Welcome to Grade 2 Learn-At-Home!
This page is designed to help provide you with resources to teach your child at this level and to give you some confidence as you tackle this adventure. It focuses on the core subjects, but you can add in any extras that you would like to include. The resources listed are based on the various curriculum learning outcomes presented by the provinces and territories.
Remember that learning at home is a different experience than learning in a classroom. You do not (and should not) do seatwork and focused learning for the whole day. Keep your intentional learning times short and engaging. Learning happens outside of that official "school" time just fine. Provide an environment of learning and see what happens!
A typical school year is divided up into 180 days / 36 weeks. Simply make a plan for each week to pull together your homeschool year. Here is a simple schedule.
- EVERY DAY: Math, Language, Reading
- MWF: Science
- T/TH : Social Studies
- Add in art, music, French, health, and phys ed as desired.
For Math, pick a program that will work best for your child and use it a little each day.
For Language, the main sections of a language program are literature, writing, spelling, and grammar. Try to include something for each area over the course of a week.
For Reading, just read with your child. Pick some classic children’s literature and snuggle together to read aloud. Ask lots of questions as you work your way through the book and have them engage in conversation. Let them come up with theories of what’s going to happen next. A fun idea is to pick books that have been made into movies. Read the book, and then follow up with a movie. If your child is an avid reader on their own, make time to have them read to themselves and to you.
For Science, divide the year into unit topics. Most provinces have 4-5 units in the year. That means you have 7 to 9 weeks for each topic, three times a week. (21-27 lessons for each.) Watch related TV shows like Magic School Bus or Bill Nye, play online games, do experiments, and let your child be a natural scientist.
For Social Studies, divide the year into 3 units of about 12 weeks each, two times a week (24 lessons for each.) Some subjects may need more time and that's okay.
You can add in additional subjects as you would like, whether that be an intentional part of learning time or just as extra learning throughout the day.
- For Art, you can do free art time, follow the instructions of someone else (such as the YouTube channel ArtHubForKids), join an art club like KinderArt.com, or use a series of art lessons. You can even just look at various pieces of art and talk about what they see.
- For Music, quiet listening time to different kinds of music from different time periods and different cultures can be a lot of fun. Talk about the instruments they hear, the rhythm and beat, and the speed of the tempo. They can even move their bodies how they think the music makes them feel.
- For Phys.Ed & Health, make sure to get some intentional active time each day to keep moving. Talk about how to be safe in all kinds of scenarios and the importance of proper food.
The main thing? Have fun.
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MATH
Two options for online curriculum for Grade 2.
If you would prefer a workbook based math program, consider one of these cost-effective options.
- JUMP Math 2.1 and JUMP Math 2.2 - Teacher Guides are free on their website, but are optional.
- Math Mammoth 2
- Complete MathSmart 2
Here are some fun ways to review and practice math skills.
SOCIAL STUDIES
Want a workbook?
I recommend this introduction to Canada from Donna Ward / Northwoods Press.
In this unit, students explore their family history and traditions, plus the traditions in their community.
- My Family Research Pack
- Celebrations - this activity booklet has classroom lessons and activities designed for a group so some modifications may be needed.
- Have your child put together a journal entry or presentation on their favourite family tradition.
This unit explores the diversity of Canada's physical and cultural diversity.
- Have your child set up a shop (grab her freebie printables) and have your family "buy" from them. If the token system doesn't work for your family, you can use play money.
LANGUAGE ARTS
Here are two websites that work on language lessons for Grade 2:
Prefer a workbook or worksheets? Here are a few options.
- Developing Parent Book and Student Book (click on the Language Arts Grade 1-3)
- EnglishSmart 2
- Chalkboard Publishing Grade 2 Language Bundle (eBook)
Here are some ways to add language arts to your day without a curriculum.
- Read books and do a book report.
- Play Scrabble or Bananagrams Jr.
- Write a daily journal, blog post, or email to a grandparent or friend.
