I'm posting this today because I'm tired of thinking about it. It could definitely be a bit more polished as a post but I want to get this info out of my drafts before I really don't care anymore. We're into 2nd quarter and I'm changing up many things. Here's what I did for August through October for a 2nd grader. (Most of the pictures have to do with ELA because that takes the most thought, always.)
And because everyone always wants to know: we *could* do school in 2 1/2 - 3 hours, easily. "We" do tend to procrastinate so it usually takes about 6 hours with breaks, errands, and outside time mixed in there.
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When it comes to what I do with the kid(s) for school specifically, I've learned a lot in the last several weeks. I created a google sheet for all four quarters of the year and I'm planning and goal-setting by quarter. I knew what I wanted to be done with by mid-October and what I would be ready to move onto at this point.
1. So that's the first thing: don't plan the whole year out. Do one quarter at a time. Look at the calendar, get a spreadsheet or planner and fill in the non-negotiables or must-do items first. Second quarters are also jam-packed with three holidays so I never planned to accomplish as much as a teacher; the same applies here.
2. For the 1st quarter, I gave us 10 weeks, August 11-October 17. There were a few days where things got really thrown off and most Fridays we had co-op so we didn't do bookwork.
3. I initially thought homeschooling would give us time to Do All The Things outside of the house during week or, like, travel lol. That's not really the case. Yeah, we do occasional errands in the morning or a random appointment, but keeping us at home works so much better for getting things done. It's really hard to force him to finish something before dinner, especially if his friends are around. School is out around 3:15pm in our town, so being done by then works best. If I stuff errands into the morning, we get behind.
4. I am much, much more unstructured than I ever assumed I would be. I realized it literally doesn't matter when we do it, as long as we get it done. Sometimes, I just refuse to fall behind and I make him do something on the weekends (he just did a math test on Friday night and it sat on the table until I checked it on Saturday night). Sometimes I make him work on holidays (Labor Day, definitely, Columbus day, of course) because kids lose a lot over 3-day weekends. Unless we have a reason not to-- like we're going somewhere--it's a regular school day. I have explained to him that he gets most Fridays off and he sleeps in every day so it all evens out.
5. There are no regulations for homeschooling in Kansas. You just fill out one little form on a website. No records are necessary either. I'm keeping records because my plan is to eventually go back to regular school but honestly, worst case, I'm certified to teach. I'm not too concerned about records. I am keeping a data binder with proof of assessments.
In true public school fashion, let's Remember Our Why: My why for homeschooling is not because I'm afraid of what he'll learn in school. I'm afraid of what he'll NOT learn in school. There is so much they just don't teach kids because teachers themselves have little to no content knowledge. I want my 2nd grader to know how to write in cursive. He needs to take spelling tests. He should be reading aloud and also reading to himself every day. He needs to do pages of math problems, not just watch the teacher do a few interactively and then draw some pictures. And don't get me started on history and geography....
Daily Schedule
Morning Work
The Good and The Beautiful Handwriting book. Two pages a day and he'll finish this book in a week or so, and then I have a cursive book ready. He wants to do cursive so I told him we'd try. Handwriting is something they will not teach past 1st grade in most public schools in 2025, just fyi.
IXL 2nd grade math workbook. This book is my favorite thing ever. Such a perfect no-tech review of what he needs to be doing in 2nd grade. I am a fan of IXL in general, but I want him to master the paper/pencil way to do math to practice number formation, etc before letting him do the interactive version on a device.
Zaner-Bloser 2nd Grade spelling book. A great option. I could've gone with a different brand, but I'd never used this and it looked good. You don't need to supplement spelling with TGATB because their Level K-1-2 Language Arts incorporates it, but it's not super structured. I wanted structure like they have for the intermediate grades. He does one page a day and a test every 7 days, at the end of each "unit". Many schools also do not teach spelling (or grammar) explicitly and it shows. I wanted the structure of daily spelling work.
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All of this is included in TGATB Level 2 Language Arts.
TGATB Booster Cards and Nature Reader. This is the phonics component for Levels K, 1, and 2. I bought the Level C Booster Card booklet and then the Nature Reader corresponds to the cards. So we practice the cards to mastery, sometimes going further with other activities if it's a harder skill, and then he reads 2-3 stories aloud per day to me. This is repetitive work, so he may read the same story 3-4 days in a row before we move on from it. Each story is about 8-10 pages long.
