Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Kindergarten / Science / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 4, 2013 · Last modified July 27, 2021
Last week, ED spent some time learning about the different animal groups — mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians. We talked about some of the different characteristics of each group and she spent time separating them into the different categories. We have a number of different activities and she spent several days going through our various activities: One was from a book called Take It to Your Seat Science Centers and...
Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 3, 2013
Sometimes we need an infusion of sunshine and happiness into our homeschool. There are times when the kids nitpick at each other, poke, needle and whine… we all (including me!) need to step back and ask ourselves if we are being as kind, thoughtful and caring as we can be! One day for our writing workshop, we read the book, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily...
We’re learning German in our homeschool. Why? Well, because that’s what I learned and studied growing up. Plus, when I was in the Peace Corps in Hungary I listened to German TV stations because I understood that better than Hungarian. Anyway, that’s the language that’s easiest for me to teach the kids. Not long ago, we started using using Bobo Siebenschlafer in our homeschool. It’s a book that has a number...
Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts / Math--Addition
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 1, 2013 · Last modified February 22, 2016
ED loves kittens and I made this game for her to practice her doubling. It’s a pretty straight-forward game. Just roll the die, double the number and move the token up one space. This doesn’t have to be a competitive game… the players just guess which kitty is going to win the game. (I drew all these kitties — not professional by any means but ED likes them and the fact...
Freebies / History: Geography Activities / History: India Unit / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 30, 2013 · Last modified April 5, 2016
This year we are again studying world cultures in our homeschool. We are focusing on Asia and just started our unit on India. I made a packet for the kids to add to their history notebooks which covers the geography of India, some basic facts (population, capital, etc.) and things like that. It’s 20 pages long and includes answers to the various sheets that the kids and I will be...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 29, 2013 · Last modified March 26, 2016
All kids who love science should check out this cool website about the mantis shrimp…it sees an incredible range of color, is beautiful to look at, yet it is one of the most violent creatures on the planet — it can make water boil and smash glass with one blow! My kids loved it! Here’s a picture of the beautiful mantis shrimp, but you and the kids should check out...
Ages 2-6: Fall Theme / Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Freebies / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 27, 2013 · Last modified January 1, 2015
Get your 3-6 year old into the fall spirit with some fall-themed activities. There’s a huge selection of free packets to choose from… I’ll highlight a number of free packs I’ve come across: Fall Pack from 3 Dinosaurs: Leaves Unit by 2 Teaching Mommies Fall and Thanksgiving Dot-to-Dots — Resources I mentioned last year about this time Fall Worksheet Pack from Mama’s Learning Corner (ages 4-6): Fall Fun Printables by Homeschool...
Active Math Games / Freebies / Kindergarten Math / Math General Posts / Math--Addition / Math--Multiplication
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 26, 2013 · Last modified March 1, 2016
This week I brought out a math game board to go over some math facts with the kids. The great thing about this board is that the kids can practice any math skill they’re working on. A player can start on any green start space. If she answers a math fact card correctly, she rolls the die and moves clockwise around the gameboard. If she lands on a space such...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Mom Stories
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 25, 2013
So, a couple days ago I wrote a blog post about how are homeschool routine is working out this year. It’s going pretty well and I love being back into a routine. But as for life in general, it’s sometimes hard to juggle everything. Preparing and time with the kids homeschooling takes up a good chunk of my day, as you can imagine. Plus, writing also takes time. But there...
Elem-Children's Music 1 (6 yr old) / Freebies / Music
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 24, 2013 · Last modified March 26, 2016
For many years, we did kindermusik classes. It was a wonderful mix of dancing, playing instruments, singing, learning about rhythm and more. When that finally came to an end — our friends moved away 🙁 — we spent the semester just working a bit on piano, singing songs (here’s a link to a kids song packet I put together for the kids this past summer). But I really wanted to...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 23, 2013 · Last modified November 17, 2015
We’ve been back to school for about a month, I wanted to share how homeschool life is going. I love the posts where other homeschoolers share what they aspire to each day — and that’s what this post is. Not that everything on the list get checked off, but if we were to have an ideal day it might look something like this (this is the list that floats around...
Freebies / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Montessori (general info) / Nature / Science / Science: Earth Science Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 20, 2013 · Last modified March 3, 2016
This week ED and I read two books together: What Makes Day and Night (affiliate link) and Totally Amazing Night Animals. (affiliate links.) She really enjoyed both of them and we added in some activities to go with these books. After we read through What Makes Day and Night (affiliate link), we spent a lot of time in the dark bathroom! First I held the flashlight and shined it at her as she...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 18, 2013 · Last modified February 24, 2016
Sometimes I need some homeschooling encouragement. Here are some things I need to remember as we race through our day… Think about dinner in the morning — That tops my list because having dinner planned (or better yet, waiting in a crockpot!) makes the end of my day SO much better! The education is important, but keeping the family healthy, happy and on track really has to top my...
Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Language Arts: Writing / Science / Science: Human Body Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 17, 2013 · Last modified September 5, 2017
Over the summer, I stumbled across the Center for Disease Control’s Science Ambassador Program. What a great find! It has a series of lessons (maybe mini-unit would be a better term for them) on all kinds of various topics with challenging activities for students to learn about. Topics include — autism, birth defect, Hantavirus, HIV/Aids… and many more. What I like about their lessons is that they require the students...
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.