- Pick a "word of the day." Learn how to spell it, the definition, part of speech, etc.
- Write a story: Planner from NaNoWriMo | My Story Planner
- IXL
THE ARTS
- Play a game from the Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.
- Listen to Classical Music and discuss what you hear.
- Watch episodes of the Music Show on YouTube.
SCIENCE
Just want a general workbook?
(This unit is covered in all provinces and territories.)
In this unit, students explore the life cycles of animals from birth to adulthood.
Here are some Parent-Interactive resources. Although most of these are intended for a classroom setting, you can complete most of these lessons and activities at home.
- Scholastic Canada: Animal Growth and Changes: This is a teacher guide to walk through a unit about this topic. There is a lot of "Extra" stuff here intended for teachers so just skip past all that to the activities (starts on page 10.) Look for the Activate, Connect, and Consolidate sections for the activities and resources. Includes books to read, website links, printable worksheets, and more. Keep in mind that this particular resource references Scholastic products, so if you don't have specific things, just skip that part and do the next activity (or adapt to what you can get instead).
- Growth and Changes in Animals: This outline shows activities and lessons to do with your child to cover topics in this unit. Look at the right-hand column for the lessons. Don't worry about the "rubrics" or other teacher-related jargon - just focus on the activities. Unfortunately, there are no printables to go with some of the activities, so you will have to make/hand write your own sheets or adapt something if needed.
Here are some Independent Learning Resources.
- Life Cycles - drag the pictures to the right spot on the life cycle
- Animals and their Babies - match the animals to their babies (they are hiding on the board and the closer you get, the brighter the sun!)
- Animals Videos
- IXL
(This unit is covered in almost all the provinces.)
In this unit, students explore forces such as pulling and pushing and how they make things move.
Here are some Parent-Interactive resources. Although most of these are intended for a classroom setting, you can complete most of these lessons and activities at home.
- Forces and Motion: This is a teacher's guide on this unit. The links to videos in this guide do not work and I think you need to access them through a teacher portal, so just skip or look for something similar. One lesson requires film canisters, which most people do not have. You can order them from Amazon here -> Film Canisters, but it looks like it takes about a month to arrive. If you would rather skip the experiment, you can watch some boys do the experiment.
Here are some Independent Learning Resources.
- Motion Games - Play tug of war, push things on wheels and off, and other activities.
- IXL
- Videos - these are from the old tv show "Eureka." Type the episode you would like to watch in the box at the bottom. Episode 1 is on Inertia, and Episodes 11-15 are about simple machines.
(This unit is covered in almost all provinces and territories.)
In this unit, students explore air and water in the environment.
Here are some Parent-Interactive resources. Although most of these are intended for a classroom setting, you can complete most of these lessons and activities at home.
- Air and Water in the Environment: This is a teacher guide to walk through a unit about this topic. There is a lot of "Extra" stuff here intended for teachers so just skip past all that to the activities (starts on page 14.) Look for the Activate, Connect, and Consolidate sections for the activities and resources. Includes books to read, website links, printable worksheets, and more. Keep in mind that this particular resource references Scholastic products, so if you don't have specific things, just skip that part and do the next activity (or adapt to what you can get instead).
- Air and Water in the Environment: This is a lesson plan designed from an Indigenous perspective. Includes books and other resource suggestions, although some may not be available easily.
Here are some Independent Learning Resources.
(This unit is covered in all provinces / territories)
In this unit, students discover more about the properties of matter - especially liquids and solids.
Here are some Parent-Interactive resources. Although most of these are intended for a classroom setting, you can complete most of these lessons and activities at home.
- Properties of Matter Lesson Plans. Interactive experiments and activities using craft supplies and other things you likely have around your house - with worksheets.
Here are some Independent Learning Resources.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION & HEALTH
Use activities from GoNoodle to keep active.
- Germs
- Learn About Fire Safety with this comic (click the little numbers near the bottom of the pictures to go to the next page.). Do a colouring page. Make a fire escape plan with your whole family.
