Mid Year Homeschool Curriculum Update – Second Grade

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I unexpectedly realized last week that we hit week 19 in our Bookshark and Sonlight curricula.  That means we’re about half way done with 2nd grade!  It’s time to look back and the first half and share some thoughts about the homeschool currciulum that we’ve been using.  

We’ve been really slacking off since Thanksgiving because of all the starts and stops that come with the holidays.  I thought we’d get back into the groove of school work in January but it ended up being more like February.  Leading up to Thanksgiving we were had a really great rhythm with getting everything done in a timely manner and with a great attitude.  WIN!  Obviously, not every day was perfect but we were having fun and Storyteller was moving along at a strong and steady pace with her work.  Then came the holidays.  All the starting and stopping was really frustrating.  We are just now starting to get that groove back.

 

History and Geography

So, where are we now?  We have finally made it out of Egypt in Bookshark’s Reading with History level 1.  The girls were happy about that.  Some of the readings from the books were a bit repetitive.  The info was presented in different ways but sometimes the girls were confused about why we were going over it again.

I was planning on using the Evan Moor Ancient Civilizations Pockets ebook but we’ve used very little of it.  I wanted to  incorporate it into our history notebooks but it didn’t go over well at all.  They saw it as busy work and not an enjoyable hands on project.  They prefer doing a regular notebooking page which is where they draw a picture about something we’ve read and I write out their narration.  We do this once or twice a week and they are far more engaged in it.  I also added map work using MapTrek.  I love the printable maps.  They’re good for such a wide age range so I can see using these for many many years.  I’m so glad I stopped searching the internet for free printable maps.  MapTrek has been a real time and sanity saver.

 

Science

For most of the last 19 weeks we’ve been reading about animals around the world in Sonlight Science B.  The experiments have focused on magnets. Once we finished with those topics, the girls were definitely ready to move on.  We also touched on the water cycle in a Magic School Bus book.  Currently, we’re reading about the human body.  The science comes with worksheets but I also have them do a notebooking page once or twice a week as well as a page for each experiment.  The notebooking pages are really for Storyteller but Comedian sometimes chooses to do them as well.  She’s just about 5 years old now but she follows along with all the history and science readings.  I’m often surprised by how much she understands and even remembers.  It makes be wonder just how or if I should continue to combine them for these subjects.  I wasn’t planning on it but it may be a possibility.

These history and science programs are the only ones we use that have a schedule.  We don’t follow it exactly.  We just do what is next.  Sometimes we do Thursday’s work on a Monday.  But the weeks are numbered and so I can see we’re half way done with the programs.

 

Language Arts

We have also been using All About Reading and All About Spelling.  Storyteller is moving much faster through these programs than I expected.  She is almost done with level 3 of reading which I thought would last the whole year.  I expect she’ll start level 4 in March.  That’s the last level.  She’s been doing so well with reading that I’ve wondered if we really need to do the next level but she enjoys it and so we’ll keep going.  Something clicked this year and her reading has really taken off.

Spelling has been interesting this year.  Storyteller just finished level 2 and we’ll be starting 3 next week. I’ve been so pleased with All About Reading and All About Spelling but we’ve also been tackling spelling with Brave Writer’s Quiver of Arrows.  I feel bad having Storyteller do double duty for spelling but she hasn’t noticed.  They are two very different programs and I think they compliment each other very well. I love the phonics and rules based approach of All About Spelling. Brave Writer teaches spelling while using copywork and dictation taken from read aloud books.  Yes, spelling is taught with this but also many other aspects of language arts. So, while we didn’t choose Brave Writer for spelling, she is getting another dose of it. and from a much different approach.  We’ve finished 4 books (each spanning four weeks) and I’m just now getting comfortable with process.  Each week the spelling words are taken from the copywork and then used in the French style dictation at the end of the week.  Most of the time there doesn’t seem to be much connection between the spelling words like there is with All About Spelling.  It takes more work on my part to figure out how to teach each word but I can see how the two different approaches compliment each other well.

 

 

Math

Math…sigh.  I always seem to be on the verge of trying something new.  Sometimes Storyteller does really well and sometimes it’s incredibly frustrating for both of us.  I love Singapore’s Primary Math.  She’s chugging along with 2A now.  There is an suggested schedule and it usually takes us 2 days to do 1 day’s worth of work.  It is going better then when we did Horizon’s Math for kindergarten though.  We also attend a monthly math club with our homeschool group and she loves it.  It’s currently her favorite group activity that we do and I’m trying to incorporate more games into our formal math lessons.  Fingers crossed!

Fun Extras!

Aside from the curriculum we use, we’ve also been busy with our homeschool friends at LEGO club, math club, nature hikes, field trips, parties and park days.  And then there’s also choir, dance and swimming. It’s been a busy but fun year so far.  So, when are we home to do school?  I’m not sure but looking back it appears that we have made some great progress!

It’s hard to believe that the school year is half way over.  At this rate, I’ll be happy to be done with reading, spelling and Brave Writer where ever we end up when we finish history and science.  Math?  Well, it’s probably going to be something that we continue into the summer since progress has been slow.  That’s the only thing about our homeschool year that has been a struggle so it’s all good.  We’ll just keep taking it one day at a time.