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 January 19, 2017 · Last modified March 8, 2024
Hi Everyone, This is just a real quick note to let you know that I have updated the Science Unit Homeschool Checklist post. These are the science units I hope to cover in elementary and middle school. I know I’ve had a lot of new visitors to the blog and wanted to point this resource out. Also, someone dropped me a note to ask if I’ve finished the Curriculum Resource...
History: American History / History: Slavery and the Civil War / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 27, 2016 · Last modified September 22, 2023
This fall we did a major unit on slavery and the Civil War. Our 100+ page packet includes notebook pages, maps, charts, review cards and some of the resources we used for this unit. It includes extensive teacher notes. Our unit actually consisted of three parts: Slavery, Territorial Growth, and the Civil War. This is the first time we’ve covered these topics in depth (up until now, I dragged my...
Freebies / History: Ancient Egypt
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 3, 2016 · Last modified September 21, 2023
If you are studying Ancient Egypt, you might be able to use these free Ancient Egypt worksheets. These cover Upper and Lower Egypt and their unification, the myth about Osiris, hieroglyphics, mummification, and the Egyptian pyramids. My youngest and I have been reading through the Story of the World, vol. 1 (affiliate link) about the ancient world. These pages follow along with chapters 2, 3 and 4. ED is LOVING...
Homeschool Den / Science: Chemistry Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 17, 2016 · Last modified July 19, 2023
This past week, we finished our second chemistry unit on the Properties of Matter. We explored physical properties (which do not change what the object is) and chemical properties. We did a lot of hands-on activities exploring density and determining the density of various materials. At the beginning of the year, we spent time first exploring the different states of matter. Then, in this unit we dove into more detail...
How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 1, 2016 · Last modified September 25, 2017
Reader Email (abridged): I have five kids from 8 years old down to a 1-year old. I would like homeschool, but I don’t know where to begin. Do you have any advice for me? This post is for a dear reader who has a very full house with five kids – from an 8-year-old she’s considering homeschooling, down to a 1-year-old! This amazing Mom deserves a medal!! She was wondering...
Homeschool Den / Science: Chemistry Unit / Science: States of Matter Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 27, 2016 · Last modified March 20, 2023
Our 50+ page packet on the three states of matter – solids, liquids, gases and changing states of matter includes worksheets, matching activities, vocabulary building pages and interactive notebook pages as well as hands-on activity ideas. We began the unit by talking about the characteristics of solids, liquids and gases. We also went into a lot of detail on the changing states of matter covering those six changes (melting, freezing,...
Active Math Games / Ages 2-6: Clocks - Telling Time / Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Kindergarten Math / Math--Addition / Math: Preschool Math / Montessori (general info)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 10, 2016 · Last modified March 16, 2019
One of our most visited posts through the years has been our place value activities. I thought I would put together a video to share how we covered place value in our homeschool (we did these activities regularly when the kids were roughly 4 to 6 years old. I also have a huge packet of materials (over 100 pages!) that include these hands-on math manipulatives as well as some other...
History: American History / History: American West Unit / History: Native American Indians Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 9, 2016 · Last modified June 4, 2023
The West – The Plains Wars The past month or so, we have been studying Native American History again. This part of our unit was on the history of the Plains Wars from 1864 through 1890. We talked about the Sand Creek Massacre where the Colorado Territory militia attacked a peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho Village (1864), Red Clouds War and the Fetterman Massacre Great Sioux War of 1876 including the...
Homeschool Den / Science: Ocean Unit / Science: Water Unit / Science: Weather Unit / Science: Whale Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 29, 2016
Last week we spent time learning about the water cycle, divides and watersheds and underground water. We have just started a big unit on they hydrosphere (ie. oceans), so it’s important the kids understand the water cycle because of the profound impact it has on our world’s oceans and vice-versa. We used many of the same materials we used a few years ago. You’ll find links to these beautiful posters...
History: Middle Ages / History: Rensaissance and Reformation / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 1, 2016 · Last modified December 29, 2018
Early Renaissance Art & the Medici Worksheets & Notebook Pages The past few weeks we started learning about the early Renaissance period. Last semester we studied the Middle Ages. We finished in the 1300s with the Black Plague and Hundred Years War. In January, we started Suzanne Strauss Art’s book, The Story of the Renaissance, (affiliate link) which we are using as our spine for the Renaissance and Reformation. It started...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 21, 2016 · Last modified January 20, 2016
It has been a while since I just wrote about one of our days. I thought I would write up a quick post about the flow of our day. In our homeschool, no day is exactly like another. 🙂 Today I had to drag myself out of bed. I was up until nearly 3am last night working on the computer (on some school stuff for the kids and some behind...
History: Civil Rights Movement / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 29, 2015 · Last modified January 14, 2019
Today I wanted to share some of the books, movies, and worksheets we used when we studied the Civil Rights Movement. Exactly sixty years ago, Dec. 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. This led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and other efforts to end segregation in the South. These are some of the resources we used when learning about Rosa Parks...
Language Arts: Books: Children's Literature / Language Arts: Reading
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 15, 2015 · Last modified April 13, 2016
My kids really love to read. My daughter in particular is a voracious reader. She reads any spare moment she has. My son likes to read too and always gets his breakfast and settles in for 45 minutes to an hour with a good book. I thought I’d share some of the books and series the kids have really loved this year. Actually this first recommendation came first from my son...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Science / Science Units / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 2, 2015 · Last modified March 15, 2024
Science in the Elementary and Middle School Years – Free Homeschool Checklist – K to 8 When I’m planning our units for the upcoming year, I think a lot about the science topics should we cover in our homeschool by the time they finish 8th grade. I have a general checklist of topics that I go consider… and try to fill in the gaps as we go (and as the kids’ interests...
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.
