Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 15, 2019
Becoming passionate, inspiring educators! This summer, we did a camping trip in the Great Smoky Mountains. On the way there, we stopped at the Civil Rights Center in Greensboro, NC. We read about the sit-ins before-hand, but it was incredible to be at the Woolworths where the 1960 sit-ins began. But that’s not what this post is about! This post is about being a passionate educator, inspiring others, and encouraging...
Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 18, 2017
Those words automatically suck us in, don’t they? They evoke feelings that we might miss out. But what if we applied this to the small choices we make each day? To the small actions that really make a difference in the long run? Don’t miss this opportunity of a lifetime! Today day is the day… to say I love you to your family. to be a good friend. to smile...
Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 31, 2017 · Last modified January 29, 2017
There are so many things that go into homeschooling… good curriculum, engaging lessons, keeping the house (reasonably) organized, the laundry done, and meals on the table. But the kids are learning SO much from us. They are watching most everything we do! How good of a role model are you? Are you a good homeschool role model? Take this Quiz! I get enough sleep. I am always prepared for class....
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 17, 2016 · Last modified July 10, 2017
Back to Homeschool Challenge: Day 8 As we begin the year, don’t let any of these ruin your homeschool day… Comparison – Every homeschool is unique. Don’t worry about what your friends are doing. Don’t feel like your homeschool has to incorporate every project on Pinterest. Don’t compare someone’s best day to your worst day. Remember that when someone tells you about their homeschool day or writes about homeschooling online...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published April 21, 2016
One topic that I don’t hear discussed much in my homeschool circles (or online) is taking time for review. My guess is that it’s not quite as exciting to talk about going backwards (so to speak) as finding new topics and new curriculum. But I find it important to review some of the topics and units we’ve covered in the past. We do that on a daily/weekly basis (with cards...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 3, 2015 · Last modified December 2, 2015
We all want those things in our homeschool or classroom, right?! In this series, Thoughts on Teaching, I’ve been diving into some of the deeper issues we have as educators. How do we create an environment that helps students blossom and reach their full potential? Today I’m going to talk about the fear of failure and the struggle that can create for some students. In some ways, I notice that...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 6, 2015 · Last modified November 23, 2016
I spend a lot of time thinking about homeschooling, do you? I find myself mulling over what we have planned or what units we’ll be doing down the road or what didn’t get done or things we did do, but didn’t go as planned… and on and on! But here are some things I probably need to hear a bit more often! Believe in yourself – You can do this!...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 15, 2015
To become an expert, I’ve heard it takes 10,000 hours of hard work and practice. But, it also takes a special teacher, coach or mentor to get to that elite level. Just as top Olympic coaches help motivate and train their athletes by keeping track of every work out and by designing plans and drills that work, we homeschoolers/educators keep track of our kids’ learning, observe their strengths and weaknesses...
Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 2, 2015 · Last modified October 1, 2015
This post is completely different post than the one I intended to write this week. Why? Because life happens! I don’t have the time to dive into that topic in the way that I want. I was going to write a post on fostering creativity and being engaging as a teacher/homeschooler… How ironic because today was the antithesis of that! In fact, we had to settle for a bare-minimum type...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Organizing and Cleaning / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Starting to Homeschool
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 17, 2015 · Last modified September 21, 2015
So in my last post, I talked about how I really wanted to start off my mornings strong. I realized I needed a Power Morning Routine to make sure that *I* was energized, refreshed, focused, and prepared. You can read more about all that in this post: Thoughts on Teaching: Creating a Power Morning. But, along with that I really needed to make sure I was completely organized. I think...
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published June 8, 2015 · Last modified June 7, 2015
In my mind, a successful year goes far beyond tests results, awards won, or pages covered. Homeschool success comes in unconventional ways… The days we spent hours snuggled together reading and crying together over a book. The days we tried an experiment… and failed! The times we laughed hysterically while doing our work. Or when we stopped our “work” and focused on being kinder to one another. When we learned in non-traditional ways — on...
Holiday: Valentine's Day / Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Homeschool: Useful Resources (websites books etc)
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 1, 2014 · Last modified April 13, 2016
It’s always time to fill the house with love, right? With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it’s timely to think about what this means. Sometimes love isn’t just the feelings you have, it’s the actions you take. I wrote this post last year as I struggled with major (ear) problems that led to 6 ear surgeries in 8 months… You can read more at this post, I’m going deaf today. (I am...
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...
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.
