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 May 17, 2016 · Last modified February 9, 2020
In today’s post, I thought I would re-cap our school year for German. These are some of the conversation units we did, books we used, and children’s books we listened to. Since the kids are no longer beginners, I’m calling them “Level 2,” though more realistically I would call them “advanced beginners.” I thought I would share some of the resources that worked well for us this year. We use...
Homeschool Den / Science: Natural Disasters Unit and Activities / Science: Weather Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 16, 2016 · Last modified January 24, 2021
Our Natural Disasters Packet has notebook pages and worksheets as well as some hands-on activity ideas covering the following events: Flooding Mudslides Tsunami Tornado Hurricane, cyclone, typhoon Blizzard Heat Wave Drought Wildfire Sinkholes In this packet you’ll find one page on each of these events. Often, natural disasters occur because of geologic changes or extreme weather conditions. Students explore the cause of each of these events. They also find out what ...
Free Calendar Planning Pages / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Language Arts: Writing
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 15, 2016 · Last modified May 16, 2016
Hi Everyone, This is going to be a bit of a random post so bear with me! I’m going to talk about 3 separate things in this post. 1) Our free calendar printable and homeschool planning pages 2) A free end of year questionnaire for students and parents and 3) a random chat about our Homeschool Writing Workshop. Free Calendar, Homeschool Planning Pages and Homeschool Supply List: First, as many...
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 May 16, 2016
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 Indians 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 Battle of Little Bighorn — ie....
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 3, 2016
Someone once asked me, “How do you plan for your school year?” Here are 10 steps you can take to figure out what next year’s homeschool will look like for your family. These are some of the questions I ask myself as I try to determine what we’ll cover and what skills the kids need to develop. Remember, your path as a homeschooling family will be completely different from anyone...
Freebies / Science: Water Unit / Science: Weather Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 1, 2016 · Last modified September 3, 2020
Today I have some free cloud worksheets for you. Why? I’m in the process of making a Road Trip Travel Log for the kids for a cross-country trip this summer. This is just one of the sections, but it made sense to share this as a separate pdf file as well so that those of you working on a weather unit can find these pages more easily if they are...
Critical Thinking Activities / Games for Thinking and Learning / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 28, 2016
With our yearly testing behind us, we are going to spend some time on another side of math — analogies, logical reasoning, and math puzzles. These help kids develop logical thinking, analytical abilities, and mathematical reasoning. I thought I’d share some of the resources we use in our homeschool. My kids were SO, SO excited to get back to these activities!! With life as busy as it has been, I can’t...
Homeschool Den / Science: Ocean Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 26, 2016 · Last modified March 23, 2023
I created this Ocean Unit because I could not find any curriculum that tackled all the topics I wanted to cover. In our ocean studies we explored Marine Habitats Coral Reefs Tide Pools Water Form Words (bay, estuary, lagoon, fjord, etc.) Features of the Ocean Floor (trench, seamount, guyot, etc.) Ocean Navigation (early navigation with astrolabes & the constellations, modern SONAR) Salinity Tides Ocean Currents (Surface & Deep Sea Currents)...
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 26, 2016
This week our family is doing Standardized Testing to fulfill the requirements of our state (to show “proof of progress.”) For our family, doing testing is easier than creating a portfolio of work or meeting with a certified teacher. I know that I would spend endless hours pulling together a portfolio… and meeting with a teacher to discuss the kids’ work doesn’t appeal to me again because I know I...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 21, 2016
One topic that I don’t hear discussed much in my homeschool circles (or online) is taking time for review. My guess is that it’s not quite as exciting to talk about going backwards (so to speak) as finding new topics and new curriculum. But I find it important to review some of the topics and units we’ve covered in the past. We do that on a daily/weekly basis (with cards...
Earth Day is April 22nd! The celebration of Earth Day began over 40 years ago. It is a day to celebrate our planet and think about how we can help our environment. Did you know that the Environmental Protection Agency was established not long after that first Earth Day in 1970? The Clean Air Act also passed that same year. Now Earth Day is celebrated in more than 175 countries...
Ages 2-6: Clocks - Telling Time / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Kindergarten Math / Math--Multiplication
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 18, 2016 · Last modified December 7, 2020
My kids learned to skip count by 5s roughly at the same time they started working on clocks and telling time in 5 minute intervals. Today I have a free printable that combines both of these. There are two pages that have the kids practice skip-counting by fives and fill out a skip counting maze counting from 5 to 55. Kids count by 5s along the sides and try to...
Homeschool Den / Science: Ocean Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 14, 2016 · Last modified September 15, 2020
In this part of our unit we talked about the ocean zones and spent quite a bit of time talking about the creatures that live in these different zones. Some organisms spend the day in the darker zones and then travel up into the upper zone at night to feed. We also talked about bioluminescence in quite a bit of detail. We found it fascinating that because there are so...
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.
