I like most of Miquon math. They have worksheets that introduce multiplication using repeated addition array’s (required for CA 2nd grade curriculum). I don’t use every worksheet but that is only because Gabriella picks up on math concepts really quickly and find worksheets redundant. I will continue to purchase Miquon workbooks and use their logic when teaching fractions. I am hoping their third grade books has more division in them.
I buy them HERE
This book covers a lot of the California requirements for second grade geography. It doesn’t have a map of North America which is a requirement but it does have pretty much everything else. It is set up to spend a week on each lesson with one question a day but we just do the entire lesson all at once. We spend about ten minutes reviewing glossary words, five minutes on me teaching, then it takes Gabriella five minutes to complete the “quiz” answering the entire weeks worth of questions at once.
I have found a little gem called the Typing Instructor for Kids! When I first got it and uploaded it I felt that I made a mistake. The program seemed dated and cheap. My daughter loves it and has significantly improved her typing skills since she started using it. She is five and types around 15 words per minute with 98% accuracy. She has only been using it for a week. I can’t wait to see where she is at when she finishes the program.
I love this series. It is an excellent way to teach children about history. These books don’t read like a text book, they reads like a story. The reality is that I learned a lot too. If you are home schooling then I would suggest you purchase the entire set. The tests are great, the teachers guide has lots of ideas in it and suggestions for additional reading materials.
My girl has struggled a little bit with memorizing her math facts. I got this ‘toy’ to help her. I was a little nervous at first when she didn’t have the hand eye coordination to complete a key. I must have failed her as a parent, she is not supposed to be one of “those” home schooled kids. I took her out to the basketball court and made her shoot hoops for a few hours to feel better. She kept practicing and she has it down now. I love this thing. She brings it with her in the car and says what she is doing as she is doing it, that way I can beep if she is saying the wrong answer. I have ordered her subtraction and will definitely get state capitals in the wraps when she has to learn those. Once again this is a whole brain kinda thing, she is wrapping with both hands while saying facts aloud, and hopefully tattooing these facts onto her pretty wrinkled brain.
You can buy these on Amazon, but I buy them at Timberdoodle.com.
These simple rods are a wonderful manipulative for teaching math. You can start when they are very young just lining them up in a train and stacking them on top of each other then gradually introduce them as objects with a numerical value. You can’t pull them apart like cubes so they will always hold the same value. Gabriella has been able to really understand the math worksheets she has been completing so much better since she has walked through them with the rods.
October was our space month in science. We learned all about space travel. As part of our space travel experiments we painted and built this rocket. It was totally awesome and well worth the time and money. I will be repeating this project.
