My two youngest children are in K and 2nd grades. I bought them each huge work books that cover phonics, math, ect...and we read science and history from the library. My second grader reads from an abeka 3 gradereader. Is this enough? Do these type of workbooks generally cover what they need to cover? I just don't want to mess them up. We just started home schooling this last year.
You know how much the K can take: alphabet is the minimum; short sentence writing is what mine does. Very little money was wasted on books. I'm placing her in 1st grade today! 2nd (I don't know).
I'm not sure I can give you any great advice, but I wanted to let you know that I have a 2nd grader and pre-k'er. I also wonder if I will mess them up or if I'm doing enough! For 2nd grade we go through workbooks (lang. arts and math), play educational games, read, watch educational videos, do spelling lists, do science experiments and play on the computer. I don't have a boxed curric. We just go to the public library and check out a whole bunch of items once every two weeks and sometimes every week. I also use free internet printouts. My kids are involved in a once a week co-op for Art, Music and Gym. Maybe I can post another message about what the local school is doing in some subjects for 2nd grade, if that will help.
It looks like in the local school's weekly schedule that they only spend 25 minutes a day on either social studies or science 4 days out of the week. For instance Mon/Wed. they do social studies and Tue/Thur. they do science. Friday is Guidance Counselor/or other special day. I guess they do combine some of their math and science though. Here is what they do for social studies and science in grade 2.... Whenever possible we try to integrate experimental experiences into the curriculum to give the students a “hands-on” approach to science. The units we study are: Monarch Butterflies Magnets Dinosaurs Ants Whales/Human Growth and Development In Social Studies the students participate in the following units of study: People All Around Our Community Earth our Home/Continents A World of Work Government Discovering Our Past Slavery and the Underground Railroad I'll type up the other subjects in another post, so this one isn't as long.
Here is Grade 2 Math... Our math program gives students visual models for the mathematical concepts they are learning. It is rich in the use of mathematical manipulatives to help students work through problem solving activities. Stop by any classroom and you will see pattern blocks, geoboards, geoblocks, place value blocks, Unifix cubes, and a whole host of other manipulatives being used by students in purposeful ways. In addition to units on Patterning & Number, Addition, Subtraction, Geometry, Exploring Larger Numbers: Money and Place Value, and Probability, we have two units that integrate science and math. In the fall, students explore the interesting world of ants in the unit, Hungry Ants. Using the information gathered on ants, the students create ant story problems for their classmates to solve. In the spring we have a unit that combines basic principles of physics as well as mathematics in a unit entitled, Keep Those Marbles Rolling! This unit encourages students to practice the scientific method of forming hypotheses and then testing them using marbles of different masses and cardboard tubes of different lengths. Children use the mathematical concepts of measuring and averaging as they test the results of three different marble roll experiments. They then use their new gained knowledge to create a Mega Marble Roll, which is the culminating activity for this unit. Here is another 2nd grade website's math description- In math, the children learn their basic addition and subtraction facts through 18. We also focus on graphing, time and money, and place value. During the second semester we introduce addition with carrying and subtraction with borrowing Here is what they do for WRITING... We are in the process of implementing the 6 + 1 Traits writing program in our daily writing instruction. The 6 traits that we emphasize include: Ideas Organization Voice Word Choice Sentence Fluency Conventions The last trait is Presentation. This is where we work on how the piece is to be presented to our intended readers. You will witness all different kinds of writing in a second grade classroom, including journal writing, response logs, and short stuff writing booklets. The students also write letters using all five parts of a friendly letter. Another major focus at the second grade level is learning cursive handwriting, which begins during the second semester.
long! Here is 2nd grade Reading.... Our goal is to give our students every opportunity to be the best readers they can become. We encourage our students to use their language, meaning, and phonemic awareness when they are reading. If you pop in one of rooms to witness a guided reading lesson, you will hear comments like, “Did that make sense? Is that how we would say it? Look for chunks you recognize,” as we are leading our children to figure out unknown words and make sense of what they are reading. Comprehension is a big emphasis in second grade. In addition to guided reading lessons, you will also find whole group instruction time, book clubs, and reading circles led by the teachers. Students also have daily time to read to self, using self-selected books. This is their time to practice and solidify the strategies they have been learning. For spelling they have lists of words every week and a weekly spelling test on Fridays. They also have challenge words (more difficult) and chunk words that I'm not adding in here. Here are some of the words that they have already worked on all are about after been boy could do down didn’t each enough friend from first find girl have him how her into know like little Monday many more make made Mr. my not now of one out other people said some see second school they that there their use very want was with will when were what which you your time them than then two Tuesday those would who water where Wednesday over only
We starting homeschooling last fall, and I think about this daily. I have a pre-k'er and 1st grader (went to PS for K). I started off the same way - a bunch of workbooks and library books. To make sure the oldest is on track, I went to my states DOE website and follow their S&S.
It's nice to know I am not the only one worried about messing them up. WIMom thanks for the list you posted. It helps.
I suggest getting the book "What Your Child Needs to Know When" by Robin Sampson. http://www.amazon.com/What-Your-Child-Needs-Know/dp/0970181612 You can also see if you local library has a copy and if not most libraries have inter-library loan where if another library has it in you state they will send it. I have a copy of this book and every so often I have had to climb back into its pages to make sure I am covering something. Hope this helps.
Check out your state's standards for those grades. I checked out my state when I lived in the US and used it as a checklist to make sure my child was learning what he was supposed to learn.
Here are a couple of books that helped us a LOT when we started thinking about homeschooling... Mary Pride's Complete Guide to Getting Started in Homeschooling: http://www.home-school.com/catalog/pages/mpguide.php3 We checked this out of the library and it was fantastic! It starts at the very beginning - why people homeschool, what homeschooling "looks" like, which kinds of kids (and moms!) do best with which kinds of curriculum, etc etc.. If you can't find it at your library with this title, look for The Big Book of Home Learning, Volume 1. It's the older edition of the same book. Mary Pride also has a website: http://www.home-school.com/ I haven't hung out a lot on the website, so I don't know if it is as helpful as her book. Cathy Duffy wrote 100 Top Picks For Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing The Right Curriculum And Approach For Your Child's Learning Style. We bought it at a Half-Price Books, but you could check at your library for it, too. It goes through a long list of curricula and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each of them. There are SO many curricula out there, and sorting them out gets very confusing and overwhelming! She talks about whole "box" curriculum programs, which include practically everything you need for the whole year; as well as individual products (different math curricula, or language arts, or whatever), so it's helpful whether you want to go with just one company's stuff or mix and match. I think most people mix and match to some degree. Cathy Duffy also has a website: http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/ For what it's worth, you can see what I am doing with my 2nd grader at the little website I set up for my mom to poke around in: http://home.comcast.net/~m.t.closet/garden.html We finished the Spanish curriculum I mentioned and haven't started a new one yet, and I've added a reading comprehension book every day. Other than that, it's mostly up to date. This is what works for us this year... it probably won't exactly fit you, because everyone does things a little differently. I hope that helps!!
