Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Earth Science Unit / Science: Rocks and Minerals
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 25, 2013 · Last modified July 19, 2018
We read the second chapter in the geology book we have from Real Science 4 Kids. It talked about the different tools that geologists use — including topographic maps. I wasn’t sure the kids thoroughly understood how the maps worked and looked around for some resources to help them understand. I found a couple of wonderful activities! We actually started with this topographic map page from the USGS: I thought...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 19, 2021 · Last modified June 28, 2022
What kind of Homeschool Science Supplies should you have on hand? I would suggest that you acquire things slowly as you dive into various science units. A couple of things that we have used frequently (multiple times a year) are a dissection microscope and a molecular molecule kit. More about those below! We love doing hands-on activities and experiments with our science units. Although I have tried to include that...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Science: Earth Science Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 3, 2020 · Last modified February 22, 2022
These free notebook pages review Earth’s 4 major systems (or spheres) and familiarize students with the scientists who study them. What are the major Earth Systems? the Atmosphere, Geosphere, Biosphere, Hydrosphere (and Cryosphere) You’ll find the download link for these free pages below!The Earth works as a set of interconnected systems; these four major Earth Systems are often referred to as spheres and include the atmosphere geosphere hydrosphere cryosphere biosphere...
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...
Homeschool Den / 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 / Kindergarten / Must Read / Science Experiments / Science Units / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 23, 2020
Here are 12 Hands-On Science Activities that you can do with minimal preparation! It can be daunting to know just where to start with science, but in our household it has been one of the kids’ favorite subjects. Why? Because of hands-on activities! With so many parents now wondering what to do and how to get their kids intrigued and excited, turning to hands-on activities can be just the secret...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 13, 2019 · Last modified February 6, 2022
This time of year, you might be interested in our 100+ page Winter Packet. It includes worksheets, hands-on activity ideas, lapbook/interactive notebook pieces and more!! This Winter Polar Packet covers Earth’s Axis/Seasons, The Arctic vs. Antarctica, Polar Animals Seals, Sea Lions, Walruses Penguins Plus, it includes a 25-page unit on Hibernation Why animals hibernate, Terms such as torpor, brumation, estivation, diapause, endotherms vs. ectotherms. Plus, it covers where animals spend...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Montessori (general info) / Science Experiments / Science Units
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 31, 2019 · Last modified May 4, 2023
I had a reader ask what topics that a Kindergartner/1st Grader (ie. 5-7 year old) might learn for science. I’ve gotten this same question several times in the past month or so, so I thought I might share with you some of the topics we explored when the kids were in early elementary. As you’ll see below, there are SO many things you could do with your kids. Just ask...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 21, 2018 · Last modified September 6, 2018
This is just a real quick post to let you know that I added in a couple of activities earlier today to the 150+ page Earth Science Packet. I made a new interactive notebook activity for learning about the four different layers of the Earth — the crust, mantle, outer core and inner core. You can print out a version with words or a blank version. Students can write in...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 10, 2018 · Last modified July 25, 2021
This is always one of my favorite posts to write. It’s my chance to reflect back on the year and all the things we managed to accomplish! Sometimes in the short-run it can feel like we’re not getting much homeschooling done. You know how our homeschooling can go… we’re interrupted for activities, illness, errands, appointments, or the occasional blahs. But then when we step back to look at the bigger...
Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Science: Chemistry Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 13, 2018 · Last modified March 18, 2019
In this post, I wanted to highlight some of the amazing science experiments that we did when my kids were younger and share several free resources we have here on the blog. These are some of the activities that really impressed my kids when they were younger!! I usually tried to weave the science experiments into topics we were learning… in this case some basics about chemistry. When the kids...
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: 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...
Engineering Challenges / Homeschool Den / Science / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 13, 2017
In the third week of our science club, we spent quite a bit of time talking about Taxonomy and Scientific Classification. We had touched on it the previous week, but this time we went into much more detail. We had already talked about Linnaeus and his role in developing the classification system. We also talked about how much it has changed – especially in just the last 15 or 20...
Homeschool Den / Science / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 1, 2017 · Last modified November 13, 2020
Last week, I shared that we are doing a weekly science club with some local homeschoolers. Today I’m going to tell you about our second week. We did activities on Earth Science (this week was plate tectonics) and also biology — scientific classification & taxonomy. We are doing work with various organisms this semester. In the second week we observed our mealworms and were introduced to a type of flatworm...
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.
