I home school my second grader and I am having trouble finding social studies and science curriculum.?

Answer 1

I have a second grader and it is difficult to find a good curriculum for these two subjects. It's either way to simple, or not a good fit, or....
anyway, I'm using Lifepacs and for these two subjects, I'm not exactly thrilled with them. I love lifepacs and my children enjoy, but this is a weakness with the program, in my opinion.
Ok, here's my advice:
Search various curriculum providers and look at their scope and sequence for these two subjects, and find one that fits what you are wanting your child to learn most. Then go to a review site (type homeschool curriculum review in to your search bar) and find out what others are saying about the program.
Once you make your decision, then supplement with outside resources.
For example, I chose lifepacs because it follows what I want my second grader to learn in the order I want him to learn it: science starts with living vs. non living, then on to plants, animals so on and so forth. SS begins with family then goes to communities and moves out from there. To that, I add library books about the things we are studying, and I also use various science experiment books to jazz up the science a bit. A good one there is Backyard Scientist (google it), but you can find tons of science experiment books at the library.
In my opinion, there is no such thing as a perfect curriculum, but if you use a curriculum as a guide (meaning the lesson plans, topics, sequencing, ...) and then make it your own with supplemental items (whether you purchase them or get them at the library) I think you will be pleased with the results.
hope this helps you.

Answer 2

I have homeschooled my older son for almost 4 years (he'd be in 6th grade) and the younger one for a year (he'd be in 1st). I've never used a social studies curriculum as I've never had to. The things kids study in social studies come up naturally as we are out and about. Instead, we study the entirety of history on a four-year cycle (beginning with the earliest people groups and working our way up through moderns in 4 years, then start again).

For science, I've never used a specific curriculum until this year (and, I must admit, I'm not completely happy with it). We've mostly just done experiments and reading about the different inventors/discoverers/discoveries. We'll pick a topic to study and read and learn and experiment until we tire of it, then pick another topic.

I haven't tested my younger son yet, but the older one has always scored in the 90th %-ile for science and above the 60th for social studies.

Answer 3

Harcourt brace has a nice one. I use it for my second grader. It is a social studies text that focuses on neighbor hoods and communities and what role children and family members play in the community as a whole.

I like the way they tie in every lesson with art, journal writing/composition, critical thinking, and even math skills. Ilike the entire Harcout curriculum. Its very easy to start at the begining and work your way through. Most of the text books also have workbooks that accompany them, but aren't absolutely necessary.

For history I didn't get a book, because I have been focusing on local history this year. Since I live in a history rich area, it's pretty easy and lets us have lots of field trips to the historical sites around us. We do a lot of the history as hands on, and then go home and work on writing about what we learned in a journal.

(We do journal writing every day as a part of language art skills, spelling, and writing, so it becomes very useful to integrate with whatever we are focusing on for the day.)

The Harcourt Science Book is great. It has experiments for each section that you can do and focuses on things like how animals and plants are grouped. (Plants are woody or herbacous, monocots versus dicots; bugs are different from spiders, some single cells are plant-like and some are animal-like ... that sort of thing. It also has good readible print.

Answer 4

Hi Jen,
If your 2nd grader likes hands on stuff do like some of the others suggested baking, nature walks, science videos...whatever he or she is interested in. Social Studies is community related stuff at that age. So church, the grocery store, post office, talk about community workers, simple maps etc.If he prefers workbooks the go with something like Alpha Omega Life Pacs or School of Tomorrow Paces. Good Luck!P~

Answer 5

Yep.. And I recognize this from private enjoy.. My tuition have a feminist/females experiences organization and practically each unmarried feminist that I've stumble upon on my campus are bigots/misandrists/guy-haters. Women's experiences is side of the feminists brainwashing schemes; an try to recruit extra member..

Answer 6

Don't worry about either. Concentrate on reading, and use historical reading for the Social Studies.

Science? Use science or nature videos, and emphasize math. As someone else said, do some baking or gardening...that's real science.

Those subjects are not critical at this age, they can be included as part of reading exercises.

Answer 7

The encyclopedia is an excellent resource for both social-studies and science (both descriptive and exact).

Math is the best way to study for the exact sciences. My children study math as science.

Answer 8

Just look around you! You don't need books and a "curriculum" to help your second grader. Do gardening projects, bake a cake, go on a field trip and use maps to get around... there's a whole world around you full of learning opportunities.

Answer 9

I would do the following, choose a location that has an excellent district of public schools. as a suggesttion, choose fairfield county, CT old greenwich to be exact.

Go to the website, and ask a teacher there to give you a copy of their agenda. plead with them, ask them what texbooks they use, etc.

if you put a good story on for them, they WILL give it to you. whats the worse that can happen? they say no? oh well, move on to the next teacher. your possiblities are endless

good luck to you, your 2nd grade student, make sure you thank the teacher that gives it to you

Answer 10

Social Studies topics covered in 2nd grade
-basic maps and globes
-types of neighborhoods and communities (i.e farms, suburbs..)
-transportation
-rules and laws
-needs and wants
-how people get goods
-basic landform maps
-native americans
-jamestown
-13 colonies
-george washington
-pioneer living
-people and places from america's past
-holidays
-american flag
-basic time lines
-natural resources

Science
-grouping living things (i.e plants & animals)
-habitats
-changes over time
-dinosaurs
-making things move (i.e pushes and pulls, force)
-magnets
-machines (i.e pullies and levers)
-the earth and sky
-how to use sunlight
-how are stars grouped
-changes in the view of the moon
-soil
-salt vs. fresh water

Use your library and the internet to find books and sheets on these topics. Use a petting zoo or regular zoo for most of the science work.