Grade 2 Term 3

We are definitely not finished school yet, and I suspect we will probably be working until the end of June on it, but we are getting there. Haye has definitely improved this year on a multitude of things, including small yet important tasks such as neater writing, but he also has improved on bigger tasks such as being able to follow directions. Often I will be putting Zao to sleep so I will hand him a couple workbooks and tell him what to do in each and he will get them done quickly, whereas before he would be daydreaming when I talked to him and would forget, or would get frustrated that he had to do a minimal amount of work for 10 minutes at a time. I would say this has been our greatest accomplishment this year - finding a good balance. I am still learning to follow Haye's cues as far as schooling goes. We have had the privilege to go on quite a few field trips and have had a lot of learning experiences outside of the classroom kitchen. We have also solidified some great friendships in the local homeschool community and have an awesome support group :)

BIBLE 

We are not finished our curriculum for the year still but we plan on getting it finished this month. We have been focusing on Math, Socials, and Writing. I think that for grade 3 I am going to set up specific days of the week for different subjects as it is completely unrealistic for us to get all of our subjects done in one day. I will update this in early June when we get back from Alberta! 

MATH

Finished! Haye has learned so much this year. He did Jump Math 2.1 and 2.2 entirely and even went back through his books and worked on all the pages he had trouble with without being asked. I really like the cost and layout of Jump Math but Haye is bored of it and claims he hates Math (even though he is ridiculously good at it), so we are going to try Horizons for grade 3. It always blows my mind how quickly Haye can pick up a Math concept, I usually only have to explain something once or twice to him before it clicks. He still does a lot of Math problems verbally on his own and likes to give quizzes to people. :)

GYM

Haye is a self-proclaimed "outdoors kid" and spends a lot of his time outside. This year he got a BMX and learned how to ride a bike within minutes of picking it up, and he has barely put it down since. I would say he spends at least 2 hours a day running around outside, climbing on the playground, and riding his bike...and 2 hours is the bare minimum. Sometimes he is outside 4, 5, 6 hours a day. He is also still skateboarding with Derek and they are starting a homeschool meetup on Saturday mornings at 7 at the local skatepark where Derek will give lessons to homeschoolers. Haye is pretty excited about this.

FINE ARTS

Honestly...I find it hard to implement a Fine Arts curriculum. We are pretty child-led learning as homeschoolers and Haye isn't always into colouring or drawing or art lessons. I have gotten some curriculum for next year already that we are going to work with, but this year we have been pretty lax. If he wants to colour or draw or paint then he knows where the supplies are and is free to use them whenever. He has started drawing pictures from tutorials however, and he really loves to draw Star Wars scenes. One thing that he is extremely into is music, and he often sets up and plays DJ with our turntables. He likes to play on his keyboard and create songs. We recently went to a jamboree/potluck at a farm and Haye had a blast with all the different instruments. 

SOCIALS

We have mostly covered grade 2 socials already last year and throughout the summer. He knows how to read maps, how to label maps, and has worked on recognizing countries and oceans. We have focused a lot on identity and on what makes people unique, including strengths and weaknesses we all have. We also have worked on money with him and saving up for large purchases which he has been successful at. He understands that everyone needs to contribute to the household to keep it running and is good about his responsibilities (cleaning up after the dog, taking him outside and feeding him, putting the toys and books away in the living room once a day, keeping his room tidy, helping with laundry etc.) Because we had already done all of this, this year we focused largely on the First Peoples of Canada, specifically the Salish. Haye read quite a few books that we had put on hold at the library that went through all the different First Peoples of Canada and I would quiz him orally on them after. One highlight for Haye this year in Social Studies would be the field trip we took to the Museum to learn all about the Salish. He was so excited to be able to sit inside the pit house and listen to traditional music. They also were given beads to exchange with each other and make arrowhead necklaces.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Haye has recently discovered the joy of audiobooks, and listens to at least 2 a week. Usually they are of stories he has already read. Right now he is listening to Little House on the Prairie (which he owns but hasn't read yet) and he just finished book 3 in the Origami Yoda series. He reads a TON. Tons and tons and tons. He is into Magic Treehouse currently. He often is found just reading. He is definitely our kid! He has also finished his grammar and punctuation workbook and is working through Just Write. It took him quite awhile to get into it, but he is doing a few pages a day right now. He also finished his Read and Understand With Leveled Texts workbook. We have quite a few other workbooks for him to dabble in and if he is bored or needs something to do for a few minutes I will give him one of them. My favourite is a vintage About Me book that is pretty much the most adorable thing in the world.

SCIENCE

Well...we had good intentions to finish our curriculum...but I feel like we barely dented it. I really loved it, but I just don't have the time right now with a toddler to sit and do Science daily for an hour or two. I talked to Cynthia at Cornerstone and she suggested that I shelve it and do butterflies, so that is what we currently have in our kitchen cupboard (away from the sunlight). Today was a big day for the caterpillars as they started entering their chrysalis'! Haye is super excited about them. We also are incubating chicks! They are on day 6 and the 21st of June is their hatch day. We currently have 7 incubating but I am fairly sure one of them isn't going to make it. We are having a really fun time learning about the life cycle of chickens and butterflies! We are actually going to build a coop up at Quality Farms and keep our chickens there, and Haye is SO excited about it. He thanks us multiple times a day. I will update this with photos and put another blog post up with the butterflies and chickens!