No homework in second grade so looking for home enrichment
My kid's school has no homework given in second grade. I know a lot of parents are in support of it so I'm fine with it being the policy, but personally disagree with it and told my son that I will be giving him "homework" instead, especially since his sibling in K this year is getting homework so I want to keep it fair. Homework in our household tends to be educational activities and not necessary just worksheets, so it is not as bad as it sounds. Last year he did workbooks at home to supplement math (since he is pretty advanced) and will be continuing with it this year, but I don't want to increase his workbook requirement since it is not fun. Any advice on interesting and fun enrichment activities to serve as homework. I'm looking for ideas for interesting enrichment workbooks, websites, apps, board games, puzzles, or other type of activities that I can assign for a 7 year old to do independently (he is a strong reader, and follows direction well) to do at home that is educational and will make it feel like he has homework so I don't have his K sibling complaining while still showing him that "homework" and learning can be fun.
Parent Replies
I would check out the local 4-H chapters. The Emeryville 4-H is having it's kick off meeting on MON 9/17 at EBI school. They have so many project that you're bound to find something 'enriching' for your 2nd grader.... Thx
My daughter went through a lot of biographies in the early elementary years. We got butcher paper and created a timeline showing the lifespans of the people we read about, to see how they overlapped.
You say your son is advanced at math. Is he up for some kind of data analysis, maybe sports statistics? Charts, comparisons. Averages, if that's in his skill set (I think that's normally more like 4th or 5th grade...). There are multitude of things he could analyze; surely something he is interested in will lend itself to analysis.
Not homework, exactly, but music has been found to correlate with school performance. Learning to read music has direct relationships to math, as it is a complete symbolic language with notes described as fractions of a measure (eighth notes, quarter notes, half notes). Notes have pitch and duration, may have lyrics associated with them, and music provides additional direction about volume and feeling. There's a lot to juggle, and it seems to be good for growing brains.
Check out MindWare (www.mindware.orientaltrading.com). They have a ton of brain teaser/puzzle books and activities that are interesting and fun. My family particularly enjoyed the Math Adventures/Mosaics and the Logic Links.
We love Beast Academy for math and the Horrible Histories books for history. Beast Academy has an online program that starts in 2nd grade and their math curriculum is fabulous. My daughter went from feeling like she was just "OK" at math to being several grades ahead after just 2 years of Beast Academy (https://beastacademy.com/). There is definitely enough challenge for quite advanced kids. The Horrible Histories books are a lot of fun, but I think are probably around a 5th grade reading level, so that might depend on your son. Good luck!
Our "family homework" last year, for a 6 and 9 year old, was 30 minutes reading, 30 minutes Prodigy or Khan Academy and one Spanish worksheet. We also signed them up for Firecracker Math.
My suggestion is that you go to Lawrence Hall of Science, or Chabot, or the Exploratorium, and look through the gift/bookstore for puzzles and math games. Generally that's a better use of time than workbooks in terms of complex learning. Good games/building tools to think about are: Set, Apples to Apples, Zome, Magnifying Glasses/Microscopes, Fractiles, Simple Machines. A lot of these can be done with the 5 year old as well, so they can both learn at the same time.
This suggestion comes from the parent of two teens, both very bright and often under challenged in school. However, one fits the school mold and thrives, the other is a square peg in a round hole when it comes to school. For both, their interests drove their enrichment. I wanted them meaningfully engaged in their area of interest. For one, it was Pokemon, he would spend hours researching, building decks, then playing in weekly leagues and several tournaments a year. This required reading, math, higher level strategic thinking, social skills, etc. For the other, it was reading and writing. She picked the books and beautiful notebooks and pens/pencils. She read, wrote, illustrated. If she particularly loved a book, she'd ask me to read it and we'd discuss. It there was a movie version, we'd watch that and talk about the differences between the book and the movie. This required reading, writing, and analytical skills, as well as fine motor and artistic development. I did not have specific "work" times, but rather put limits on media, and when they were "bored" they readily went to their projects. My husband and I showed interest and supported their endeavors, but did not manage or drive the work. I can't tell you how many hours they spent on their projects, it was a lot. They learned a ton in a real like kind of way. Now in their teens, they only regret how much structured homework they have and long for the days of self-directed immersion.
Go to the Mini-Maker Faire at Park Day School in Oakland in October. You will get more creative, enriching ideas than you ever thought existed. Check homeschooling websites for ideas as well. Make projects, do puzzles, play games, make forts, create productions, write stories. Encourage your 7 year old to gain mastery in some skill. You can also send your 2nd grader to an educational therapist once a week to get some research-based enrichment. Don't rely on mass-produced worksheets when there are other possibilities