Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
History: Native American Indians Unit / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 15, 2017 · Last modified September 19, 2023
This time of year, many people study Native Americans and/or the history of the colonies. We have a lot of free resources on the blog that I thought I would highlight again. I also thought I would include some of the books and resources we used along the way. We’ve covered the history and culture of different Native American tribes in different years, so you’ll find that the first resources...
Homeschool Den / Science / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 12, 2017
This week when the kids arrived, they jumped in with our taxonomy unit. First, I challenged the kids to see if they could remember the 10 animal phyla we’ve been talking about this fall. Most of them got at least 8 or 9 (of the 10 groups we’ve been talking about). As we waited for everyone to arrive, they took turns observing the “sea monkeys” that we had hatched a...
Homeschool Den / Science / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 8, 2017 · Last modified July 25, 2021
In Week 6 of our Science Club, we reviewed what we had learned about vibrations. Then we went on to talk about the different types of Body Waves (those waves within the Earth) and Surface Waves (those that move along the surface of the earth). We went over what they were and how they move. Then did some hands-on activities to help explain why some waves move faster than others....
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 6, 2017 · Last modified November 5, 2017
Today I have a set of samurai worksheets to share with you. They are currently FREE to download! For the past several weeks, we have really gone into a lot of depth about the age of Japanese feudalism and touched on topics including the samurai weapons, their code of conduct called bushido, and some of the most famous samurai and shoguns of this period. We started off by talking about...
Freebies / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 4, 2017
Back in the summer, I shared a large 100-page homeschool planner & discovery journal which is free to download. My daughter really likes having a checklist to work from and this weekend I added a holiday background to those pages. She’s excited about them. Just thought I would share them here for you as well. I also added in the calendar pages for the next 4 months (because I print...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 3, 2017 · Last modified May 16, 2023
This week, I spent some time updating our Simple Machines Packet. I wanted to let you know that I added several new pages. I created a couple of new pages with simple machines you might find at a construction site. There is a blank page for the kids to label and of course there are answer pages to accompany these. 🙂 Simple Machines Interactive Notebook Activity This Simple Machines Interactive...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 1, 2017 · Last modified August 29, 2018
Do you have what it takes to homeschool? Of course you do, but let me tell you a little story! There is a shadowy figure that lurks outside of our homeschools. At the beginning of the year, this figure is so distant, we don’t realize it’s there. But just about this time of year, it starts to make an appearance. Sometimes it just pokes its head around the corner. Sometimes...
Homeschool Den / Science / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 30, 2017 · Last modified July 25, 2021
This week, we talked about how tensions build deep beneath the Earth and then suddenly release creating earthquake vibrations that move out away from the focus. Below I’ll share several of the hands-on activities we did as we talked about this build-up of tension (and release of energy). In the second part of our science club meeting we continued talking about taxonomy and focused on the digestive systems of flatworms...
History: Rensaissance and Reformation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 29, 2017 · Last modified December 29, 2018
Many people around the world are celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. If you plan to talk about Martin Luther and the Reformation this week, you might want to download our Reformation notebook pages and lapbook. It was October 1517 that Martin Luther wrote his 95 Theses (or complaints) to his bishop. According to one account, Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Kindergarten / Montessori (general info)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 26, 2017 · Last modified January 30, 2018
Last night, a reader asked if we had any Montessori-Style subtraction pages without borrowing. I made a set last night and wanted to share that with all of you here on the blog. These are free to download. 🙂 Hope someone else finds these useful as well! FREE Montessori Style Subtraction Pages – No Borrowing Looking for more Montessori-style subtraction pages? Visit this post: Montessori Subtraction Pages (with borrowing) Recently...
I’ve been falling down on the job. Our meals and snacks have been downright boring… and often not as healthy as they could be. So, the past 10 days or so, I’ve been challenging myself to offer the kids a variety of (reasonably) healthy snacks. That’s what this post is all about! Our meals started out well at the beginning of the semester, but lately our meals – and especially...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 22, 2017 · Last modified October 15, 2022
Halloween is just around the corner! My kids have chosen their costumes and we’ve got our spooky decorations up! I wanted to share some free Halloween-themed math worksheets that might appeal to your kids this next week or! In this post you’ll find different levels of addition & subtraction worksheets as well as multiplication and division pages. In a couple of days, I’m also going to add in some fraction...
Homeschool Den / Science / Science: Earth Science Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 18, 2017
This was our fourth week of science club. Time’s flying by! As we waited for everyone to arrive, the kids filled in the tectonic plate map. We talked about the experiment we had done a couple weeks earlier that helped explain how the tectonic plates can move. This week, we were going to do a couple more activities to show how heat/cooling can create currents and movement. (These pages have...
Freebies / Holiday: Thanksgiving / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 15, 2017 · Last modified December 6, 2022
Today I thought I would share some of the free fall and Thanksgiving printables we have tucked away here on the blog. In this post you’ll find tons of resources for kids from ages 3 to 13! Over the years I’ve made various math worksheets, games and activities, language arts materials, a Spanish fall-themed freebie, and other things that might be useful. Click on the post links below if you...
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.
