Grade Two Curriculum Choices

Our family is still very new to this educating at home thing, and we are always learning. I am fortunate to be able to carve out a few hours here and there to just sit and read articles, blogs, reviews of study programs, and of course peek at Pinterest boards. I have really enjoyed designing our plan for next year, and I wanted to post about it here, because I've had several people ask me about what we are doing, what we are using, what is working for us.

The first thing I realized as I was planning for the coming school year (which will start May 2018 for us) is that we really needed a great routine. As much as I love the idea of being free and wild, unscheduled, unplanned days just don't work for us. I want to create a daily rhythm my family can depend on, because it seems to help us function so much better.  After exploring rhythm making, I highly recommend this as a first step for any family or individual trying to create a better daily flow. We have so much further to go, but already I can see how the rhythm is helping the kids. 

After beginning to establish a rhythm, finding some "open and go" curriculum was my next step. I wrote pretty extensively in my last post about why I wanted to move to something with more structure, and I also mentioned how I ran across my first subject study by accident, when I was browsing the FB sales pages for curriculum. I popped over to Pandia Press and really liked what they were offering for history - a story driven curriculum with hands on activities. History is my own weakest subject, because I learn best by hearing living stories, and I rarely got that kind of enrichment as a child and young adult learning history. I want to give the kids a better understanding of history than I got, so a history curriculum was really high on my list for Grade Two.

We are starting on Ancients and will likely move into Middle Ages sometime in the second grade year. Pandia Press has their science and history topics on a four year cycle, and if I plan correctly I can have the kids in the same cycle year, though different levels. 

Since History Odyssey starts with early humans, I found a separate curriculum that follows the same style of education to use for prehistory study. We have had a blast creating a timeline for the Earth, and are looking forward to starting into humanoid evolution this week!

Pandia Press also offers science curriculum, and we decided to start with their Earth & Environment program, which is new this year. Like the history, the science is a four year cycle, so we will move through Earth & Environment for the first part of our school year and then go into Life Science for the remainder of Grade Two. (Except they just announced they are releasing an astronomy course as well, so... We'll see!) 

This curriculum is very hands on, and if you follow my Instagram account you already know how much we've been enjoying the lab work. It has been lining up very nicely with our prehistory work, so we are getting reinforcement on the concepts with both. I love that both our history and science are supported by quality books, and finding something so narrative-driven prompted me to start looking for a Language Arts program.  

I did a huge amount of searching for the perfect Language Arts curriculum for our upcoming year. So far, we've been piecing together books, worksheets, and unit studies to create language content, because my main goal in the first year was develop a love of books and foster curiosity in how reading works. As E has gained confidence in his reading, I can see that he is ready for a deeper understanding of written and spoken language, so I began looking at different programs. After much research, I stumbled upon Brave Writer, and so far we've been loving it. Each week we enjoy a new story together, and work through phonics, mechanics, grammar, spelling, and copywork. E is still working on mastering all his handwriting strokes, so having this extra practice has proven very valuable. He is learning to take pride in his work, and he is gaining reading confidence every day. Spelling is not his favorite activity, so we've been getting really creative in how we practice those words.  

We will also be adding recitation to our weekly schedule for Grade Two. Both children have strong storytelling skills, with great tone, expression, and creativity. I want to foster that growth and strengthen the written/verbal connection through practiced recitation. I haven't refined this plan totally yet, but I expect we will choose passages from the literature we are reading to commit to memory and recite. 

I covered our math choice (for now) in my previous blog post, though I'm still on the lookout for a book based system. Adding extra screen time isn't my favorite thing, but I'm trying to make my peace with it for the short term. I have faith that the right math curriculum will come along for us soon enough. And just like that, the right thing came along!

While I was working on this post, I ran across a hashtag on Instagram that interested me, and I -of course- followed it down the rabbit hole of Instagram... Fifteen minutes I emerged on the other side with an assessment sheet for Beast Academy Really, does it get any better than monsters and comic strips to teach math concepts? We will be working through the remainder of Easy Peasy Math 1 this spring and summer, and will get started on Beast Academy once E has mastered the Grade 1 concepts solidly.

Aside from the core subjects, I have been infusing art lessons throughout our week. Earlier this week, we used tracing paper and a light box to learn about symmetry, and traced a short faced bear after studying Ice Age mammals. I am also continuing our book immersion units, though those are coming at a slower rate now that we have so much other content to keep us engaged. 

I am so excited to see how this coming year unfolds for us. I've chosen some great content for little e as well, since she is ready to have her own assignments and book studies, and has recently told me she wants to learn to write "ALL the letters." I'm hoping to make time every few weeks to blog about what we are studying, and I know we will continue to make small adjustments through the year, but I'm feeling energized and ready to face Grade Two head on.