Homeschool Den

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Science / Science: Earth Science Unit / Science: Rocks and Minerals

Metamorphic Rock Activities

We brought the rock portion of our unit to a close with a look at metamorphic rocks.  The kids had a tough time deciding which rock sample was marble and which was quartzite. We also did the melted-crayon version to show how metamorphic rocks form under heat and pressure. Okay, so really we just made rainbow crayons, but the kids *said* they understood how the rocks can change because of...

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Freebies / History: World Religions / Homeschool Den / Must Read

Learning about the New Catholic Pope

I felt it was important to talk to the kids a bit about the newly elected pope, Pope Francis. We’ve been listening to the news and talking about it a bit, but I wanted to go into a little more detail tomorrow morning and made some pages for them to add to their history notebook. We are not Catholic, but Grandma is. My Mom died a couple of years before LD...

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Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Homeschool Den / Math: Preschool Math / Must Read

Preschool Math Activities (K4) – Montessori Math and More

It has been ages and ages since I’ve written about ED’s math activities.  A lot of ED’s math happens naturally over the course of the day — counting objects in a picture book, counting by 2s, 5s and 10s when we brush teeth and do dental floss, counting money together, looking at numbers at the store, in books, etc.  Numbers are a part of daily life and we take advantage...

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Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Freebies / Holiday: St. Patrick's Day / Math: Preschool Math / Must Read

St. Patrick’s Day Preschool Math Game

I made these game boards for ED.  It’s a race to 50 (or a race to 100). Print out one game board for each player.  The players take turns rolling the die (use a 20-sided die in the race to 100) and covering the squares on their game board with tokens. The first to cover their entire game board wins the game. You can download these free: St Patricks Day...

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Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Holiday: St. Patrick's Day / Language Arts: Reading / Must Read

St. Patrick’s Day Activities

This activity was a huge hit with ED this past week.  I chose some words from ED’s phonics readers and wrote them out on some shamrocks and taped them on popcycle sticks.  I covered an empty cereal box with construction paper and wrote the words out on the box as well and used a knife to create a slit for the Popsicle sticks. I sat with ED each time she...

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Homeschool Den / Must Read / Science / Science: Rocks and Minerals

Sedimentary Rock Activities

Another day we read about sedimentary rocks in our books and filled in a bit of information in the  boxes on the sedimentary rock page, Three Types of Rocks Packet.  I brought out our rock collection. We had several different types of sedimentary rocks and the kids had to determine whether they were sandstone, limestone or shale by feeling the rock and grains.  We also filled in the next parts of...

Did Every Parent Do This Today? 1

Outdoor Fun

Did Every Parent Do This Today?

With the storm that rolled across the US the past day or two, I wonder how many yards are decorated with snowmen, snow forts and snow angels?!! The kids spent lots of time sledding down our steep hill: The entire family pitched in to make this huge snow fort (it looks more like a snow volcano, doesn’t it?!!): And here are the snowman and snowpets under construction! It sure was...

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Outdoor Fun

The Secret Clubhouse

Did you have a secret clubhouse? I remember mine… it was up at the top of a tall tree in our front yard.  I was around 11 or 12 and I even built a wooden hinged box to place up in the top of the tree to hold my treasures. Yesterday the girls woke me up with breakfast in bed (water, bread and a banana!) and then asked me to...

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Homeschool Den / Science / Science: Earth Science Unit / Science: Rocks and Minerals

Igneous Rock Activities

This past week, we spent a lot of time delving into the three different types of rocks.  The first day we looked closely at some of the different igneous rocks. We started by reading about igneous rocks from a couple of books and filling in the boxes on our chart. (More about that free packet at this post about the Three Types of Rocks.) We then pulled out a rock...

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Freebies / Holiday: St. Patrick's Day / Math General Posts / Math--Multiplication / Must Read

St. Patrick’s Day Multiplication Pack

I think DD’s going to love this one!  She’s working hard to memorize her multiplication facts and I put together different types of practice pages for the next couple of weeks.  There are 8 pages. As always, it is free to download. St Patricks Day Multiplication Pack   Other Free St. Patrick’s Day Materials: St. Patrick’s Day Number Word Activities St. Patrick’s Day Addition Game Boards   St. Patrick’s Day...

Fast Track Multiplication Facts Game 2

Freebies / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math--Multiplication

Fun Multiplication Facts Practice

Last week DD played many, many rounds of Fast Track.  This is an idea I got years ago from Peggy Kaye’s wonderful book, Games for Math: Playful Ways to Help Your Child Learn Math, From Kindergarten to Third Grade (affiliate link). We used the little Pokemon-themed flashcards I made for her a month or so ago… she’s working hard on those multiplication facts! This is a homemade board with several...

Money $$ Allowance, Family Money, Saving and More 1

Freebies / Homeschool Den / Math General Posts / Math-Money / Must Read

Money $$ Allowance, Family Money, Saving and More

Did you know that tweens in the U.S. spend about $15 billion of their own money each year? Wow! Hubby and I felt we’ve really not done a very good job on teaching the kids about money, saving and finances.  We definitely want the kids to have more responsibility and practice with money while they are young… saving for trips (to have spending money) and spending their money wisely. This week,...

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Freebies / Homeschool Den / Language Arts - Grammar Worksheets / Language Arts: Spelling / Language Arts: Writing

Grammar Worksheets: it’s or its; they’re, their, or there

I made this practice sheet for the kids to practice choosing between its and it’s  or they’re, their and there.  If anyone else can use this, it’s free to download: Grammar Practice: its-it’s they’re-their-there     We’ve been covering quite a number of different grammar points lately (homophones, commas, apostrophes, underlining and so forth).  You can browse through all our (free) grammar worksheets by clicking on the categories button in...

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Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Interviews with other Homeschoolers

Homeschooling through the Teenage Years – Susan Wise Bauer

This morning I happened to come across an interview with Susan Wise Bauer.  She is a well-known author in the homeschooling community and she has homeschooled for 17 years.  She herself was homeschooled with her two siblings.  In this video-interview she discussed  homeschooling through the teenage years. Two of her children have now graduated and she talked a lot about her perspective on educating her kids through high school and college....