Motivational Coping & Healing

Hi :) welcome to another homeschooling adventure on this blog. If you’re a new reader welcome <3 Every Tuesday I share my homeschooling adventures with my seven-year-old. This is our first year completely homeschooling without a program, and I thought it would be neat to capture the year, share with others, connect with more homeschooling parents, and have a way to look back once our homeschooling adventures come to an end.

I remember when I first made the decision to homeschool. Killian, my son, did not do well in public school. He ended up in the school attic one day trying to run away from loud sounds and overstimulation. Luckily, they found him and called me to the school. After that I was set on homeschooling.

Our first year at home we did the k12 online program, it was honestly wonderful. We were able to set him up on the flex plan, which allowed us to only go to his homeroom classes on Fridays and have our schedule more flexible. He had daily schoolwork that he could complete on our timing. The teacher was kind, supportive, and guiding. Additionally, the entire program was free. They sent him a laptop, printer, school supplies, and books.

While I did enjoy the K12 program, I knew that I wanted to tailor his coursework more to him and his interests. I researched what second graders needed to know and planned an entire curriculum around the subjects, so I could keep Killian interested and engaged. By combining a common theme, it felt like his lessons were more rounded and point driven. Instead of learning about different scattered subjects, he is able to have a common theme of understanding that ties all the subjects together.

Through research I found out that most second graders should know by the end of the year:

Second Grade Reading

• Read and comprehend the main ideas
• Retell what happened in a story, including main ideas, details about characters, settings, and events. 
• Self-select reading materials
• Make connections to their own background knowledge
• Read silently

Second Grade Writing

• Write in complete sentences with appropriate punctuation
• Use capital letters correctly
• Use and understand contractions
• Write stories with a beginning, middle, and end
• Be able to do basic research from a non-fiction book
• Understand and use the first and third person points of view 
• Edit his or her own writing for spelling and punctuation

Second Grade Math

• Learn about even and odd numbers
• Use tally marks to count by five
• Write numbers in word form
• Add two and three-digit numbers
• Subtract two and three-digit numbers
• Know the order of addition and subtraction operations
• Know the addition and subtraction fact families
• Start learning multiplication and division fact families
• Recognize patterns
• Round whole numbers to the nearest 10
• Know the place value of thousands
• Understand counting money, including coins, and bills, counting, adding, and subtracting money
• Be able to measure length, weight, and passage of time
• Tell time to the nearest five minutes
• Recognize two-dimensional geometric figures
• Solve word problems

Second Grade Social Studies

• Learn about the community, state, and where we live
• Learn about different regions and states
• Learn about different continents and oceans

Second Grade Science

• Make predictions
• Find patterns in nature
• Learn about the Earth and its natural resources

By breaking down everything that my kiddo needed to learn, I was able to see where he needed to focus , what was already mastered, and what we could do reviews on, so he didn’t lose any of the knowledge skills he had learned in the previous years.

After I made the list, I chose three themes to present to Killian and asked him to choose one. Decision making skills are important and I wanted him to have a hand in the process of lesson planning too. His three options were outer space, marbles, and plumbing. Which are his three major interests. He chose outer space, and I began creating a lesson plan around that theme.

Once I knew what theme I was working with, I researched how many days a school year has, I live in Indiana which has around 180 days for a complete school year. Which translates into 36 weeks. Each state is different so make sure to look up laws, days, and what you need in order to homeschool if you are new to all this. Indiana is pretty relaxed and does not have too many requirements.

The next thing I did was come up with 36 weekly space themes to incorporate into the lesson plans. I knew my main focus with Killian this year would be spelling, reading comprehension, emotional regulation, and writing. He is proficient in most other areas, so I made sure to include a few different worksheets that focused on his improvement areas. I created everything using the website Canva. I was able to make his entire lesson plan with the new course creation feature on Canva. I created everything completely free. You can check out the backend of our second week below.

Each week is set up similar to the last, with a different space theme:

1. Introduction to the school year
2. Space
3. Sun
4. Orbit
5. Mercury
6. Venus
7. Earth
8. Mars
9. Jupiter
10. Saturn
11. Uranus
12. Neptune
13. Intro to dwarf planets
14. Ceres
15. Pluto
16. Haumea
17. Makemake
18. Eris
19. Moons
20. Eclipse
21. Stars
22. Constellations
23. Asteroids
24. Meteoroids
25. Comets
26. Astronauts
27. Rockets
28. Satellites
29. NASA
30. Novas
31. Nebulas
32. Blackholes
33. Galaxies
34. The universe
35. Space Theories
36. End of the School Year

After I got the backend set up. I made custom worksheets on Canva and printed them off for each week and created weekly workbooks for him to complete each week. I also included days of the month worksheets for him to do every week too so he could remember his months, something he has a harder time with. You can check out week twos workbook format below.

On top of learning about what is needed for developmental milestones academically wise, we also utilize the community resources. We use public transportation since we live in a college town, or we walk everywhere. This helps us save money, understand how to use public transportation, and gives me the opportunity to teach Killian how to behave in public settings.

Social skills are hard for us both… I am a major introvert, and Killian wants to talk to any and every one about everything lol so it’s good for both of us to be out in the community. I also struggle with agoraphobia, so this also helps me get out of the house too. It’s a learning experience for us both in communication and emotion regulation.

We also go to the laundromat every two weeks. We unfortunately do not have washer and dryer hookups at our place, but we do live close to a laundromat. I’ve learned this was actually a good thing because there is more space for me to teach Killian how to separate, wash, and fold clothes properly at the laundromat.

Additionally, every Monday we go to the library to check out books related to the weekly theme and books on the emotion of the week. The second week we learned about anger. One of the ladies at the women and children’s center me and my son was at in 2024 printed us a workbook that explains 34 different emotions with an action plan to fill out. So, I decided to go over one emotion in depth each week. We get children’s stories that relate to the emotion we are learning and on Fridays we fill out our emotion regulation plans.

We also go to the YMCA weekly for fun, social skills, and exercise. Luckily, we have an indoor pool and have the opportunity to swim all year round. Parks are also another community feature we utilize. We have a lot of parks where we are located, one is even a 10-minute walk from our home.

Did you know that the YMCA offers a scholarship program for low-income families? It helps with the monthly costs. While it is not 100% free it does help save money and give low-income families an opportunity to become a YMCA member. It’s great.

Lastly, we try to attend events going on in the community. We live downtown in a college town so there’s usually something always going on. Like the walks that support mental health, ending domestic violence, Alzheimer’s, and more. There’s also a marketplace. I plan to make crafts with Killian to sell there one year to teach him about how to make money, business expenses, etc… The plaza is pretty fun too. They host family movies, ice skating in the winter, a splash pad in the summer. There are fun teaching opportunities everywhere.

There you have it :) How I created lesson plans using my kiddos special interest, academic, community, social, and emotional plans to help him learn all the skills he needs to be out on his own in the world one day. We also do daily chores and learning how to make homemade food from scratch, which we will be sharing soon too.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this blog <3