Grade two!! Here we go, onto our second year of being official homeschoolers. We made great curriculum choices last year for my oldest and he is almost ready to move to new curriculum levels in every subject.
We rocked grade one and are so ready to move onto grade two. My oldest took off this year. His reading sky rocketed allowing him to learn about almost whatever he wants. This might be the last year that he requires 1:1 help for most of his lessons.
Grade Two Curriculum Choices
The Good and the Beautiful: Language Level Two
We are just finishing up with level one and should be done that early this fall. If I were choosing curriculum based on reading level then I would need something different. We choose The Good and the Beautiful for its solid foundation in Grammar and the Art Appreciation woven in.
The Brave Learner: Jot It Down
I choose to add The Brave Learner into our Language Arts Curriculum to increase passion in creative writing. Thoughts are not in short supply for our Grade Two student but recording them is a big challenge, nearly leading him to shut down completely. That is exactly what I want to avoid.
The Good and the Beautiful: Handwriting Two
Handwriting was a great fit last year so we are going to continue onward with it.
The Good and the Beautiful: Math Two
Math is my grade two’s favorite subject. I was completely surprised but he loves it. Often he will do 3 lessons back to back. I have caught him teaching his siblings with the math games and encouraging their counting.
The Good and the Beautiful Math has a great balance of literacy based lessons, hands on activities (manipulatives), games and logic based thinking. This program is slightly advanced according to Alberta’s learning outcomes but it will not be a far reach for us.
Science and History
For both Science and History we are trying a completely new strategy. NO CURRICULUM!! I am both thrilled with this and nervous about it. We love learning with books, going on field trips and using media. Creating a tailored program is going to be a wonderful way to dive into interests and allow us to read books of any reading level. Freedom is going to be great.
We are required to cover specific topics (teacher-led), meaning we won’t have complete freedom but we have lots of flexibility. Our History topics are Canada’s Dynamic Communities, A Community in the Past. Science topics are Exploring Liquids, Buoyancy and Boats, Magnetism, Hot and Cold Temperature, Small Crawling and Flying Animals.
As we cover these topics I will share posts and link them accordingly.
Family Style Curriculum
The Waldock Way: Passport to Adventure
Passports to Adventure was so much fun last year that we are going to continue with it. Jessica did a wonderful job gathering resources and creating a workbook for us to print for the various ages of our kids. Passport to Adventures is written to go through each individual Magic Tree House book in one week but we have been using them as a springboard to deep dives often lasting up to a month long.
Our Morning Basket has become foundational to our daily routine. We are going to continue using it and I might even recruit another reader to give my voice a break. I love having another reader in the family.
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