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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...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 12, 2010
Someone asked me what our homeschool schedule looks like. At first I was happy to write about it. Then the more I thought about it, the more stressed I became. Practically EVERY day is different here at the homeschool den! We have a general routine, but I’m just as likely to scrap it and take the kids out for a hike, outbush, to a playground or to the desert park...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Montessori (general info) / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 3, 2010
I don’t think I ever talked about the kids’ sorting of the rainforest animals. We have two packs of 3-part cards — the Amazon and the African rainforest animals. Both sets of cards are from the Montessori Print Shop for less than $2US each. As always, we started with our continent song and the general pin map of the 7 continents (not shown in the photos here). Then we looked...
LD was REALLY into this activity. He worked on it frombefore 10am til after 2pm and only stopped for lunch whenit was plopped in front of him. You can see he came up withsome great ideas. And the best thing? He actually said,“I like writing.” His book was 17 pages long. (Lots of pagesare included here for Grandma and Grandpa, Grams andGramps to admire!!)
History: Geography Activities / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 18, 2010 · Last modified November 15, 2015
Today I gathered up the various foods and spices that go along with the rain forest plant cards. The kids were intrigued and excited (“we get to TRY everything, right?!!”) To introduce the rain forests, we first did our world pin map (bottom right) and sang our continent song. Then we pulled out the biome pin map, placed the deciduous and coniferous forests (that we studied last week) and then...
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...
It’s been in the back of my mind for ages, but we finallymade butter today. DD poured cream into a plasticcontainer. We added (clean) marbles. It took a lot ofshaking, but it turned out well. Yum! Also part of DD’s workbox was a cute game called“Cooking Cookies” where you have to turn over all theingredients for your cookie, just make sure you don’tget a rotten egg or you have to...
This activity would be easy to create by clippingfood items from an advertisement. I got mine on saleat some point. There’s also a free file folder game athttp://filefolderfun.com/FirstGradeHealth.htmlwhere kids can sort items into grains, fruit, vegies,milk and meat. Anyway, here is DD sorting foods into the variousfood groups. PS — When I was talking to my hubby about the“food pyramid” he said, “Oh no, that’s outdated.” HappilyI could say that...
History: Ancient Greece Unit / History: World Religions
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 24, 2010
We read a wonderful book about the Ancienct Greek gods and goddesses of Olympus by Aliki. The book had very visual pictures that went along well with the short myths about each god or goddess. It captured LD’s imagination and he really learned a lot from its simple retelling. We read through the entire book and LD has asked me to re-read sections again. We also read the myth of...
The kids did this quick camouflage activity (from Take itTo Your Seat Science Centers, Grade 1-2). We alsodid an online game trying to find the camouflaged animals.Find the frog, ibex, snakes, fox, insects, turtles and more.The kids played that for a little bit, but we also just enjoyedlooking at images on the computer such as this websiteabout animals that change colors:http://webecoist.com/2009/02/22/color-changing-strange-animals-species/
LD has been reading these fairy tales fromthe Beacon Second Reader aloud to me. Thisbook was published in 1914. LD and I both like the tales. You can downloadthem for free and print them out. I did this andexpect to get a lot of use out of them. (LD isalready half-way through the book.) Here are some sample pages (not everypage has an illustration) from the Shoemakerand the Elves and...
We had some really interesting movement when weadded a drop of blue and red food coloring and then leta couple drops of soap drip into the milk. The kids really, really enjoyed this experiment! I highlyrecommend this one. I’ve seen this experiment in a number of places, but there’sa good explanation of the science behind it all at:http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/pdf/lesson_1_amazing_science.pdfon pages 6-7.
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 5, 2010 · Last modified October 27, 2015
This week I’ve been putting a letter sorting activity in DD’s workbox. I chose a small toy/item, wrote that word on a piece of paper and had the first letter of that word (in lower and upper case letters) that she had to sort into rows. She’s also been finding the letters to make words and has been quite motivated to do that. Other related posts you might be interested...
We did some experiments with oil and water before, butthis had some pretty interesting results. You can findmore details at education.com which has a wonderfularray of science experiments for all ages.
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.
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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.
