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Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Digestive System / Science: Human Body Unit / Science: The 5 Senses
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 8, 2013 · Last modified August 21, 2022
To start off our unit on the digestive system, I had the kids look at a diagram and write down all the parts of the digestive system. That was the first section of the pack I made (more about that below). Then we took a closer look at the mouth. We did these activities over the course of several days: I asked the kids what the mouth’s role is in...
About a month ago on the way to LD’s allergy shots, the kids and I saw something really sad. Just a few moments before we drove through an intersection, a cat was struck by a car. As we drove by, we could see that the cat was still alive. It’s head was up and it was looking all around. It was a busy intersection and cars were racing by it on both...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Recipes
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 6, 2013 · Last modified April 10, 2016
My sister has never, ever bought a box-mix of brownies. Can you believe it? With this recipe, you can see why! The kids are able to make this on their own now without any help from me… Now I’ll pass it along to you if you like baking with your kids! The only unusual ingredient that you might not have on hand is baker’s chocolate — in powder form (pictured...
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 5, 2013 · Last modified February 21, 2016
I frequently get questions from parents who wonder just what to do and where to start with their preschoolers. I thought I would spend a few posts sharing some of the things I’ve done with my kids along the way. Many of the things we did are things most parents do naturally in their home: free play with toys, time exploring and playing outside, dancing to music, reading books aloud...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Human Body Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 4, 2013 · Last modified February 21, 2022
After we did an overview of all of the different body systems, we spent a couple of days reviewing the skeletal system. The skeleton provides support, structure and protection for the body and its organs… and because it had been nearly a year since we went over the names of the bones it was time for a review. The kids put together our skeleton puzzle and then identified all the...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Digestive System / Science: Human Body Unit
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 3, 2013 · Last modified February 21, 2022
Today I’m sharing our Human Body Systems Worksheets with you. This set provides an overview of the Body’s major systems. It also talks about human cells, tissues and organs. Once a year, we usually learn about one of the human body systems. One year, we went into great detail one year about the Skeletal System. Another year, we studied the digestive system. And recently, we learned about the circulatory system. We...
Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets / Language Arts: Writing / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 1, 2013
This year, we added in a new subject to our day — independent writing. My eldest has always been a reluctant writer. I was taken by surprise because he learned to read extremely early… by 5 he was reading easy chapter books… by 7 he was reading long novels. But his writing lagged behind; he seemed paralyzed to try writing. Mistakes made him freeze up, no matter how much I...
Somehow Easter arrived faster than it should have for us. The kids and I really didn’t do any crafts or special Easter-themed school activities, though you can see my Easter and Spring Units post from last year that will take you to some free materials. Meanwhile, this morning (Saturday) Hubby and I stuffed over a hundred Easter eggs for a community egg hunt we’re helping to organize/run later today. I...
Homeschool Den / Nature / Outdoor Fun
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 29, 2013 · Last modified March 17, 2016
What a wild week weather-wise, wasn’t it? (And how’s that for some alliteration!) The kids go out to play pretty much every day… and the weather this past week went from this… to this… critter hunting just a few days later! We spent a long time looking at the creatures the kids found. The small critter in the middle had all these hairs sticking out of its side that...
Freebies / History: Africa Unit / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 28, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
We have spent two weeks learning about the history of West Africa. The kids did a lot of different West African art projects and while they worked on those, I would read aloud to them. After the camel was introduced in the 7th century or so, West Africa began trading more and more with North Africa. West African gold, salt and slaves moved north, while goods, ideas and Islam came down...
History: Africa Unit / History: Geography Activities / Homeschool Den / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 27, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
Once again, we brought out our pin maps as we learned about the countries of West Africa. We used the flags of Africa from Montessori Materials to create country pins for our pin map (African Flags-page 1; African Flags-page 2). You can download and print out the map from the African Learning Pack I made back in September. I used a plain cork board underneath the map. As we were talking about the trade between...
Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Earth Science Unit / Science: Rocks and Minerals
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 25, 2013 · Last modified July 19, 2018
We read the second chapter in the geology book we have from Real Science 4 Kids. It talked about the different tools that geologists use — including topographic maps. I wasn’t sure the kids thoroughly understood how the maps worked and looked around for some resources to help them understand. I found a couple of wonderful activities! We actually started with this topographic map page from the USGS: I thought...
Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Must Read / Science
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 24, 2013 · Last modified March 10, 2016
Last week we spent the week doing a brief unit on measurement — the imperial units. We didn’t touch on the metric system at all. I wanted the kids to come away knowing the basic facts like 16 tablespoons in a cup and 4 quarts in a gallon. Day 1: I brought out a number of different bottles, cups and measuring spoons and the kids and I went over what...
Arts and Crafts / History: Africa Unit / Must Read
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 22, 2013 · Last modified March 16, 2016
This year we have been studying world cultures focusing primarily on Africa. We started out with some basic facts about Africa and then moving on to Egypt including a study of Ancient Egypt. From there we studied the Islam and its history. We learned about the spread of Islam and moved on to a study the countries of northern Africa. We looked at some of the beautiful examples of Moroccan...
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.
