Review of Our Father's World, 2nd grade social studies curriculum by Rod and Staff Publishers



 

 

 

 

 

Our Father's World is the unassuming 2nd grade social studies curriculum by Rod and Staff Publishers. At a price of only $13.45 for both the workbook and the teacher's guide, this curriculum is extremely affordable.

 

I tend to be drawn to the simplicity and wholesomeness of Mennonite curriculum in general, which is why my family uses a great deal of curriculum from Christan Light Education and some from Rod and Staff publishers.

 

While the curriclum might seem simple, I am very glad we completed it. It covers all of the information that a 2nd grader should know about geography while also including 10 lessons on children from cultures around the world. The main topics covered in the curriculum are different kinds of climates (such as mountains, prairie, desert), continents, maps, and children from other cultures (specifically a story about a different child from each continent).
 

My son and I completed this curriclum in about 3 months even though it is meant for the entire year. Instead of completing 1 lesson a week, I completed two and we finished in about 3 months. I wanted to do that because 1) I want to make sure my son has at least 2 hours of school work a day because I think that is a good amount for his overall development and 2) there are many other cool history related books I want to read with him this year. Because we completed this traditional-style curriclum, I have peace of mind lknowing that he has mastered 2nd grade "social studies" content, and now we have plenty of time for cool map worksheets and history read alouds.

 

While the curriclum seems like it might be easy because of its low cost and unassuming appearance, the BEST part of the curriclum was that is REALLY challenged and grew my son's critical thinking abilities. At the beginning of the year, he was a bit overwhelmed by the worksheets and having to search through the text for some pretty detailed fill-in-the-blanks or other such exercises. By the end of the curriculum, the worksheets were harder, yet he was capable of mostly doing them all by himself. The curriculum really stretched his abilities in a good way. (He still struggles with having to copy words if he has to keep flipping a page so for one lesson I did photocopy a map for him so he wouldn't have to do that.)

 

While I am not planning to use any more Rod and Staff social studies/history curriculum, I am very pleased that we did this one together for his 2nd grade year. He especially enjoyed reading the story about "Maria" whose family had to endure persecution due to the political situation of the time (circa 1980s). While some people may have complaints that this story is outdated and doesn't reflect the current situation, it is a very important time in history to learn about and still teaches relevant cultural information.

 

After my son and I would read Our Father's World for the day, I would read a chapter from American Pioneer and Patriots by Christian Liberty Press. Conveniently, we finished both of these on the same day last week. For reference we spent between 30 and 40 minutes on both of these things.

 

If you are looking for an inexpensive, wholesome, and challenging social studies curriculum, I highly recommend Our Father's World, the 2nd grade social studies by Rod and Staff publishers.

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