Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 10, 2016 · Last modified July 10, 2017
Welcome to Day 3 of the Back to Homeschool Challenge!! Today, let’s tackle the Subject Planning… I don’t know about you, but I really mull things over in the summer. I generally have tentative plans at the end of the year for the new school year, but given some time, I often change course slightly. Do you need to add in a different topic? Last year in history, for example,...
Homeschool Den / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 13, 2016 · Last modified May 16, 2016
Here are some fun summer activities you might enjoy doing with your kids this summer! A Huge List of Summer Activity Ideas! Nature Scavenger Hunt: Send your kids outside to complete this scavenger hunt! This printable is free! 🙂We also have a photo hunt: Have them take photos of the things on the list:Set up an Outdoor Treasure Hunt with QR Codes! Kids use the QR code reader to find...
Language Arts: Books: Children's Literature / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 8, 2016 · Last modified November 13, 2016
Today I’m going to share a list of chapter books for older kids. This is a great selection of books. We’ve now read every book on this list (and then some!!). Many of them we read aloud together. I loved Hatchet so much that I read this aloud with LD and then read it again to DD just this year. Sometimes its fun to share the excitement together. Our family...
Language Arts: Books: Children's Literature
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 1, 2016 · Last modified May 9, 2016
We absolutely love reading. This is a book I compiled one summer of the books our family loves! Just click on the picture or link below to print out the list. Books–25 Beloved Books Free Printable Lists 25 Beloved Books for 4-8 Year Olds (In no particular order) These are affiliate links. Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág Miss Nelson Is Missing!by Harry Allard Strega Nona: Book & CD by...
Freebies / History and World Cultures Units
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 23, 2016 · Last modified May 15, 2016
In today’s post, I thought I would re-cap our school year. Looking back, it’s been a really great year! The chart below shares links to some of the history units we covered in our homeschool. As you’ll see below, I made notebook pages and packets to go along with most of the units we covered. 🙂 This year the kids were in Grades 2, 5 and 7. We do our...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 14, 2016 · Last modified September 19, 2023
This is a free printable map of the European countries and their flags. We are talking about the countries of Europe at the moment and I thought the flags would be a fun way for the kids to review what they’ve learned so far. I’ve included a couple of different blank maps of Europe. You can print the maps in either portrait or landscape. Both are available in this PDF....
Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Science / Starting to Homeschool / Videos
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 29, 2016 · Last modified April 18, 2019
How do I start teaching science to my kids? This is a very different answer if your kids are K-2 than if they are a bit older. Here are some of the science topics you might want to consider if your kids are in early elementary. I put together a video of some of the activities we did when the kids were in early elementary. Some of these activities my...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 29, 2016 · Last modified March 1, 2024
Homeschool History Units I wanted to make a page that will make it easier to see what history resources we have available on our blog. These are some of the history units we have covered so far in our homeschool and the posts I’ve written related to each unit. As many of you know, we *love* hands-on activities and have done lots of creative activities along the way. 🙂 You...
Holiday: Valentine's Day / Homeschool Den / Science / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 28, 2016 · Last modified May 6, 2017
Chocolate Making Activity We did this Make Your Own Chocolate Kit (affiliate link) a number of years ago and we all loved it! After we went over the Rain Forest Plants, it was the perfect time and excuse to make our own chocolate again! The write-up they have in the kit is well done. We read that aloud together before actually making the chocolate. It explains the history of chocolate...
Homeschool Den / Language Arts - Grammar Spelling Reading Writing Categories / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets / Language Arts: Spelling / Language Arts: Writing
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 1, 2016 · Last modified September 13, 2016
Language arts is a subject that is always in progress, so it doesn’t make quite as snazzy of a year in review wrap-up, but I thought this might be a good opportunity to share some of our free grammar resources again in a nice, organized table form since those still are so popular. The chart also includes links to our popular Homeschool Writing Workshop series. I’ve also included links to...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 14, 2015 · Last modified September 15, 2020
The past 3 or 4 weeks, we have been working on our Middle Ages unit again. We had covered up through the 1200s or so last spring and we’ve been studying the 1300s — the Crusades, Black Plague and the Hundred Years War. We had a lot of fun watching Terry Jones’ Medieval Lives (affiliate link, but I suggest you look on youtube to see if it’s available). The 8...
Games for Thinking and Learning / Holiday: Christmas Activities / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 25, 2015 · Last modified October 31, 2017
We play a lot of games and with the holidays coming up, I thought I would highlight some of our favorites. DD absolutely *loves* board games so we have a huge selection of card games and board games in our cabinets! I’m going to start with a couple of games that we use regularly in our homeschool, then will highlight some of the games we love pulling out for family...
Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Homeschooling in the News / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 12, 2015 · Last modified September 11, 2015
Fall is an amazing time to take homeschool field trips. The weather is gorgeous and there are often special programs and discounts for homeschoolers! I’ve highlighted some Homeschool Days from along the east coast: Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio, New York… even the Kennedy Space Center has a special Homeschool Day event! I noticed that this next week in particular has a huge number of Homeschool Days. (If you...
History: American History / History: Civics, Government and Economics / History: Geography Activities / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / History: World Religions / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published July 27, 2015 · Last modified March 1, 2024
When we start off the new school year, I want the kids to go over some basic world facts again. Do they remember… What are the four largest countries? (Russia, Canada, the U.S.A., China) What countries have the most people? (China, India, the U.S.A.) What are the world’s largest cities? (Tokyo, Jakarta, Seoul) Which countries have the longest life expectancy? (Monaco, Macau, Japan) What are the major religions? The packet...
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.
