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 20, 2014 · Last modified April 2, 2021
If you are planning a trip to the beach this summer, you might be interested in some of these freebies I made for the kids when we did our ocean unit. I hope someone finds these helpful! Below are some of the ocean invertebrate cards that I made when we were studying the ocean. Remember, crustaceans, arachnids and insects are all part of the arthropod group (look at this chart to see what...
My sister’s family also homeschools, so we take advantage of the pre-summer season prices to spend a week together. We met up with my Dad & step-Mom, my sister, brother-in-law, nieces and nephew at the Outer Banks. The weather had called for temperatures in the low 70s last week, but once we arrived the forecast changed. We had several days between 85-88 degrees. Perfect for the beach! I slathered the...
Nature / Outdoor Fun / Summer Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 17, 2014 · Last modified April 16, 2015
I consider myself pretty outdoorsy. I love to hike, backpack and go camping. I love learning the names of the lizards, snakes, bugs and birds in our area. But I had never, ever gone fishing. For some reason it seemed mysterious. Hard. Something only real “fishermen” did. So when I heard that our local park was offering a free fishing workshop for kids, we signed the kids up. The ranger...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 16, 2014 · Last modified October 16, 2022
A couple of months ago, I did an animal unit with my youngest. We went over the characteristics of living and non-living things. Then we talked about vertebrates and invertebrates and finally we went over the five vertebrate groups in quite some detail. I shared the free Montessori cards I made for that part of our unit: the Montessori Vertebrate-Invertebrate cards and the sheets I made on Animals and their Characteristics....
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 14, 2014 · Last modified February 21, 2016
Here are some alphabet activity ideas you can do with your little one: At first we played these activities just for letter identification, but as the kids learned their letters we would play these games and identify the sound/s they make. Above all, be enthusiastic and have FUN with the kids!! Jump on Letters:We did this activity with everything from contact paper in the kitchen to letters written in chalk on...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Earth Science Unit / Science: Weather Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 13, 2014 · Last modified October 5, 2017
Today I’m going to share some free weather worksheets I made for the kids. This is for our study of the weather: the uneven heating of the Earth and how that affects our weather, fronts, and more! Yesterday, I shared some of the science experiments we did about air. We learned that air has weight, hot air rises and more. We are using a science textbook as the spine of...
Freebies / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Earth Science Unit / Science: Weather Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 12, 2014 · Last modified September 3, 2020
Last week we had a lot of fun with our Weather Unit. The kids always love when we do science experiments and this part of our unit had a ton of demonstrations. Air has weight: This first activity is pretty self explanatory. We made sure that two balloons balanced. Then we blew up one balloon. It was clear immediately that the blown-up balloon was heavier. Clear or Cloudy Day: The...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 11, 2014 · Last modified March 7, 2016
This year Mother’s Day is officially one hundred years old in the U.S. On May 8, 1914 Congress passed a law to officially celebrate Mother’s day on the second Sunday in May. Facts About Moms (in the U.S.) There are more than 85 million mothers of all ages in the United States. According to the Pew Research Institute, fewer Moms are married than fifty years ago Of all women age...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 10, 2014 · Last modified December 30, 2014
When my kids were little I bought a set of Pattern Blocks. It’s been one of the most enduring resources we have. We still bring them out occasionally and also use them for math now and then. The kids have used templates like these: And they’ve also used the pattern blocks for free play: There are lots of places where you can find free pattern block templates: One of the...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 9, 2014 · Last modified May 18, 2015
The past couple of weeks have flown by. I wanted to write up a quick post to mention some of the things that are going well for us at the moment. It’s hard to believe that we’ll be wrapping up another school year in four or five weeks! Here’s what we’ve been up to the past few weeks: Language Arts: In order to fulfill the requirements of our state, the...
Freebies / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 7, 2014 · Last modified February 24, 2016
The kids are going over some tricky homophones. These are some of the sheets I made for them. If you can use them, they are free to download. Grammar Sheets — Lay-Lie Peace-Piece Accept-Except and other homophones Other free grammar worksheets you can download: Their, They’re, There – Its, It’s Free Practice Sheets Comma Rules and Practice Worksheets Comma Rules and Practice Worksheets (Fall Theme) Grammar Practice: Possessive Nouns...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts / Math--Addition
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 6, 2014 · Last modified October 4, 2017
Earlier this year, ED decided she wanted a math workbook just like DD and LD’s books. We had been playing a lot of games, but according to her, that wasn’t “real math” anymore! I bought a Spectrum math workbook for her (grade 2). She worked her way through the basic addition problems. Before she goes on to tackle double digit addition and subtraction in that book, though, I wanted her...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 5, 2014 · Last modified July 4, 2021
Actually, there is no such thing as homeschool furniture or purchases since everybody’s home is unique and everyone has their own style! But that being said, there are a few purchases I’ve made in the past six months that I really love and I wanted to share. Book Display Shelves: We have all kinds of book displays, but I wanted one that looked “nice” and would display the writing books...
Greg Hewlett has a new children’s CD out that he is giving away completely free over at his blog. His album, Heirloom, is solo piano accompanied by nature. It features quiet lullabies and two original songs written by Greg. Heirloomis for children, though adults will enjoy this beautiful music too. Nature sounds are included on all tracks (though you can choose a version without nature as well). You can listen to...
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.
