Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Active Math Games / Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts / Math--Addition / Math: Preschool Math
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 8, 2010
These past six weeks or so, LD has been doing a lot of work in his math workbook (that’s not terribly exciting to blog about, is it?!!). That was easiest for me while we were on travel and as we settled in. We generally use Right Start Math, but it is quite Mom-intensive, so we had to put that on the back burner for a while. In fact, we only...
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Workboxes
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 17, 2010
We’ve pretty much resorted to ‘natural learning’ these past two months as we travel from state to state making our way to our new home. But in the meantime, I have been planning and preparing for the new school year to come. We use a smattering of curriculum resources which I distribute into workboxes and centers. While we do most workboxes, most days we don’t have a set orders to...
This year (2009-2010) our main units included natural disasters,China, biomes/animal habitats, ancient Greece (we did ancientEgypt just before this school year officially started and before Istarted this blog), flowers and apples (the last two were gearedmore towards my preschooler). We also enjoyed lots of scienceexperiments (almost weekly) and the younger kids really enjoyedthe theme time tables. We did a lot with geography throughout the year and reallyenjoyed doing country/continent swaps...
Science / Science Experiments / Science: Rocks and Minerals
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 22, 2010 · Last modified July 19, 2018
For sedimentary rocks, we talked about how the rocks were formed by layers building up one a-top the other. Then we made our own sedimentary layers. We had different colors of sand (I added food dye of various colors to the sand and mixed it together the night before). We also collected dried up leaves and small pebbles to add to the layers. You might also be interested in these...
Science / Science Experiments / Science: Rocks and Minerals
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 22, 2010 · Last modified December 28, 2014
In talking about igneous rocks, we looked at the cards from teacherdesk.info and talked about how some lava cools quickly (like obsideon) and some cools slowly (like granite). Melting wax from a candle was like lava cooling quickly and after the wax had cooled for a few moments we felt how smooth it was and compared that to the obsideon rocks we have from the rock kit. You might also...
Science / Science Experiments / Science: Rocks and Minerals
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 22, 2010 · Last modified May 1, 2016
We talked about what a geologist does and brought out this “land recreation.” LD and DD took turns taking “core samples” from the earth with the straw. They could tell that it was made of different layers. Metamorphic rocks are made when pressure and heat change the rocks. The oven was our ‘heat and pressure source’ for creating these “metamorphic rocks. Then we took rock samples (below) and looked not...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Theme Time (age 2-4)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 4, 2010 · Last modified February 21, 2016
The theme time table is working really well and only takes 10-15 minutes to cleanup and change over. It’s been great to bring in such a variety of books into our day again. And as I said in an earlier post, having things out on display work really well to ‘lure’ the girls (ages 2 and 4) in when they are interested. Obviously the theme of this table is ocean...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Language Arts: Reading
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 21, 2010 · Last modified December 31, 2014
This week I have some new games ready for DD. DD is reading simple words, but doesn’t quite have the patience to read Bob Books (or the equivalent); yet, she is beyond simple letter-sound activities. I’ve been trying to find simple word games to play with her. I found some lovely cards at Kelly’s Kindergarten that appeal to DD. I printed out the “Cinderella’s Ball” cards and “Sight Word Memory”...
Arts and Crafts / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 9, 2010 · Last modified December 5, 2021
Today in our study of the forest animal habitat we read The Mitten. (affiliate link) We read Jan Brett’s book first. Using the beautiful mitten masks by Jan Brett the kids reenacted the story by putting the animal into the mitten (the kids are holding up the masks in the picture above). The mitten is just a file folder, drawn in the shape of a mitten. Jan Brett’s printables for...
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 9, 2010 · Last modified December 23, 2016
I made this bear lapbook with/for DD a while back. Since we’re talking about forest animals, it was time to bring it out in the workboxes again. The girls have both had fun with it (even LD has had a couple of goes). It contains a number of different little activities. As you can see from the lapbook cover, DD made her own little pom-pom bear. Then we used the...
Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 25, 2009
During this break I’ve been looking into handwriting skills. I have a few minutes and thought I’d quickly share what I’ve come across lately. I found an extremely useful 32-page article about handwriting. It’s a handwriting resource for (pre-K and kindergarten) teachers in a Maryland school district. You can find it here: http://www.fcpsteach.org/docs/Handwriting.pdf It has some suggestions for building handwriting skills from a young age (preschool) such as activities that...
Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 11, 2009
We had a wonderful weekend camping and I’ll share more about that soon. Today is DD’s birthday, though, so I won’t spend much time on the computer today. Last night I needed a few more ideas for ED and checked out a website I really enjoy. It’s truly a wonderful resource if you have a toddler or young preschooler. This Mom shares a wonderful assortment of activities for her son...
Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 26, 2009
We just returned from a wonderful holiday in Sydney and Canberra. We did a lot of really fantastic things and caught up with some friends. I feel rejuvenated and excited for the next term. I’m brimming with ideas!! It has been more than a year since we’ve been away as a family (we live in a very isolated town; 1200km to the nearest city!) I’ll be posting a few pictures...
Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 18, 2009
I found a really good resource for upper elementary aged students. It’s a list of homework ideas for students at a Montessori school. The list has suggestions in a whole range of categories from creative arts and language to science, math and sports. It’s about five pages long. It includes ideas such as knit, embroider, tie knots, learn to weave, learn how to use tools from an adult, start a...
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.
