Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool Den / Science / Science: Astronomy Unit / Science: Earth Science Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 1, 2014 · Last modified October 1, 2021
I have been really looking forward to our Earth Science unit this fall. It has taken a while to start in on all our activities, but now that we’ve started we are learning TONS and having lots of fun! To start of the unit, I felt like we really need to cover some basics about the Solar System again. We got a hands-on kit called the 4M Solar System Planetarium (affiliate link)...
This is just a quick post to update you on LD’s Pre Algebra work. We are really very happy with the Art of Problem Solving: Pre Algebra. We set the timer for twenty minutes each day and LD and I read/go over the book together. I am really impressed with how clearly it explains (and proves) why various math properties work. I suspect it will take us two years to...
Homeschool Den / Math--Fractions
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 29, 2014 · Last modified March 1, 2017
DD is just starting a new unit on fractions. I used this packet with LD a couple of years ago and brought it back out to go over with DD. It’s 12 pages and you might only find a couple of pages relevant or useful, but I still thought I’d share them here. The picture collage below gives you an idea of what’s in the packet. You can download the Equivalent...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Homeschool Den / Math: Preschool Math
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 28, 2014 · Last modified June 8, 2015
Over the next few days, I’m going to focus on our math activities. I thought that before I share what my older kids are doing these days, I’d share some of the activities they did when they were younger. This post highlights a few things I did with my kids for math in the 2 1/2-3 1/2 age range. Here are some activities I did with ED when she was 2...
Ages 2-6: Apple Unit / Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 27, 2014 · Last modified September 19, 2015
It’s apple season! The perfect time to do apple-themed activities with the kids. When my kids were little, we played Math Grid Games all the time. I made an Apple-Themed Grid Board to share with you today. Here’s a picture of the game board: How to Use Math Grids with your Preschooler: Print 2 Grid Boards per player Gather two different sets of tokens and one die. For Younger Kids: Take...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 26, 2014 · Last modified August 10, 2019
The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice. –Mark Twain History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. –Winston Churchill By now you’ve probably heard about the Colorado protests and walk outs by school students and their teachers this week. (See this Denver Post Article or this New York Times article). I’ve been quite caught up with the debates and protests out in...
Freebies / Science: Earth Science Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 24, 2014 · Last modified July 20, 2018
Last year we did a unit on water, the water cycle, and water pollution. A lot of the time I make our own science notebook pages, but there were so many wonderful resources already available, we used what we found online instead for this portion of our Weather and Water unit. I thought I would share some of these resources with you today. Our main activity for this portion of...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 23, 2014 · Last modified July 26, 2015
Goodness, that sounds so formal, doesn’t it? Let me say right off the bat that our homeschool is much (much, much) more flexible than a formal public school. In so many ways, our homeschool doesn’t resemble public school much at all… We have just 3 kids; we don’t always start school at the same time or with the same subject; we have the flexibility to dive into one particular subject...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / How to Start Homeschooling / Science / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 22, 2014 · Last modified January 1, 2015
A week or so ago, a reader asked me if I had any other tips about homeschool planning. She had read the posts I had put together on short term and long term goals and planning, but wondered if I had any other thoughts. She wondered how I make sure we keep tabs on the resources and books and planning things out in general. I spent a lot of the...
Math General Posts / Math--Division / Math--Multiplication
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 19, 2014 · Last modified March 8, 2016
Are you looking for some Minecraft math worksheets for multiplication & division practice? You’ll like these Minecraft themed practice sheets I made for the kids!! The kids filled out these pages (along with their other math work) last week. There are 2 pages. These are free to download if anyone else has a Minecraft fan in their household! Multiplication Division Worksheets with a Minecraft Theme This year we’ve shared a number of Minecraft math...
History: American History / History: Civics, Government and Economics
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 17, 2014 · Last modified March 17, 2016
This fall, the kids are learning some of the basics about Civics… What is the Constitution? What are the Bill of Rights? What is an amendment and how many are there? I found a series of flashcards put together by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services that suits our purposes perfectly. They put together a series of 100 questions for those seeking US citizenship. I printed out the flashcard series and we’ve...
Science / Science: Simple Machines Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 16, 2014 · Last modified May 16, 2023
Last year, the kids were 5, 8 and 10. We all did this simple machines unit together. It was perfect for my younger two — quite easy for my oldest, but from here we’re going to go on to more complicated topics… inventions and electricity (see our STEM Electricity and Circuits Packet here) which are more suited to my older two. It works best for our family to do these...
Math General Posts / Math--Addition
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 15, 2014 · Last modified May 3, 2015
Are you looking for Minecraft themed addition or subtraction worksheets? My daughter absolutely loves Minecraft so earlier this summer I spent some time doodling on the computer and made a few characters she would enjoy! I thought I’d share these addition pages with you today. As always, they are free to download, just click on the link or picture below: Minecraft Addition Worksheets If you use these, ED would love...
Homeschool: Random Thoughts / How to Start Homeschooling / Must Read / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 12, 2014 · Last modified April 10, 2015
For so many of us who grew up attending public schools and being educated among same-age peers, there are real questions about the socialization of homeschooled kids. We remember sitting in classrooms packed with other children and truly wonder how homeschoolers will fill in that “void” of being with other children so many hours of the day. As a homeschooling family, though, I was quick to realize that socialization is...
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.
