Handwriting Without Tearsworked so well for my kids that we'll be using it again this year as we tackle cursive for the first time. GooseyGirl is VERY excited. Anything frilly makes her heart sing.HWT
Math U See works for us! From my little math wiz to my typical grade appropriate student, MUS has been a huge reason my kids truly enjoy math. It amazes me how math makes sense to my adult brain now. I think I needed the early elementary review I've been getting while teaching the kids!
One of the things I really love is that the titles of the student books aren't labeled by grade. So the student has no idea if they are working above grade level, at grade level or below grade level. They are where they are and that is all they know.
If you are unsure if this is the curriculum for you, order the DVD demo. I'm betting you'll be hooked after seeing it. MUS
First Language Lessonsis an easy introduction to grammar. It also provides a framework for early memorization skills and eases the child into copywork. It is extraordinarily easy to implement and the actual lessons are only about 5 minutes long. This book covers two years of schooling and has 200 lessons. We used it through second grade. FLL
Evan- Moor has some really wonderful teaching books and workbooks. Plus at their website you can look at every single page of every book they publish! ART
I used How to Teach Art to Children. We do one lesson every other week from this book to introduce the seven elements of art: line, shape, color, value, texture, form, and space.
We do lots of crafty things through our history and science curriculum listed above.
This is our favorite subject. This year we will cover the Middle Ages (400 - 1600). Knights, Kings, Castles... FUN!!! This engaging story tells world history in a compelling, fun, way. SOTW
Who discovered chocolate? What happened to the Giant Fovor of the Mighty Blows? Why did the Ottoman Turks drag their war ships across dry land?
The library list in the Activity guide is wonderful. I can't recommend this curriculum highly enough. Make sure you get the activity guide and the audio CD's that go with the textbook. Those are must haves in my opinion. Sometimes you can find them on sale at www.overstock.com Click on our history page to see this curriculum in action.
. REAL Sciencelast year for biology we are going to use the next level for Earth Science.
We will also be doing lots of fossil hunts, star gazing and watching the weather. I think the important parts of science at this level is the exploring and absorbing. Exposure is 9/10ths of the goal.
This curriculum starts out with a notebook page which you read to the child. The lesson is followed by a couple of easy to implement labs using things lying around the house. You do need to purchase the rock collection for this level, however.
My only "wish" for this curriculum was a longer supplemental reading list to extend the lesson using library books. Click on the link and you can see a sample page.
I mostly used this computer based program, Rosetta Stone, as a toy. They just poked around on it but I didn't require them to actually learn anything. However, they got pretty good at it. We finally joined a co-op for Spanish classes from a native speaker. Then we'd go roller skating with the class afterwards. It was FUN! Be warned though, it is very expensive. I got mine at Sam's Club online but it was still a lot of money. Check your library because some offer this through an online portal. Now that would be nice. Rosetta
I got a keyboard from Sam's Club online and found this book at the library. I started using the Suzukibooks and CD and without much effort my kids are playing the piano with both hands! They are doing chords and playing different melodies with both hands together. I took piano for three years but I'm not very good at it. I play like a chicken... peck, peck, peck. But I was able to guide them enough that they've basically taught themselves.
If you find a local teacher of Suzuki Piano method and you can afford it, hire them! With three kids it was going to be cost prohibitive for me. Suzuki
In addition to the 20-25 minutes of assigned reading the kids will do this year, we are starting a Fisherville Academy Book Club. We'll be using Novel Experiences: Literature Units for Book Discussion Groups in the Elementary Grades by Christine Jenkins. This guide has activities, comprehension questions and further reading suggestions to give us the opportunity to break down a book together. I beginning to rethink this choice, though. BoI'ok Club
You'll find that for second grade you can get everything done in two and half to three hours a day. At this point you should be easing your students into more self driven work. I post our schedule on a marker board and they move on to the next subject once they finish their work. I keep them at the same level for most subjects including geography, science and history. After we do our group subjects, they then move into the subjects that they are on different levels like reading and math.
