Second Grade Curriculum 2018/2019 - A Creek Runs Through It

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Our son is seven years old and in the second grade. I am a firm believer in keeping things simple for K-3rd with a focus on the 3 R’s- reading, writing, and arithmetic. Here is a list of how we use Sonlight plus Classical Conversations along with the 3R’s to create a fantastic second-grade curriculum. Our typical routine involves a morning time with read-alouds and a quick CC memory work review. Next, we cover our 3 R’s and then, IF we have time, we will do our Beautiful Feet curriculum or a fun science project or a craft.

Our son is the opposite of our daughter in every way possible. Many things that I tried with her that were fails, I have now come back to use with him. Good thing I hoarded all that curriculum on my bookshelves!!

Sonlight History/Bible/Literature B

We love Sonlight books! We spend at least an hour reading during our morning time routine. It is a great way to start the day and my children revolt if we try to skip it or move it to a different time! We also alternate between reading poetry, missionary stories, and Aesop’s fables during this time. We do not follow the Sonlight guide we just work our way through that wonderful pile of books! To read about how we use Sonlight for our Morning Time check out this post.

Math

Math-U-See Beta- Straight forward and it works for this child. He loves the blocks and he just gets it. This program makes math easy for him. He LOVES Math-U-See!
Life of Fred- Our son loves these stories. They are quirky and funny. We look forward to seeing what Fred is up to each day. We are currently reading the Farming book. (Our daughter could not stand the Life of Fred books! She just wanted to do her math and be done with it.)
For fun we occasionally add in Right Start Math games and the Beast Academy 2 books. He loves math so this is an area we really take our time with.

Phonics

The Good & The Beautiful –AND- All About Reading- Fluent reading has not clicked yet for our little guy. We completed The Good & The Beautiful (TGTB) Primer which we loved! It is a pre-K program but he needed a review of these basics. We moved through it quickly and it allowed us to move into All About Reading (AAR). So, we are now working on AAR Level 1. He is reading the short stories with the AAR program and he adores the books. He now says that he loves reading! That is honey for this mama’s heart!

Handwriting

Logic of English- The Rhythm of Handwriting- We are working on learning cursive. We focus on practicing the letters with large motor skills (like writing in the air), then with a salt tray or in shaving cream, and then finally on paper. Check out the Logic of English handwriting programs here.

Classical Conversations- Foundations

Classical Conversations Cycle 1- This provides the opportunity for public speaking, memory work and doing science, art, & music with other kids. Since our son struggles with language skills we focus on memorizing only a few components of the CC memory work each week. He is exposed to all of the memory work via the CD or CC Cycle 1 app but we only practice the science and math components. He enjoys these subjects so it makes memorization easier and more enjoyable for him. At this age, our daughter could spout off every piece of the memory work with ease. It is not easy for our son, so we make adjustments and that is OK. The purpose of homeschooling is to meet your kids where they are at and to customize their education for them to be successful. I have found that it is easy to make adjustments so that CC works for us, rather than being slaves to the curriculum. To learn more about combining CC and Sonlight go here.

Beautiful Feet Around the World with Picture Books 1

This provides social studies/geography as we dig into various country studies. The notebooking, art, and culinary activities give my busy boy some fun hands-on time.

Science

We don’t really use a formal science curriculum at this age. He gets memory work and science experiments via CC Foundations and then we read about science related topics as he is interested. We have lots of science books on our shelves to draw from, including Apologia Elementary books, Let’s Read & Find Out books, One Small Square books, science encyclopedias, nature guides, etc. We also had a Spangler Science box subscription courtesy of Grandma, so we still have some of those to work through.