Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 27, 2017 · Last modified September 28, 2017
What strategies work for you when your kids are extremely upset, angry, or frustrated with something (or someone)? This was the discussion question I posted last spring as a discussion topic over in our Homeschool Den Chat FB group. As homeschoolers, we are with our kids much more than the average family. I know that my kids can become grumpy, frustrated, angry, resentful… and wrestle with a wide array of emotions…...
Science / Science Experiments / Science: Earth Science Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 24, 2017 · Last modified February 15, 2018
If you’ve been following our blog for a while, you know that we really love science! This year we’re doing something a little different. We opened our home for a weekly science club for some other homeschoolers in our area. We have 10 kids, the same ages as my kids (who are 9, 11, 14) — and we’ve been having a blast so far! Before I share some of the...
History: American West Unit / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 19, 2017 · Last modified January 5, 2020
Oregon Trail Packet 20+ pages! For the past few weeks, the girls have been doing a unit on the Oregon Trail. They’ve learned why people moved West, when and where pioneers started, how long the journey West took, what was needed to travel along the Oregon Trail, dangers the pioneers encountered and other basic information about traveling on the Oregon Trail. They spent about 10 days learning about the Donner...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 17, 2017 · Last modified January 17, 2019
Do your kids need practice counting coins? Enjoy these free coin-counting printables! Be sure to grab both money counting activity packets below. 🙂 First is a coin-counting paper chain activity! Kids will practice skip counting (by 5s, 10s or 25s) or will practice counting change. Cut out all the strips and mix them up. Your kids will need a stapler. There are skip counting with nickels, dimes or quarters. Have them...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 11, 2017
We’ve been in school for a couple of weeks now and creating good routines has been on my mind a lot. I think we all want to harness the energy and excitement we feel these first few weeks of school and keep that going all throughout the year, right?! Coming up with a homeschool routine that works well for your family can be really challenging. Some homeschoolers have a fairly...
Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Reading
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 5, 2017 · Last modified September 24, 2017
Today, I wanted to mention a free resource that might be of interest. The Glencoe Literature Library page has free study guides for a huge selection of well-known novels such as Across Five Aprils The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Animal Farm The Canterbury Tales Frankenstein Jane Eyre Shiloh Where the Red Fern Grows and many more! Visit the Glencoe Literature Library page for more! The Study Guides include sections on Meet...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 3, 2017 · Last modified September 8, 2017
As we start back into school, I made a new set of division and equivalent fraction worksheets for my girls. This packet is 15 pages (the kids do one page as review each day along with their math book and other activities). It is currently FREE to download! It includes equivalent fractions because I have the kids think about those as multiplication problems (factoring out the answers). Below is an...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 2, 2017 · Last modified June 19, 2020
My kids have always loved playing games to practice their math and learn their math facts. They would beg to play “just one more round” when it was a math board game! Today I have a really cute set of math printables for practicing those tricky addition facts! The 50-page Dragon Math Packet is for ages 4-6. This set has 13 different math board games. These include doubling games and...
This week we are starting back into homeschooling. We’ll be starting slowly with a number of projects and activiteis. I thought I’d share some of things our family is starting out with. 🙂 My kids have loved the math puzzles and challenges. Our favorite book has been Mathematical Circle Diaries, Year 1: Complete Curriculum for Grades 5 to 7 (affiliate link). These were a bit hard for my youngest daughter...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 23, 2017 · Last modified March 3, 2021
This is just a real quick post to let you all know that I have updated and added to the Earth Science Packet. It’s now well over 150 pages! The link to purchase this Earth Science Unit is down below or in Our Store. Don’t forget to check out the Earth Science BUNDLE options as well! My girls will be doing a bit on Earth Science again this year. I...
Nature / Outdoor Fun / Science / Science: Astronomy Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 21, 2017 · Last modified August 22, 2017
Like so many in the U.S. we got caught up in the eclipse excitement today! We spent the day looking up from sunrise to sunset and everything in between! You’re going to laugh when you see the camera filter I used for this series of photos! Hey, but it worked!! Our family headed to Tennessee to enjoy the eclipse with my sister and her family. A trip all the more amazing...
Free Calendar Planning Pages / Freebies / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 18, 2017 · Last modified August 19, 2017
Hi everyone! As the school year begins again for many of us, we’re all trying to keep ourselves organized. I use google (online) calendar for many of our activities, but I still keep a traditional paper calendar as well in my homeschool planner. I wanted to share the updated printable calendar with you all. This is FREE to download and print out, just click to link or picture below! This...
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 7, 2017 · Last modified August 4, 2018
The Back to Homeschool Challenge: Daily missions to make sure we’re on track for an awesome year! Can you believe that the summer is winding down?! I hope you’ve had a restful, adventurous summer (for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere!). Are you getting ready for the new Homeschool Year? The Back to Homeschool Challenge gives us 10 days of small daily tasks to make sure we’re ready for...
Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 3, 2017 · Last modified July 3, 2021
I am excited to share our new Homeschool Planner and Discovery Journal! This unique homeschool planning packet is currently FREE to download! It is nearly 100 pages! Not only does this packet include daily and weekly planning pages, checklists and record keeping pages, but it also includes various homeschool journaling pages… think gratitude journal meets homeschool goal setting! What is unique about this planner? We all want to be the...
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.