We homeschool year round five days a week on a seven week on/one week off rotation with extra weeks of vacation factored in for Christmas and family vacations. We also take the month of July off. Of course, our calendar is fluid and it slides based on doctor's appointments and impromptu field trips. I start our morning lessons around 9:30am and we are done by noon. We belong to a homeschool group and participate in their field trips and gym days.
Our Curriculum
This year for Spanish we have hired a college student to tutor my kids. She will be utilizing Espanol para chicos y grandesfor the curriculum with lots of songs and games thrown in for fun. My major in college was French and everytime I try to speak Spansh it comes out with this wierd French accent. I figured that wasn't exactly a great idea so I've passed it off to a very capable college student. MSpanish
Two times a week my kids work on their fluency through poetry readings. The way it works is that I read the poem first aloud. Then we read it together. Then they read it by themselves. This helps them hear the musical quality of our language and increases the speed at which they read. We use The Random House Book of Poetry.
Art or Craft (many times our history or science activity counted as a craft
* You can download the form I use for lesson plans from our "Organize The School" page.
I alternated Building Thinking Skills with Geography. One week we'd be studying Alaska and the next week we'd be working on pattern recognition. CriticalThink
Once they understood more about how the Building Thinking Skills curriculum worked, I could do both in less than five minutes each, every morning. They have really grown during our time with Building Thinking Skills and enjoy the puzzle solving nature of the book.
Our Schedule- five days a week. Six to seven weeks on, followed by one week off, year round. July off.
+ weekly library visits and nightly free reading time where they read the book of their choice. At the library they can get up to 4 personal choices but they also must pick out one science book, one craft book and one biography. Because of that requirement my kiddos have discovered an entire section of the library that they hadn't explored before and they are loving it. Now, if only I could get RocketMan away from the NASCAR driver bio books!
For those trips to the library, save your back and use one of these wheeled carts. I have over 60 books out at a time and I use this to haul them back and forth to the library. (Of course, do your renewing online). After we decorate the fireplace hearth with all of our library finds, I put the empty cart behind the couch. Done with a book? Put it in the bucket! That way, on library day the cart is loaded and ready to go!
Second Grade
You Might Be a Homeschooler if:
You stop to observe road kill and the kids ask to go back the next day and the next day and the next day and the....
Great HS Advice:
Character Education isn’t just one more thing on your plate.
I used the Flat Stanley books by Jeff Brown for our Geography lessons in Second Grade. This was the absolute highlight of their year.
Flat Stanley is a boy who got smooshed by a bulletin board in his sleep. While it would bum out some people, Stanley decided that the ability to fold himself in an envelope was the best way to visit his friends.
First, we read the book during our Book Club time in the morning. Then they each decorated a Stanley and mailed hiim off to friends and family. Every other week they mailed a new Stanley. His adventures were precious. People really got into hosting him. Plus, the kids got tons of writing, math, map skills and grammar out of our project. Use my forms to begin your Flat Stanley adventure!
Calvert Mastery Series: Spelling is a computer based spelling program that is just wonderful. I don't have to plan or do a thing. It tracks each student and they love the fun games. This series begins in Third Grade but my kids were reading well in second so I started them early.
Keep in mind that spending time on spelling in second grade isn't vital. If your students are reading well, however, this program is well worth the non-effort.
Their second grade year was rocky due to our family struggling through divorce. To encourage stability, I used most of the things we started in First grade and I was liberal with our breaks. I took only one month off between First and Second in order to increase retention.
The biggest hit for second grade? Flat Stanley! Scroll down for more information.
Math U See works for us! From my little math wiz to my typical grade appropriate student, MUS has been a huge reason my kids truly enjoy math. It amazes me how math makes sense to my adult brain now. I think I needed the early elementary review I've been getting while teaching the kids! 
