Each week, I write up my son's progress, what we've been working on, and so on. He is 7 and this is our third year of homeschooling. Not every day or every week goes as planned or goes, well, at all. Let's say, more often than not, “Grace” is not my middle name.
When people commend me on homeschooling my kids, I thank them but follow up with two critical points:
- A lot of my work is about administering. Honestly, I don't teach or spend much of my time giving lessons.
- Mindset is a huge part of homeschooling. I don't do homeschooling perfectly or gracefully but each week we do make progress, on some front. I have to have faith in that part of the experience.
I thought, since I write up progress for myself and our records, I might as well share it with you. I will go week by week, so we're going back in time a bit as I share these posts.
General Routine
Below you will find our routine. This routine is not set in stone and is used as a guide to our day. Always subject to change. The times listed below are meant to be fluid and flexible.
7 to 8 am – Slow wake-up & self-care which often involves a good snuggle with the dogs on the couch
8 to 8:30 am – Take the dogs out or do other service/chores around the house
8:30 to 9 – Read together on the couch or board game
9 – Language Arts Lesson & Exercise
9:45 – Outside & Movement
10:15 – Math Lesson & Exercise – often includes words problems and/or a math-related board game
10:45 – Outside & Lunch
12:30 – Read / Board Game
1:15 – Break
2:15 to 4 – Free choice & snack
4 to 5:30 – Sports or Outdoor Time
6 to 8 pm – Dinner, Self-Care, Reading in Bed, Lights Out
2nd Grade Homeschool Resources & Activities
Language Arts
Resources
- Bravewriter
- Lexia
- Michael Clay Thompson's Grammar Island
- Sight Word Zingo
- Quiddler
- Spinnergy
- Grammaropolis
- MCT Grammar
- Handwriting without Tears
Activities
- We continued progress on Rickshaw by Mitali Perkins, our Read Aloud (via Bravewriter). This week we covered question marks, proper nouns, possessive nouns, and commas. We also discussed Bangladesh in a variety of ways with map exploration, cultural specifics about dress and gender roles, and grammar work.
- LexiaCore5 on the 2nd-grade level curriculum
- Practiced pronouns using Grammar Island
- Played Sight Word Zingo and practiced writing sight words
- Continued working on handwriting practice using Handwriting without Tears
Resources
- Zearn
- Michael Clay Thompson's Logic Book
- Muggins Math board game
- Prime Climb
Activities
- Continued work within Zearn diving into division and we've been having fun doing Logic Puzzles in this Michael Clay Thompson book.
- Everyday math: helped with paying a restaurant check by calculating tax and service for the waitstaff
- Played lots of board games
Field Trips
Never underestimate the power of a field trip! Here is what we did this week.
- Visited the Hammonds Candy factory and learned how the business has evolved over the years and how candy is made
- Visited Meow Wolf in Denver to experience interactive art and learned about how Meow Wolf came about
Social Studies & Geography
- Explored the Loch Ness monster by researching online, checking out that part of Scotland, and watching a National Geographic documentary
- Read another chapter in Explorers in a New World and learned about Jacques Cartier and France's role in discovering the New Land
Science
- Began rearing monarch caterpillars (we received larva from Monarch Watch) with milkweed sourced from our neighborhood creek
- Attended Playground Physics and build structures with toothpicks and gummy bears, then determined how many coins the structure could withstand
- Wonder #1 – Living Sunlight – in Blossom & Root