* Holidays and festivals
Look for an upcoming blog in the Homeschoolers’ Advent Calendar regarding great ideas for celebrating a multi-ethnic Christmas season.
* Patriotic celebrations
While it’s a little young to teach all of the history surrounding Independence Day, I suggest reading several related books:
–The Story of America’s Birthday by Patricia A. Pingry
–Hooray for the 4th of July by Wendy Watson
–Apple Pie for 4th of July by Janet S. Wong
–Anything related that was written by Jean Fritz
* Communities in other lands: past and present
* Family and family history
* Families around the world
Ask the question: If I were a child in this place, what would my life be like? In answering this question we have practiced hieroglyphics, churned butter, and done some laundry by hand. Kids love to pretend, even at 2nd grade and it is great fun to consider what your life would be life in another time and or place. I also highly recommend looking for a living historical village or farm near you and paying a visit for a field trip. It is a truly incredible experience.
* Community services and helpers
* Citizenship and social responsibility
Second grade is a great time to start community service projects. (Actually if you can start earlier that’s great but some children lack the maturity to be truly helpful.) A great first service project is to make greeting cards for a nursing home. Contact the nursing home first to see what would be acceptable to bring. The first time my daughter did this, she was amazed at how happy the people were at receiving a card. Now in our family this is a rite of passage.
* Basic geography: oceans, continents
* Map skills
When I taught fifth grade I had students that thought Canada was next to China, Manhattan was the capital of New York and that confused Africa with South America on a map. When I started home schooling I bought a large dry erase map that we could draw on. Every time we mention a place in anything we’re doing, we label it on the map. By the time my daughter started memorizing the locations of countries she had a pretty good idea of general locations.
Related Articles:
What Your Second Grader Should Know in Language Arts
What Your Second Grader Should Know in Science
What Your Second Grader Should Know in Math