Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
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...
We’ve been slowly trying to see many of the famous historical parks here in the U.S. This by no means a comprehensive list, but since not everyone is from the east coast, I thought I’d put together a list of some other well-known historic places we’ve visited and blogged about. These are mostly located in the mid-Atlantic states-NC, VA, PA, NY. We’ve been meaning to get up to New England...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc) / Language Arts - Grammar Spelling Reading Writing Categories / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets / Language Arts: Spelling / Language Arts: Writing
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 3, 2015 · Last modified May 6, 2017
So, what does our family do for our homeschool language arts curriculum? I’ll share what we’ve been using for 1st through 6th grades. Over the past week, I’ve gotten three separate emails and FB messages asking about what we use for language arts — spelling, grammar and literature. It must be that time of year again when we start thinking about our plans for next year. 😉 I’ll start with...
History: Middle Ages / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 6, 2015 · Last modified March 5, 2015
The last week or so we have learned a lot about King Arthur and Charlemagne. Last week, I shared our monasteries worksheets. This week we finished reading a fabulous book about King Arthur. I’ve read a lot of King Arthur stories/books over the years, but this one was absolutely perfect for our homeschool… with rich exciting tales that the kids and I all loved! I mentioned it last week, but it’s...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 22, 2015 · Last modified June 30, 2022
Homeschooling in Elementary, Middle School and High School One of the questions I am asked the most is “Where do I start?” “Do you have any tips for me, my child is in x-Grade?” These free guides (Creating a Homeschool Curriculum) might provide a starting point for those of you just starting your homeschool journey and may give you an idea or two if you’ve been at this homeschool thing...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 26, 2015 · Last modified March 30, 2024
We are so glad you are here at the Homeschool Den! We have been homeschooling for years now, so we have a lot of resources tucked away here at our blog. In fact, let me send you to one of our latest freebies – the FREE Winter-Spring 2024 Homeschool Planner and you’ll find our Free 2024-2025 School Year Calendar Printable here. Would you like to check out some of our...
While Hollywood movies aren’t necessarily “historically accurate,” they do make an impact that sparks people’s interest and encourages people to delve into a subject area in more detail. Here are some classic movies you might consider watching with your family. Remember, to preview the film first to see if it is appropriate for your family. When we have watched some of these classic movies together, there are some scenes I’ve chosen...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 25, 2014 · Last modified April 29, 2017
It’s COOooooold here! That was the perfect time to visit Washington Crossing State Park. That’s where George Washington crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night (Dec. 25-26, 1776) and turned the tide of the Revolutionary War. I told the kids they should take off their shoes and nice warm jackets for a real authentic experience. They weren’t buying it, but we did enjoy our visit and got a lot out of it!...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 24, 2014 · Last modified November 17, 2015
These days I tend to write about our activities in separate posts, but occasionally I like to talk about the flow of our homeschool in general. We have had a busy fall — not just because the kids are involved in a lot of activities, but also fitting in the other things that take up time (trips, doctors appointments, and on and on!). We made a conscious decision to (try...
Holiday: Christmas Activities / Holiday: Thanksgiving / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 21, 2014 · Last modified November 22, 2015
One of the most stressful things for me is having day after day of unexpected (or unanticipated) “lost” homeschool days when nothing gets done. I think that what bothers me is not that I don’t expect them this time of year, but that I don’t think about it and acknowledge them in advance. Then I have this nagging feeling like I didn’t live up to some in-the-sky (my own!) expectations....
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 11, 2014 · Last modified August 19, 2018
We’re way overdue for a general post about what we are/will be covering this fall. Some things we cover together and other subjects the kids work on their own, at their own pace. I put the kids “grade level” in the title of the post, but remember that as homeschoolers that doesn’t mean terribly much. We work at whatever level and at whatever pace the kids need it. Sometimes...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 9, 2014 · Last modified April 16, 2015
Would you believe there is a 10,000 acre safari in Ohio? We took the kids there on our vacation and they were absolutely THRILLED!! We went on the open-air safari, not the private one you see in the picture below, but we still got up close and personal with a number of animals! The Wilds is located about an hour west of Columbus and is an affiliate of the Columbus...
History: Native American Indians Unit / Homeschool Den / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 5, 2014 · Last modified January 1, 2015
Many years ago, a friend told me about an amazing outdoor drama called Tecumseh. This is a 2 hour outdoor drama about Tecumseh, a Shawnee Indian who lived at the end of the 1700s and died fighting in the War of 1812. His dream was to unite all the Native American tribes from Ohio all the way south to Georgia and Alabama. For years, he traveled trying to gain the...
History: Geography Activities / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 12, 2014 · Last modified September 22, 2023
There are so many fun things you can do with your kids to help them gain an understanding of the geography of our amazing world! Here are some of the geography activities we use in our homeschool. Over the years we have made maps… with sand, dirt and grass seed like our Nile River Valley Out of clay, like our Ancient Greece (and Mediterranean Sea) map (Ancient Greece Geography Project, Ancient Greece...
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.
