How to Homeschool Your Second Grader for Free

Editor’s Note: This page is being updated to remove the resources that are no longer available and to add new free resources. Thank you for your patience!

When I was a new homeschooling mom, I spent way too much money on two complete homeschool curricula for my sons, who were then in 2nd grade and Kindergarten. It was not a good use of my money. You can read about my experience in my article about How to Homeschool Your Kindergartener for Free.

Read How to Homeschool Your First Grader for Free here.

As I looked for alternatives to the curriculum that didn’t work for us, I was happy to discover that quality homeschooling was possible outside of an expensive boxed curriculum. Not only could homeschooling be done inexpensively, but homeschooling for free was completely feasible.

As my children have grown, so have the free homeschooling resource available online. No matter how often I look for free homeschooling goodies there are always more to be found. In this post I will go over what a first grader should learn during the first grade year and list lots of free resources for each subject.

Before we get to the free second grade homeschool resources be sure to pin this information for easy access later.
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What Your Second Grader Should Know

The first step to homeschooling your second grader for free is knowing what your child needs to learn in this stage of his or her education. Below are the basic concepts usually taught in U.S public schools. I won’t include grade-level standards for history, science, health education, religious studies, foreign language or fine arts.

In my own home, I am apt to teach these subjects in a more child-led, unschooling manner. I often include all three children together when doing lessons in social studies, science, arts, etc, regardless of grade level. My focus is making sure that my children are on target in the big three — reading, writing and arithmetic.

Second Grade Reading and Reading Comprehension Skills

Understand basic syllabication
Know the Dolch sight words for 2nd grade
Understand common abbreviations
Describe the plot, characters and setting of stories
Follow written instructions with two-steps
Learn rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, simile and metaphor

Second Grade Writing Skills

Improve manuscript legibility
Begin learning to write short stories, poems, journals, short non-fiction reports and letters
Identify subject and predicate; complete and incomplete sentences
Identify nouns, verbs, adjectives and comparative adjectives
Identify synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms
Use correct verb tense and noun pluralization
Understand correct capitalization and most punctuation

Second Grade Math Skills

Recognize and write numbers to 1000
Understand greater than and less than with numbers to 1000
Know place value for 1s, 10s, 100s and 1000s
Round numbers to the nearest 10
Understand even and odd numbers
Know ordinal positions 1st-20th
Recognize and write fractions from 1/10-1/2

Sources: Home Learning Year By Year, What Your Second Grader Needs to Know, ~~Core Standards.Org~~, ~~PBS.org~~, Reading Rockets.Org

How to Homeschool Your First Grader for Free

Fortunately for us homeschoolers, we live in the digital age. This means greater access to educational tools, both free and paid. Below I will list the free homeschooling resources for each of the three knowledge categories I listed above. (This is the part you’ve been waiting for!)

Free Second Grade Homeschool Curriculum

Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool Curriculum

Ambleside Online – Second Grade

Discovery K12 – Second Grade

Free Second Grade Reading Resources

Starfall.com
K12Reader.com (Story Elements)
2nd Grade Worksheets
Super Teacher Worksheets (Syllabication)
Dolch Sight Words (I suggest making homemade flash cards with these.)
PDF Printable of Dolch Sight Words
ABCya
~~Knowledge Adventure~~
TLSBooks.com
Jump Start
Kidzone.com
Super Teacher Worksheets (Reading Comprehension)
K5Learning.com
Super Teacher Worksheets (Anonyms and Synonyms)
Home Speech Home (2-Step Directions)
Big Learners.com

Free Second Grade Writing Resources

Handwriting Worksheets.com
Writing Prompts.com
Friendly Letter Writing
Super Teacher Worksheets (Parts of Speech)
K5Learning.com
K5Learning.com

Free Second Grade Math Resources

Free Second Grade Homeschool Resources – Other Subjects

As you probably noticed while clicking around the websites I listed, many of the websites have a variety of subjects to offer. Although I only focused on the specific subject listed, you should certainly take advantage of the science, social studies, art and other subjects to homeschool your kindergartener for free. (It is my plan to eventually update these listings with other subjects.)

Other Free Homeschooling Resources

If you’re like me and enjoy the organization aspect of teaching your children, you’ll like this list of free homeschool planning printables I grouped here.

My homeschooling board on Pinterest is full of great homeschooling ideas, many of which are frugal or free! Go check it out and don’t forget to follow!
Follow Our Small Hours ‘s board Homeschooling on Pinterest.

Check out my lists of free homeschool resources for individual subjects. These lists aren’t grade-level specific, but are helpful nonetheless.

Free Homeschool Science Resources

Free Homeschool Social Studies Resources

Free Homeschool Math Resources

Free Homeschool Reading Resources

Free Homeschool Language Arts Resources

If you find that you have a little cash to spend on homeschooling your 2nd grader, I highly recommend these resources that can be bought on Amazon for less than in bookstores. (Especially if you sign up for Prime!)

What your Second Grader Needs to Know

Spectrum Math — Grade 2

Spectrum Writing — Grade 1

Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills – Grade 2

Homeschooling your second grader doesn’t have to break the bank. It’s so easy to homeschool your second grader for free. The internet puts so many free resources right at your fingertips. Combined with your public library and a local homeschooling co-op, you’ve got everything you need to be a frugal homeschooler while giving your children a quality education.

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