2nd and 3rd Grade after-schooling?

[lilajoy]

If you are after-schooling or have after-schooled a 2nd or 3rd grader, what are you doing and what has worked well? How do you prioritize what to focus on? Would love to hear what resources you like and what other families are doing.

 

 

[SKL]

My kids were doing Singapore's Math In Focus at school, so I bought some supplemental materials to work on at home.  My kids are not super mathy, and one of them needed a lot of home support to keep up with her class.  So for her, the re-teach and extra practice and the Singapore (not MIF) workbooks were helpful.  She also did some math fact workbooks - Kumon and 2+2 =/=5 etc.  For my other kid, who is above average, I bought the advanced supplements, but she didn't like them.  (Honestly, not much worked well with that kid, other than a lot of independent reading and one-off activities.)

 

For LA, I really liked Wordly Wise, though it takes a long time to get through each lesson (given that afterschooling time is limited).  Alternatively we could break it down between vocabulary and reading/writing, using "240 vocabulary words kids need to know" (available at each grade level) and Teacher Created Resources - Nonfiction Reading Comprehension (or similar).  I had lots of other materials, but these were the ones that mostly got done.  :)

 

My kids always wanted to meet the stretch goal for accelerated reader, which meant reading multiple books per week at home.  I would encourage them to read books that related to what they were studying in science or social studies, lots of biographies, etc., along with the various kid favorites their friends were reading.

 

Also at that age, my kids enjoyed DVD series including Liberty's Kids, Magic Schoolbus, and Carmen Sandiego.

 

We found various one-off classes / programs at the library or museums, covering different academic or cultural areas.  On random days off school, the local community theater runs camps where the kids act out a different book each day (we of course read the book in advance).

 

We joined AHG when they were 7, and that provided new contexts to work on some academic skills along with other skills.  The kids also took piano lessons.

Edited October 3, 2016 by SKL

[Earthmerlin]

My kids were doing Singapore's Math In Focus at school, so I bought some supplemental materials to work on at home. My kids are not super mathy, and one of them needed a lot of home support to keep up with her class. So for her, the re-teach and extra practice and the Singapore (not MIF) workbooks were helpful. She also did some math fact workbooks - Kumon and 2+2 =/=5 etc. For my other kid, who is above average, I bought the advanced supplements, but she didn't like them. (Honestly, not much worked well with that kid, other than a lot of independent reading and one-off activities.)

 

For LA, I really liked Wordly Wise, though it takes a long time to get through each lesson (given that afterschooling time is limited). Alternatively we could break it down between vocabulary and reading/writing, using "240 vocabulary words kids need to know" (available at each grade level) and Teacher Created Resources - Nonfiction Reading Comprehension (or similar). I had lots of other materials, but these were the ones that mostly got done. :)

 

My kids always wanted to meet the stretch goal for accelerated reader, which meant reading multiple books per week at home. I would encourage them to read books that related to what they were studying in science or social studies, lots of biographies, etc., along with the various kid favorites their friends were reading.

 

Also at that age, my kids enjoyed DVD series including Liberty's Kids, Magic Schoolbus, and Carmen Sandiego.

 

We found various one-off classes / programs at the library or museums, covering different academic or cultural areas. On random days off school, the local community theater runs camps where the kids act out a different book each day (we of course read the book in advance).

 

We joined AHG when they were 7, and that provided new contexts to work on some academic skills along with other skills. The kids also took piano lessons.

What is AHG?

[Earthmerlin]

For us, it's Spanish & French along with music & math. I've worked in spelling too. We love nature so getting outside to explore is important, even if it's just the back yard or around the neighborhood. Cooking's become a hot topic of interest lately & she LOVES Brain Pop Jr. Following her interests & answering her questions also take us down impromptu alleyways of learning. We also utilize local resources & amenities--museums, art galleries, zoos, planetarium, library programs, festivals, etc. When we have outings, I try to prepare her by reading topic-related books beforehand. For example, this weekend the local astronomy club's hosting a star party so we're looking at the current night sky & reading books on the moon, the Milky Way, etc. My intent is to make the sky-gazing event more impactful.

Edited October 3, 2016 by Earthmerlin

[SKL]

What is AHG?

 

American Heritage Girls (scouts).

 

[displace]

We do (third grader gifted with learning disabilities):

Gymnastics, phonics/formal English with AAR, spelling with AAS, math facts practice (usually apps or me quizzing), typing, handwriting, piano. I bet I will have to teach grammar soonish, for which we will use grammar/sentence island. We listen to high level audiobooks during car rides, and sometimes make it to the museum (science, kid's, aquarium, zoo), probably a few times per year, more during summer.

We also have math worksheet homework from school and sometimes a project for a book or research topic.

[pkbab5]

I have a second grader.  School homework consists of spelling words, reading, and math fact practice.  My kid loves math and wants to do more of it than they do in school, so I teach her Singapore a level ahead with CWP and IP, plus anything else fun thrown in like a bit of Miquon and Beast Academy (usually during the summer).  I have her do a page a day of Vocabulary Workshop (easier to manage than Wordly Wise), and she has to practice piano.  We also have a subscription to Dreambox math which she plays on the weekends.  We listen to Story of the World in the car.  Over Christmas break I'm hoping to build a computer with her.

Edited October 12, 2016 by pkbab5

[Tanikit]

We were homeschooling til April and DD entered grade 3 this year (start in January). I am doing Math with her at home as she is advanced in Math, spelling (she was slightly behind there) and plenty of read alouds in all subjects including discussing the news with her. My younger DD (entered kindergarten this year) is doing reading and Math with me as well as read alouds in all subjects. My elder does not do school homework for Math. My younger has very little homework fortunately - I have turned the sight word reading into teaching sight word spelling instead as she can read mostly fluently.

[mayathiagarajan]

I have two kids, ds is in grade 6 and dd is in grade 3.

 

For my third grader, I find that I have much less time now to afterschool, partly because of my work schedule and partly because of her homework schedule. So these are the areas I focus on:

 

- Math - twice a week - we use Singapore math, which I love

 

- On the weekends, I also try to fit in either grammar (I'm an English teacher, and I really want her to have a strong understanding of how language works, and unfortunately, grammar doesn't seem to be part of the curriculum at most schools these days) or some content (either Science or the Humanities). I think that she really enjoys substantive content -- interesting Science units of History units, and I'd love to do more of this, but I just don't have as much time as I'd like. When we do have the time, I use a combination of field trips and/or engaging non-fiction books. 

 

- I also try to fit in a few read-alouds, and I make sure that she has access to a lot of high quality children's literature. We engage in a lot of informal book conversations over meals and in the car.

 

http://www.mayathiagarajan.info/

Author of "Beyond the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age."

 

[tiffaninichole]

For my third grader, I try to stick with things that don't take a lot of time. He's been in school all day, I don't want to make him spend the remainder of his day doing too much more, ya know?

 

Reading/fluency practice: 5 Minutes to Better Reading Skills and 3x per week, he does Ace Reader

 

Reading: An AR book on Epic! (a reading app, takes about 15-20 minutes)

 

Math Facts: Math Facts Pro (takes about 10 minutes)

 

Math: We were switching between CTC Math and Prodigy, depending on what he wanted to do. But we just started using book 1 in the Learn Math Fast series. He likes it because the explanations are easy and (so far) have been quick.