It’s hard to believe that my youngest kiddo is finishing up first grade. Even so, I’m busy finalizing plans and gathering the needed resources for homeschooling 2nd grade one last time.
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Here’s a look at what we’ve got in store for our next year of homeschool.
2018 – 2019 Curriculum Choices
Homeschooling Second Grade
If you caught my first grade curriculum choices post from last year or follow along on Instagram, you may already know that we transitioned to Ambleside Online for my youngest kiddo last year. That’s been a beautiful experience for her and now she’s moving on to AO Year 2. That’s where she’ll spend the majority of her homeschool time in the upcoming year.
Homeschooling Second Grade
Ambleside Online, Year 2
Once we wrap up Term 3 from Year 1, we’ll take a week or two off and then move into Year 2. That will give me the time I need to gather the resources I haven’t purchased yet.
If our next year of AO is anything like this one, we’ve got lots of wonderful reading in store. In fact, a few of our favorite titles from this year are also included in Year 2: Our Island Story, Tales from Shakespeare, and Parables from Nature.
As for new titles, here’s some of what we’ll work through throughout our terms:
- This Country of Ours
- A Child’s History of the World
- Joan of Arc
- The Wind in the Willows
- The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
We’re also looking forward to this year’s suggested free reads. For now, I plan to include this Heidi, Mary Poppins, and Mr. Popper’s Penguins in our plans. If we have time for more, I’ll let my kiddo choose and work through them as desired.
Beyond Ambleside: The Rest of Our
Plan for Homeschooling Second Grade
Although we’ll cover most of our subjects through Ambleside Online, this curriculum allows us to use our preferred resources for areas like math, phonics, reading instruction, handwriting, and the arts. We’ll rely on some familiar favorites in these areas, but also include some new resources as we’re homeschooling second grade.
Math
My math-loving kiddo continues to do well with Life of Fred, but we’re adding other components this year to give her all the math she could possibly want. In addition to Life of Fred Goldfish and Honey, she’ll work through Math-U-See Beta, Math Seeds, and this Math for the Gifted Student workbook we bought back in the spring. Surely she’ll get her math fix between all of that!
Language Arts
My little one has come a long way with reading and phonics since last year! Because of that, we’ll stick with what’s been working so well for her: Learning Language Arts Through Literature and Reading Eggs/Reading Eggspress. We love Learning Language Arts Through Literature‘s gentle approach to all things language arts, so it’s a great place to land as she continues to build reading skills and become acquainted with other language arts areas.
As for Reading Eggs, she recently completed all of the reading maps (lessons) and has since been working her way through Storylands, Spelling, and the other areas included in Reading Eggs. She’s made great progress through these reading-based learning games, so we’ll alternate between this and LLATL as long as it continues to work well for her.
We’re also continuing with A Reason for Handwriting for copywork. That’s been a great match for both of my kids and we’re happy to include it again this year.
Nature Study & Fine Arts
Lastly, my second grader will explore art, music, and nature study alongside her big brother when possible. Their five year age difference and different learning styles don’t allow me to combine them too often, but it’s something I take advantage of when possible.
Nature study is a work in progress for us, so we’ll continue to keep it simple by focusing on observation and using our nature study resources to become more familiar with the natural life around us. It doesn’t sound like much, but it will go a long way in helping us develop our understanding of the life on our local nature trails and beaches.
For art, we’ll use Masterpiece Society Art Appreciation to help with artist study each month. We’ll also tap into our Masterpiece Society Studio membership so that we can include hands-on art opportunities through Mixing with the Masters lessons, seasonal art projects, and fundamental art instruction. Of course, there will be plenty of time for our own art projects too!
As for music, they’ll finish out our SQUILT volumes together and possibly even move into Meeting the Instruments: Exploring the Orchestra.
That’s all we’ve got in store for homeschooling second grade. If you’ve got any thoughts or tips for these resources, I’d love to have you share them in the comments below!