been pretty busy since the homeschool conference, but I really wanted to leave a quick update about life in our homeschool. (If you have younger kids, scroll down to the bottom where I’ve linked to some similar posts from when the kids were in PreK, K, Grades 1, 2, 3 etc.!) History: This year for history, we have been focusing on the twentieth century. We have read a...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Homeschooling in the News / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 5, 2019
As people begin to look into homeschooling, they want to find out some basics: How many homeschoolers are there? What are the benefits and challenges of homeschooling? Will my child be able to get into college? How will my kids do if they haven’t been to a formal school? What about socialization? Will they have enough friends? Let’s dig in to some of these common homeschool questions! How many homeschoolers...
Free Homeschool Planner / Freebies
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 13, 2019 · Last modified September 23, 2022
This afternoon, I added in about 20 new pages to our free Homeschool Planner. I have been adding to this file for ages because I change up my own homeschool planner frequently! This Homeschool Planner pdf is now well over 125+ pages! Recently, I’ve been printing out two pages for each week. One is a grid with 9 areas where I can jot down some notes about each subject area…...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 15, 2018 · Last modified August 25, 2019
Why Hands-On Homeschooling is Amazing! Your Ultimate Hands-On Homeschooling Guide Make Learning Exciting, Engaging and Memorable! We have always been a fan of hands-on, engaging activities! Homeschooling gives us an excuse to dive deep, have fun, and to make learning meaningful and memorable! Here are six good reasons to add hands-on activities into your homeschool week: The kids get excited and are truly engaged. They ask a lot of good...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 7, 2018 · Last modified August 6, 2018
Hey everyone!! Just warning you right up front, this post has become part confessional, part apology, part explanation of our website!! I have been humbled by how many new readers we have these days. For just one Mom sharing the work she’s making for her kids and the hands-on activities we’ve done along the way, it’s really been an inspiring journey. I just love what I do… and have been...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 1, 2018 · Last modified July 18, 2020
This post is both for first-time homeschoolers who are wondering where to start and for veterans who are looking for some inspiring teaching strategies to get the kids completely engaged day-to-day! Since I’ve gotten a number emails/messages asking where to begin I thought I would write a post to say You CAN Do This!! This post may also have some useful resources/activity ideas for those of you who have been...
Free Homeschool Planner / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 14, 2018 · Last modified July 28, 2022
This is a checklist of things you can do now, to get ready for the new school year! Is part of your end-of-summer vision to feel prepared for back-to-school? This checklist will help you slowly and steadily get ready for the new school year! It is mid-summer, but lingering in the back of our minds is that school will be here before we know it. We want to take advantage...
Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 2, 2018 · Last modified April 30, 2018
Have you ever been rendered immobile by the thought of everything that needs to be done? Overwhelmed with a list of things that you need to do for the day, let alone thinking about the week or month ahead? I think we all are from time to time… the trick is to keep chipping away at things little by little, one step at a time! Have you ever stayed with...
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.