Language Arts Lesson
This is in a dual workbook/manual. I adore this book. Cannot recommend it enough. It spirals. Every day is different. There is so much geography and art and poetry involved. I cannot stress enough: a 2nd grader would not see any of that in a regular classroom. Each lesson takes about 20 minutes.
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Reading (shared and independent)
Wesley and the Wolves and Molly and the Falcon are the two shared reads that go with the Level C Booster Card skills. We finished both books already. I have a lot of short chapter books to take their place, maybe a novel study or two.
Then, I usually set a timer for 15 minutes and send Wells off with a short chapter book. He reads a chapter and then he comes and reads it to me.
The first quarter, we wanted to do space (see below), so he read the Mark on Mars series and then Horrible Harry Goes to the Moon.
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Math
I started with using TGATB Level 2 math but it's pretty easy for him so we're blowing through a few lessons a day. I have a lot of strategy to how I'm doing math with Wells. Each TGATB lesson has a lesson and then spiraled independent practice. I give him the independent practice to do, check it for misconceptions, and then go over anything I think is pertinent in the lesson. It takes about 15 minutes a lesson so then we do 2-3 lessons a day, depending. I'm not looking at the lesson so much as thinking about what standards he needs to master in 2nd grade. TGATB has a huge focus on time, money, and calendars. Those are strands that are barely touched on in most primary curriculums. But then they do not have a focus on more advanced computation practice.
So I did what any normal parent would do: I bought a second curriculum and we're doing both. The Envisons Math focuses mainly on computation and problem-solving. It also does this Thing I Hate where they do 8-10 lessons on a skill and show the student 5-7 ways to solve the problems instead of just teaching them an algorithm. The idea is that students are exposed to all the strategies and then they pick the one that clicks. Unfortunately, this is how kids get confused. I used to tell my students that once they found a way that works for them, to ignore the rest. So what I do is just use the problems in the book for practice and ignore a lot of the strategies. I will say they were having a major sale back in August when I bought it so I got it for like $83.
But, as I work my way through the book, I can see what I still need to teach him in order to "complete" 2nd grade and be ready for 3rd. It's crazy to me that he is already where the teacher/class would be at Christmastime in a regular classroom. It also has been eye-opening because I can see now how much I likely held kids back over the years, completely unintentionally.
Science and Social Studies
These aren't usually curriculum-based subjects in the primary grades and it's exactly why kids have no core knowledge. We're not doing anything regimented and mostly he gets this through his non-fiction books that he likes. For Quarter 2, I will do Thanksgiving (remember last year!) and then we'll do an advent study.
We are out in nature every day, and Scott got him a terrarium (idk?) so he's getting a lot of science just living life. I've reinstated his Youtube privileges so he watches videos about snakes, insects, animals, etc most days.*
(*privileges have since been revoked :)
I see a lot of parents in Facebook groups ask about history. I like this from Core Knowledge but I don't know. Maybe I'll just start that in 3rd grade? TGATB history courses start in 3rd grade but they start with Biblical history and the ancient world and I want him to have a grasp on US history before moving onto world history. Again, in my experience, starting with the more abstract never works.
I was initially doing Space for science from TGATB but he didn't care and I didn't either. Doing impromptu science and incorporating it into the ELA work is better for everyone when they're in the primary grades. I have a plan for science and social studies for the 3rd and 4th quarters. And then I will absolutely get something for next year. I just haven't decided what yet. Thoughts?
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We also did a few field trips the first quarter. A few were organized through local homeschool groups and our co-op so I took advantage of that.
We went to a living history museum in KC, Missouri.
We did a tour of the Chiefs stadium.
We're supposed to do a tour of an orchard this Friday but it's going to rain and the single best thing about homeschooling is that we don't have to go if we don't want to go.
I do take them to the library a lot because they put on 1-2 programs a week with special activities and crafts and they love checking out as many books as they can carry (with no rhyme, reason, or theme and it drives me nuts. Sutton got a Valentine book last week).
And we take the dogs for a walk in the woods every day. ...P.E., right?
On our own, we went to the zoo and then to the planetarium. I really like the KC zoo and we have a membership there. I generally really like planetariums but a 3D theater is better. This one wasn't *as* great as the show we saw in Denver years ago, but it was definitely worth $8 a ticket. The one in Denver was at the Museum of Nature and Science and I can't recommend that enough.
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