Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Let me start off by saying that everything is just fine, though I am still quite tearful simply because I was so scared. The unexpected happens… it comes out of the blue and you’re never quite prepared. In our case, we had just hopped into the car for afternoon activities. I was rumbling up our very steep driveway. But suddenly I could tell somethings was wrong with ED… she was...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 11, 2015 · Last modified May 10, 2015
Last week all we did for history was continue reading The Adventures of Robin Hood. (affiliate link). The kids are really loving the book (and so am I!). Each chapter is a complete adventure unto itself. This week we’ll be going into a lot of detail about feudalism (and I created a simulation that I think the kids will really love!), but before we do that, I really wanted to review all...
die Familie The kids have been having a lot of fun building their German vocabulary for family terms such as father, mother, son, daughter, grandma, boy, girl, etc. etc. The kids learned (reviewed) some of the terms such as die Familie (the family) das Mädchen (the girl) der Junge (the boy) die Tante (the aunt) der Onkel (the uncle) die Tochter (the daughter) der Sohn (the son) die Schwester (the sister), etc. etc....
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 8, 2015 · Last modified May 10, 2016
For all the Moms out there, I hope you are pampered and swamped with love today! We have so much to be proud of as Mothers. We are one hard working lot! We juggle meals, laundry, clean up, jobs, schooling (whether we homeschool or juggle the paper work and demands that come home from public schools). We tend to sniffles, stomach viruses, achy legs, boo-boos, broken bones mostly our children’s but sometimes our...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 6, 2015
Hooray! We’re done with standardized testing!! The kids are really happy! In those hours and hours of sitting by witnessing the kids toil, I have a come up with a bunch of hands-on activities and blog post ideas! Hope to get those written up soon. But in the meantime, I just came on to celebrate! Jumped through that hoop… Now back to our fun stuff… like our Middle Ages Unit, Human...
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Kindergarten
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 5, 2015 · Last modified May 4, 2015
Yesterday, I mentioned the butterfly and insect lapbook that DD made when she was in PreK. It had a lot of shares over on Facebook. Two things came to mind. First, that I should make sure I also mention this cute butterfly lapbook here on the blog for those of you who don’t use Facebook or missed that post. And the other thought I had was that I had purchased some really...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 4, 2015 · Last modified September 17, 2017
As many of you know, my kids love the game, Minecraft. I’ve made a number of math worksheets for them this year with various Minecraft images I’ve drawn. This is a latest Minecraft-themed freebie… a set of skip counting mazes I made for the ED. She is just beginning to work on multiplication and still practices skip counting. In this packet there are 9 mazes for practicing skip counting by...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 1, 2015
I am drawn to books and stories about amazing teachers and inspiring mentors who help their students achieve greatness. What are great teachers teaching students along the way? To love learning. To learn and think for themselves. And to work hard on the fundamentals. The common thread among many of the inspiring books I’ve read is that great teachers set high standards for all of their students. They believe in...
Homeschool Den / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 29, 2015 · Last modified February 24, 2016
We are reviewing some of the basic grammar rules (again) and I wanted to share this sheet I made for the kids about semicolons. These sheets covered these 4 rules: Use a semicolon to join two or more closely related independent clauses that are not connected with a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so). Use a semicolon to join two closely related independent clauses that have a...
Yesterday we ordered the standardized tests we’ll take to fulfill the homeschool requirements of our state. We used Brewer Testing Service because of the ease of ordering. Their customer service has been excellent. (I’ll tell you more about that below.) This year, all three of my kids will be testing. They will be taking different tests: First Grade: I am having ED take the Terra Nova Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills....
Homeschool Den / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets / Language Arts: Spelling
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 27, 2015 · Last modified September 22, 2023
Here are some fun activities to work on the long A sound. I made these sorting cards activities, game board, and bingo cards to help ED with words spelled in these combinations: a, ai, ay a_e, ei, eigh and ey. She has had a lot of fun with this packet and begs me to play “just one more time”! That’s a win for me! She hasn’t yet worked on all...
History: Middle Ages / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 24, 2015 · Last modified March 23, 2022
Middle Ages Projects and Books for Kids! As with a lot of our homeschool curriculum, we’re patching together our Middle Ages Unit. I thought I’d share some of the books, projects, and resources we’ve been using recently as we continue through our studies of the Middle Ages. Yesterday, we got to such an exciting part of our current Middle Ages novel, that we couldn’t stop! We read aloud for nearly...
Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets / Language Arts: Spelling
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 23, 2015 · Last modified October 12, 2018
I’d like to share some free Contraction Worksheets and Printables with you today! ED is working on contractions such as I’m, she’s, we’re, can’t, doesn’t, won’t, wouldn’t, etc. She definitely needs more practice with these so I made some cupcake themed activities for her to practice and polish up on this grammar skill! To use the cupcakes, you should print pages 2 and 3 out on cardstock and cut the cupcake...
We have managed to fit in two more learning days on the go! We visited Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello, in Virginia. We did the slavery tour and the tour of his home. We had an amazing time… Not only because of the incredible weather, but also because of how much we learned. The Monticello plantation was about 5,000 acres. At any one time, Thomas Jefferson owned around 130 slaves. One thing...
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.
