Our baby is in 2nd grade this year! Noah is an imaginative, joyful, curious little student. He is constantly on the move and loves learning with his hands and using his imagination. Today I would like to share his 2nd grade plans and curriculum. If you’d like to read more about the curricula we’ve chosen check out the post below.
2nd Grade Homeschool Curriculum Picks
Noah is participating in Foundations through Classical Conversations this year. Our family has been participating in Classical Conversations for the past two years and Noah is beginning his 3rd year of Foundations. Each year he absorbs more of the grammar and we are seeing growth in his memorization skills and assimilation of knowledge.
During Foundations each week Noah learns new grammar in seven areas {English grammar, Latin, math, science, history, timeline, and geography.} In addition, he participates in weekly hands-on fine arts, hands-on science, presentations {an awesome way to build public speaking skills at a young age}, and review games.
Our family incorporates daily memory work practice into morning time to help Noah absorb the grammar his tutor introduces during class each week. We love Foundations geography and use it as our primary geography program. Many families use the Foundations hands-on science topics and history sentences as the core for their science and history study. Our family does not, but we do base our morning time fine arts activities on the history topic each week. To learn more about morning time, check out our morning time post.
When Noah was in preschool I realized he was going to be an active hands-on learner. I also recognized that he had a high level of inquisitiveness and desire to be independent. After much investigation, I made the decision to go through Montessori teacher training to better meet his needs. Noah has truly thrived using this student-led, hands-on approach based on a prepared learning environment. Though our curriculum picks don’t reflect the Montessori approach, Noah continues to learn using a prepared environment in several subjects including practical life skills, sensorial development, geography, and science.
Our 2nd Grade Homeschool Curriculum Picks
Math
Primary Mathematics (Singapore): 2A-B
Phonics & Reading
Memoria Press Literature 1
Little Bear, Frog and Toad are Friends, Caps for Sale, Make Way for Ducklings, Billy and Blaze, Blaze and the Forest Fire, The Story about Ping, Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie, Stone Soup, The Little House, Miss Rumphius
Language Arts
IEW People & Place in My Community
History & Geography
Book Shark Core D: American History 1 + Lapbook Kit
Classical Conversations Cycle 3 Geography + Where in the World: US Geography by Classical Explorations
Family Read-Alouds
The Child’s Story Bible by Catherine Vos
Book Shark Core D: American History 1 Read Alouds
The Sign of the Beaver, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Johnny Tremain, Toliver’s Secret, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, Walk the World’s Rim, Justin Morgan Had a Horse, Swift Rivers, Winter Danger
Science & STEM
Sassafras Science: Zoology & Human Anatomy
Kiwi Crate Monthly Subscription Box
Electives
Art
Classical Conversations Cycle 3 Fine Arts
History-based Art Projects & Art Appreciation
Music
Music Appreciation: Classical Music Listening Guide
Piano Lessons
Gymnastics
New Homeschool Curriculum Picks
This is Noah’s first year doing a literature study. He and I both enjoy All About Reading, but he feels a little left out since his older siblings are reading a wide array of literature. We decided to add Memoria Press Story Time Treasures and More Story Time Treasures into the mix this year. Anna used these when she was little and the books and companion guides are absolutely delightful. Noah is really excited about reading “real books” this year in addition to his phonics readers.
Homeschool Curriculum We’re Loving
Since Noah is the baby of the family, he hasn’t had to serve as a curriculum guinea pig. He absolutely loves all of his curricular materials. Witnessing his brother and sister go through many of these same programs definitely helps. Noah loves anything that involves verbal skills: writing, grammar, literature, history, science, mathematical word problems. As his mom I often ponder what he might do as an adult. Politician? Motivational speaker? Attorney?
What a gift it is to embark on this learning adventure as a family. It is truly a blessing beyond measure!
Other Posts You Might Enjoy
Our Family’s Experience with Classical Conversations Digital Explorer Camp
How Morning Time Brought Peace to Our Family
Our Curriculum Library organized by subject