Homeschooling: New Curriculum!

Connor is done with first grade, but when does second grade start?

He thinks he'll be a second grader as soon as he turns 7 later this month.

It could be in September when everyone else goes back to school.

But, we are going to start doing second grade stuff now.

I ordered a bunch of new curriculum and it has arrived!

 

What do we have here?  I'm glad you asked.

For Spanish:

A boxed set of 20 books that teach Spanish vocabulary, and a set of four early readers that are in both English and Spanish that cover topics that interest boys, like scary animals, bugs, volcanoes and tornadoes.

For Social Studies/History: 

A board game about early world explorers.  Think Christopher Columbus and maps.  It's actually pretty fun to play.  Two early reader books.  Once about Pizarro and the Incas and another called The Thirsty Moose based upon a Native American story.  A chapter book about a kid named Stonewall Hinkleman that combines fiction and the American Revolution, much like the Liberty Kids show that Connor just finished, and loved.

For Math:

A box of manipulatives and games for Lex.  The Allowance game, which teaches the values for coins, along with addition and subtraction.  The next book in the Life of Fred series:  Dogs.

Workbooks:

A reading comprehension workbook with a read-along CD where all the stories are about sports and athletes.  Connor's 2nd Grade Daily Science workbook.  A cursive handwriting book for Connor, as he is suddenly interested in learning cursive.

For Reading/English Language Arts:

A set of games that practice 2nd Grade English Language Arts skills.  A set of Scooby-Doo themed phonics readers for Lex.

For Science:

A couple of biology books about different animals.  If we like them, we will order more, as it is an entire series. 

There is also a game called Medieval Puzzles & Enigmas which is basically a bunch of brain teasers.  I also bought a 2nd Grade Learning box for Connor and a Kindergarten Learning box for Lex.  We had the 1st Grade Learning box for Connor last year, and he really enjoyed it.  It's full of games and manipulatives that relate to the grade level, and it comes packaged in a handy portable pencil box.

This is what I plan to do this summer to keep the kids occupied when they aren't outside playing or at the pool.  You know, so that they don't spend the entire summer playing Minecraft or binge watching entire series of cartoons on Netflix.  I don't know how much will still be remaining to be done come September.

I also plan to continue using ABC Mouse and Study Ladder for their online programs.  We just bought Connor a membership to ChessKid.com, and he's been doing a lot of the learning puzzles.  I'm planning to add a membership to BrainPopJr.com as well, since it covers health and science, and Connor has run out of science on Study Ladder, but I think I'm going to wait until September for that.